Community Legal Centres (CLCs) are independent community organisations providing equitable and accessible legal services.  CLCs not only provide legal advice and assistance, but also encourage and enable people to develop skills to be their own advocates.  CLCs are able to offer effective and creative solutions to legal problems based on their experience within their community. 

What do Community Legal Centres do?

CLCs offer a range of legal and related services to their client community including:

• Information and referral
• Advice on legal matters
• Legal casework and representation in targeted areas of law
• Community legal education
• Law reform and public policy development and advocacy

Generalist Community Legal Centres

In NSW generalist CLCs are located across the state. They offer legal advice and assistance to people living in their catchment area. Generalist centres provide confidential legal advice and assistance on a range of issues including:

• Accidents and compensation
• Apprehended Violence Orders (AVOs)
• Banking and finance
• Children and young people
• Consumer rights
• Crime
• Employment
• Environment
• Family law and relationships
• Housing
• Property and development
• Human rights
• Immigration and citizenship
• Neighbours
• Social services, welfare and Centrelink
• Transport
• Health
• Wills and estates

Some generalist centres also offer specialist advice in areas such as tenancy, child support, welfare rights, etc or target their services to a specific community eg Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, children and young people, women, older people, refugees, prisoners, the homeless, and other groups. The decision to provide such services may be due to targeted funding or a decision by the Management Committee to respond to a specific demographic within their local community.

Specialist Community Legal Centres

Specialist CLCs concentrate on a particular area of law or target a specific group, offering advice, assistance and legal education to individuals and organizations. In NSW this includes areas such as credit and debt, environmental law, welfare rights, mental health, disability discrimination, tenancy, immigration, employment, the arts, refugees, women, older persons, and much more.

For further information and to find a CLC, visit the Community Legal Centres of NSW website.