Volunteer Recruitment
St Kilda Legal Service currently seeking volunteer Family Lawyer for Wednesday evenings
St Kilda Legal Service is looking for a Family Lawyer with current practising experience to volunteer with its fun but hard-working Wednesday evening team – ideally on a weekly basis.
For further information, please contact Anthea Teakle on: 8598 6613 or anthea@skls.org.au. Interested applicants are also welcome to forward their resumes directly to Anthea via her email anthea@skls.org.au.
Volunteering at St Kilda Legal Service
Volunteers are currently recruited on an "as-needs" basis by the Volunteer Co-ordinator. That is, when the Service requires additional volunteers to undertake a particular role with skills and experience, the Volunteer Co-ordinator will seek to recruit and train a person meeting those requirements.
All volunteer enquiries should be directed to the Volunteer Co-ordinator, preferably by telephone or postal mail.
Waiting Lists & Vacancies
The St Kilda Legal Service is fortunate geographically, in that a large number of students and lawyers live, work or study within the catchment area, or the CBD nearby. Encouragingly, a significant number of them make enquiries about volunteering with the Service. Consequently, there is a volunteer waiting list at the St Kilda Legal Service.It primarily comprises of law students.
Unfortunately, the Legal Service receives far more requests for volunteering from students than it is able to place.It is not unusual for students to wait over a year on the waiting list before they receive a placement, if they in fact do. We regret that we are unable to involve more students in the Legal Service operations, however unfortunately we currently only have the capacity to supervise 13-17 per week. (About 6-9 in the evening and 7-8 during the day.)
The Service is also fortunate in taking enquiries from lawyers and other people with diverse skills, including administration.Whilst the waiting list for lawyers is much shorter than for students, the Service may not have a suitable position immediately available for a lawyer when they contact us.
Whilst the waiting list situation can be discouraging, we still encourage interested people to contact the Service, and we will make every effort to provide a place as soon as possible.
Recruitment is conducted strategically to ensure the Service has the appropriate mix of skilled people, and with the appropriate number of people.Ideally each night-service, for example, comprises of a receptionist, 2 law students, an Articled Clerk, 2 family lawyers, 1 criminal lawyer and 3 civil lawyers with a range of skills and knowledge in areas such as industrial relations, administrative law, contracts, debts, neighbours, etc. Consequently, when one of these types of lawyers is required, that is the type of lawyer that is sought, first from the waiting list and if there is no one with those skills on the waiting list, through networking.
The Legal Service is also committed to recruiting lawyers with varying amounts of experience, from Articled Clerks to Accredited Specialists.
Commitment Expected
With the exception of Board Directors, all other volunteers with the Legal Service are asked to make a weekly commitment, at the same time each week for 2-3 hours.It is also preferred they make at least a 6 month commitment, and preferably 12 months if possible.
We appreciate that a weekly commitment is substantial for most of our very busy volunteer students and lawyers. However, weekly attendance for the lawyers, in particular, is important to ensure the ongoing files run by the volunteer lawyers are maintained properly (with assistance of the paid staff). We also prefer the non-legal volunteers to attend weekly to ensure we complete the work that is required.
Whilst a weekly commitment from the volunteers is preferred, the Volunteer Co-ordinator is still happy to take enquiries from people who may not be in a position to make a weekly commitment, but who are nonetheless keen to become involved with the Legal Service.
Selection Criteria
The primary factors the Volunteer Co-ordinator looks for include:
- keen, interested and committed to social justice and the core principles of CLCs
- lives, works and/or studies in the Service's catchment area
- is able to commit 2-3 hours per week for at least 6 months, and preferably 12 months
- possess the skills or experience for the particular position to be filled
- law students should be in their penultimate or final year of study. (This allows us to recruit new students more frequently as the students graduate, with the graduate ideally remaining with us as a practitioner.)
- lawyers need to be admitted to practise, with a current practising certificate.Documentation will need to be produced.
- articled clerks will also need to produce a copy of their academic transcript, documenting the successful completion of their law degree.
When We Recruit
Recruiting is currently conducted when a specific need for additional volunteers is identified.For example, we recruit a family lawyer when we require a new or additional family lawyer.Generally, we recruit volunteers one at a time.However, it is not unusual for the Service to recruit a number of students simultaneously.
Application Form
If you want to apply to become a volunteer at St Kilda Legal Service, please download, complete and return our Volunteer Application Form to:
Anthea Teakle
Volunteer & Night Service Co-ordinator
St. Kilda Legal Service Co-op. Ltd.
161 Chapel Street
St. Kilda Vic 3182
Ph Direct: 8598 6613
Ph Office: 9534 0777
Fax: 9525 5704
