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The Establishment of KLC KLC was established in 1981 by the UNSW Law School. It had the dual aims of providing a service to the community and providing quality practical legal education to UNSW law students. The subject Clinical Legal Experience had been available in the Law School before the establishment of KLC. Clinical legal education is based on giving students the opportunity to learn about legal practice by working for real clients and handling real files. Since mid-1975, the clinical subject had offered students the opportunity of being placed with a lawyer in a legal aid office, or in Government or private practice. Although the placement model for the clinical subject had been successful, the Law School hoped to establish a clinical teaching facility where the work done by each student would be of a consistent type, and the work, supervision, teaching and discussion could all occur at the same place. Some aspects of the teaching program at KLC were based on the example of Monash University’s Springvale Legal Service, which provided an in-house clinical teaching program for law students there. Numerous US law schools which operate legal clinics as community legal services also served as examples for the establishment of KLC. The idea of establishing a “legal resources centre” for teaching purposes had been initially proposed by John Kirkwood in September 1977. Kirkwood envisaged that such a centre would conduct public interest test case advocacy in areas like social security law, Aboriginal land rights and environmental class actions, and would provide legal research and advice for legal aid agencies and community welfare agencies. The director would be a member of the law school teaching staff with practical experience who would run the centre in lieu of a normal teaching load. The research and advice work would be carried out by students participating in the subject Clinical Legal Education. In February 1979 Neil Rees, convenor of the Law School’s clinical placement program wrote a discussion paper proposing a model of clinical education involving a one session Professional Practice course. Students would attend seminars on issues such as client interviewing and ethics in combination with attending a clinical placement at Redfern Legal Centre. Ultimately, however, the model originally proposed by Kirkwood was favoured by the faculty. In 1981 the Law School approved a nine month trial period for the legal clinic. Funds were made available for the clinic through a UNSW Special Grant, and subsequently from a UNSW General Development Grant. With the assistance of the University grant and assistance from Randwick Municipal Council, the Law School was able to establish a community legal centre off-campus, in a building in Kingsford. This building had been used by the Federal government as an electoral office and then as an employment office. Kingsford Legal Centre was officially opened on 9 September 1981, by the Chancellor, Gordon Samuels, but it had in fact opened its doors on 27 June 1981. Centre Management The inaugural Director of Kingsford Legal Centre was Neil Rees. Ms Pam Ditton was employed as a temporary consultant solicitor. Together they laid the foundations of a program combining clinical legal education for the students of UNSW law school and a community legal service which today assists over 4,000 people annually with advice or legal representation. Rees resigned in 1987 and was replaced as director by Anthony Woods. In 1990 Simon Rice took over as Director. Frances Gibson took over as Director after Simon. Fran had previously worked for the Redfern Legal Centre, The Aboriginal Legal Service, the Legal Aid Commission and ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption). She left the Centre in 2003. The present Director is Anna Cody. Anna has worked at Kingsford Legal Centre since 1995 but has left for various periods to pursue a Masters of Law at Harvard and to work in New York. She has also worked in program development in East Timor and Indonesia. Anna is interested in educational theory and the differing ways that people learn in order to promote social justice. Clinical legal education is a means of encouraging law students to think critically about the law and the legal system. Teaching Awards Students have always given very positive feedback about their learning experience at Kingsford Legal Centre. The quality of the teaching was officially recognised in 2000 with the staff at Kingsford Legal Centre being awarded the Vice Chancellor’s award for teaching excellence. In 2001 the Kingsford Legal Centre team was again recognised, winning the Australian Award for University Teaching in the category of Law and Legal Studies. In awarding the prize, the panel of judges commented on the outstanding commitment and team work shown by the winners. Previous Director, Frances Gibson was also awarded a Quality Teaching Award from the Australian College of Education. Clinical Legal Education: Continuing Development In the 1990's, a number of other Australian Law Schools followed the example of Monash and UNSW by establishing a clinical legal education program for their students. In July 1996 the Australasian Clinical Legal Education Association was established, to further the aims and profile of clinical legal education. In 1997 KLC published the inaugural edition of the Guide to Clinical Legal Education in Australian Universities, which provides a centralised source of information about what the clinical legal education course at each law school offers. KLC also publishes the only newsletter in Australia on clinical legal education, which highlights developments in Australian law schools. Since the Clinical Legal Education course at KLC was established in 1981, other subjects taught in the UNSW Law School have incorporated components of the KLC teaching program into their curriculum. These subjects have included Remedies, Succession, Immigration Law and Policy, Criminal Law, Housing Law and Family Law. A number of Social Work/Law students attend a full-time placement at KLC, which fulfils requirements for both of their degrees. In March 1998, UNSW became the first law school in Australia to incorporate a clinical component into a compulsory subject. The Law, Lawyers and Society subject now includes a component at KLC, which involves seminars on interviewing and legal aid as well as participation in KLC advice sessions. The clinical legal education program at KLC has been extremely popular with students throughout its operation. Many former solicitors have maintained an involvement with KLC, such as by returning as volunteer solicitors on advice nights. In a survey of past KLC students undertaken by Keys Young in 1991, 46.1% found that KLC influenced their later choice of work, and 93.8% of students agreed that the course made them think more critically about how the law works in practice. Community Legal Assistance and Case-work A long-held view of many members of the Law School is that it should make a contribution to the local community. KLC was established as a “generalist” community legal centre, not as a specialist centre such as the Consumer Credit Legal Centre, the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre, etc. The advice given by KLC covers matters involving family law, domestic violence, discrimination, personal injury, credit and debt, immigration, neighbour disputes, employment law, criminal law, tenancies, social security and other matters. In 2001 KLC provided legal advice and assistance to over 4000 people. KLC has run important cases in the fields of employment, discrimination and consumer credit. KLC also represented one of its long-standing clients Joy Williams, in a “stolen generation”, case against the state of New South Wales. KLC has also been actively involved throughout its operation in a wide variety of community education programs and policy and reform work, particularly in the areas of domestic violence, discrimination and legal aid. Funding KLC has played an important role in lobbying for legal aid funding. In 1992-3, KLC was involved in the campaign run by community legal centres in NSW against cuts to legal aid funding, which was successful in having legal aid re-instated for civil matters. In 1998 KLC was involved in the campaign run by the National Association of Clinical Educators which successfully lobbied the Federal Government for specific funding for clinical legal education programs. As a result, the Commonwealth has dedicated $1.74 million nationally to develop clinical legal education programs. At times KLC has also had to lobby for its own funding. KLC receives funding from the Law School and from the NSW and Federal governments’ community legal centres funding. It also receives support through the work of volunteer solicitors, including a full-time seconded solicitor from Freehills. Volunteer solicitors attend to general law enquiries at evening advice nights on a rotation basis. There is also a list of specialist employment law solicitors that see clients on a rotation basis. In 1997, cuts to university funding led the Law School to consider winding back the operation of KLC. Support was received from academics at the Law School, students, members of the local community and some members of the legal profession, and a fundraising Walkathon was held in April 1998. Later in 1998, KLC received a special short-term grant from the Vice-Chancellor, and also from the Federal Government. The continuation of KLC in providing much-needed legal services and clinical legal education, is now more secure. This short history was put together by Sharon Krochmalik and Kate Santamaria Sources Used
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