It’s National Law Week (16-22 May) and James Lowrey our Deputy Principal Legal Officer had a go at explaining what the campaign means in the context of working in Katherine.
What is Law Week?
A national week to raise awareness about the challenges and social issues that our legal system seeks to address. It is not about lawyers, it is about the things that lawyers seek to address through their work.
What work does NAAFLS do?
We have four core areas of work:
- Helping people who have issues involving domestic and family violence, which in some cases involves helping people obtain DVOs.
- Working with parents and grandparents when the government is concerned that a child is unsafe. Assisting those parents and grandparents to keep that child safe, either without or with the government’s assistance, including by going to the Local Court.
- Helping parents who have separated, to make plans about how they will care for their child or children; including by going to the Family Court to get orders.
- Helping people who have been victims of violence, to obtain financial compensation for the loss they have suffered, including by going to the NTCAT to fight for compensation.
What are the challenges?
In the context of Katherine, it is the issues faced by the “Four Rs” (regional, rural, remote & very remote). Those issues come down to access to justice services, and alternative dispute resolution services. Being treated differently because of distance.
What are the issues facing NAAFLS?
NAAFLS has an excellent case worker and paralegal team here in Katherine, but at the moment, we are working hard to recruit a legal team to service our Katherine community. I am travelling fortnightly to Katherine to meet our clients face to face and provide that continuity of service, but we would love to have lawyers permanently based on the ground here.
For someone not from here, what does a day-in-the-life-of look like?
The thing that distinguishes the work we do, is the team we work within. Last week I was in Numbulwar, a community on the coast out past Ngukurr. I had one interpreter, speaking the language I cannot speak. I had a case worker, identifying and providing the social supports and services I am not trained or qualified to provide in this community. And I had a paralegal, providing the administrative and legal filing support required to provide complex legal services in remote communities like this.
What is the main difference between the work you do here, and elsewhere?
A big distinction is helping people identify the legal issue. In other places, people come to you with a legal problem. Here, people seek assistance with a problem they identify, which may actually turn out to be three or four different legal problems. So yes, if anyone is considering a change, this is a very satisfying place to work in.
