Victoria Law Foundation awards $130,000 to diverse legal projects

Victoria Law Foundation has awarded $130,000 to four diverse legal projects aimed at helping people better understand the law

Sunshine Youth Legal Centre, Youthlaw, the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria and Fitzroy Legal Service each received between $20,000 and $55,000 for targeted legal education projects.

Sunshine Youth Legal Centre will partner with local schools to find out why young people are accruing public transport fines, and the reasons they can’t pay them.

Disadvantaged young people will also find support to better understand the law through the Youthlaw project, 'Reach out and connect', which provides funding for legal education sessions and testing of Youthlaw’s new legal videos and mobile phone app.

The Magistrates’ Court will develop a new website for people representing themselves in intervention order proceedings, with information about the court, legal services and the police. The information will be tailored for both applicants and respondents, and will be explained using multimedia tools such as videos, interactive FAQs and online application forms.

The final grant went to the Fitzroy Legal Service, to design and deliver training explaining the criminal justice system to community workers. The project aims to assist community workers to more effectively support their clients experiencing criminal law issues.

‘Our mission is to make the law easier to understand for all Victorians’, said Victoria Law Foundation Executive Director Joh Kirby.

‘All these projects will provide people with support to better use their legal system to improve their lives – whether that’s about negotiating fines, accessing information through new technologies or being better prepared to represent themselves in court,’ Ms Kirby said.