This podcast was recorded on the country of the Wangal people of the Eora nation. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present. As we gather for Law Week may we recognize the law, education and storytelling that has been practiced on these lands for 10s of 1000s of years. Always was, always will be.
This is spotlight, a mini series where we shine a light on some of the best events and activities happening in Law Week 2022. My name is Yasmine and I'm a content creator with legal aid. New South Wales, one of the partners of Law Week. New South Wales Law Week is an annual festival that is all about creating greater access to justice. This year's Law Week takes place between the 16th and 22nd of May. There are heaps of events happening across the state, online and in person to help you understand your rights, the law, the legal system and the legal profession. You can find out what's on via the events schedule at Law Week nsw.org.au. Today in the spotlight, we have Western Sydney Community Legal Center, we chat to Caitlin about their awesome events happening for Law Week, including activities specifically for community workers and the public. Hi Caitlin, thank you for joining me on the podcast today. Could you please tell us about your role at Western Sydney Community Legal Centre?
For sure. Thanks so much for having me. So my name is Caitlin, I'm a solicitor at the Western Sydney Community Legal Center. So myself and my colleagues, we give legal assistance to people who can't otherwise afford legal help. And I'm more specifically working on the multicultural legal team though we have lots of different teams doing different things, and our office
awesome. And this podcast is highlighting some of the events and activities taking place for Law Week. Western Sydney Community Legal Centre has several really important events happening. One of them being on the first day of Law Week called legal problem spotting for community workers. Could you tell us a bit about that event?
our legal problems spotting training has a few main aims. So we're really hoping that community and social workers can learn how to identify common legal problems that they're likely to encounter with the clients accessing their services, we want to help them understand what free legal services like ours are able to assist with how to make an effective referral to that service. We think the training is really important because spotting a legal problem early and getting some legal help early really makes a big difference for the clients. So we're really hoping to work together with the community and social workers out there to make that happen.
Yeah, that sounds fantastic. How is that event occurring? Is it online or in person? And how can people participate and when?
So the training will be held online, it will be on Monday, the 16th of May at 1pm. And so it is something that people need to register for. So they can do that. On our website. If you go through our website on the news page, the link will be up there for people to register and join.
Fantastic. And we'll put all the information about the events and how you can register it in the show notes for this episode. And Caitlin, I've noticed you've got a couple of events that are happening in person as well. The first one being when social media meets the law. What is that one about?
That training is actually a really interesting one, you know, young people, teenagers nowadays, I think it feels like they live life online or on their phones. So this is a really important presentation all about, I suppose those online safety aspects of cyber bullying, intimate image based abuse and privacy when our young people are online. So this one is definitely available for young people themselves. Also parents and carers who might be concerned more than welcome to come along to that one.
Yeah, it sounds like a really timely event as well. And where's that taking place.
So it'll be on Wednesday, the 18th of May from 5:30 to 6:30pm. It will be held in person at Castle Hill headspace, but we appreciate that not everyone can come in person nowadays. So participants are also able to attend via zoom. If they like, again, this one need to register for it. And that link will be on our website so people can register their interest to attend there.
So it's a bit of a hybrid option people can attend in person or online. It sounds fantastic. And another really, really important topic that you're hosting, safe relationships. Could you tell me a bit about that event?
Yeah, absolutely. So this one is actually going across three, three days in time. So the first one will kick off Tuesday the 17th of May during last week at Auburn library but again a hybrid event of people can attend in person or also welcome to join online. then the following week continuing this talk at Granville library on the Tuesday 24th of May. And then at merrylands Library on Thursday, the 26th of May. So lots of dates and locations to pick from based on, you know, what's what's most convenient for people. So for this talk, safe relationships, we just want to really talk about, I suppose signs or things that people can look out for, for when a relationship might not be going right. Help people understand where the law can step in all the different ways that the law can help. I think people often think you know that police are their only option. But there's lots of different options out there. And we just want to make people aware of that. So for us, we're happy to have the whole community, you know, someone's struggling with with a relationship themselves, and they're definitely welcome to come. But this is also great. Even if you just want to increase your knowledge just to be able to keep a lookout for your friends, your family, your community, maybe your children, if they're getting older, getting into relationships, this is a good one for everyone. So those can be attended in person at the library. So you can contact Auburn library, Granville library, or Merryland's library to register to attend in person. If you prefer to attend online, then the Zoom links for that will be available on our website.
Thank you very much for chatting about all these great events. In general, why do you think people should get involved in Law Week?
I think Law Week is a is a great opportunity for people to think about, I suppose their knowledge of the law, their relationship with the law. A lot of people I think ignore, ignore what's out there until it's a problem or something's going wrong. But you know, it's best I think, to have that knowledge upfront, not for yourself in case you need it, not for your friends and your family. So that's to me, what Law Week is all about just increasing people's knowledge, their participation, law is there for everyone. So you know, get involved.
great and awesome summary, how can people find out more about Western Sydney Community Legal Centre,
so the best place to go for more information about Western Sydney Community Legal Center, the services we offer, the talks that we're running, would be our website. So our website at www.wsclc.org.au, all the information is on there and how to contact us. So please check it out. And if you've got legal questions or, or questions about these presentations, or want to register for the presentations, and please just head to our website.
Great. Thanks so much for chatting with me today. Caitlin, how are you? Thank you so much for having me. That's all for spotlight today. Thank you so much again to Western Sydney Community Legal Centre for chatting to us. And don't forget to check out the show notes for all the links to register for their events. I'd also like to thank Marrickville Legal Centre, the State Library of New South Wales' Find Legal Answers and Tenants' Union New South Wales for supporting this podcast and more week New South Wales have a great Law Week.
