ABOUT YELC
Youth Enterprise Legal Centre (YELC) is a not for profit service run by volunteer Lawyers and Paralegals.
We provide legal services to all with special emphasis on socially and economically disadvantaged people in most areas of the Law. We strive to provide quality legal services to our clients and the community to assist them to resolve their legal problems.
If we can’t help you with your legal problem we can refer you to other organizations that can.
We also work with a panel of commercial law firms that provide specialized legal advice to our clients
Our values include
- Respect
- Trust
- Teamwork
- Fairness
- Integrity
- Learning and Creativity
- Effectiveness
- Continuous Improvement
- Responsiveness
Our Objectives
- Develop and provide a range of services and activities which address community needs and are consistent with our Mission
- Develop and maintain partnerships with commercial law firms that work together to plan coordinate and improve services
- Maintain an effective and cohesive team consisting volunteer Lawyers and Paralegals as well as Students..
We welcome feedback from the public to ensure we always improve and are relevant to the current needs of the community
Call us on 02 9037 0739 and if we are busy please leave a message and we will respond as soon as possible.
We provide free legal advice and help in a range of legal matters.
Volunteer Students
YELC provides Law students with a methodology for experiencing legal procedures, ethics and interacting with clients.
- To develop students’ critical appreciation of the law and legal system in Australia through participation in a legal practice working for clients.
- To enhance students’ contextual understanding of the law and legal process by exposing them to real clients with legal problems.
- To provide students with a detailed understanding of the legal aid system and develop student’s understanding of issues of access to the legal system for the Australian community
- To develop student’s awareness of the role of lawyers in practice in the legal system.
- To develop students’ understanding of ethics and responsibility in a workplace setting.
- To introduce students to the importance of developing basic legal skills to a high level of proficiency including communication, interviewing, drafting and negotiation.
- To encourage students to see the law as a vehicle which can be used to protect and develop human rights.
- Law students can gain credit for the time spent at YELC towards their Professional Legal Training (PLT) requirements
Volunteer Lawyers
YELC encourages experienced solicitors with a current NSW practicing certificate to apply to volunteer.
Volunteer solicitors assist YELC by training, participating and supervising the students & volunteers at the center.
As well as providing a free legal services, the Centre aims to provide a training platform for volunteer Paralegals and students. The students take initial instructions from clients and convey these to the solicitor. This exchange is a valuable one for the students, and can be useful for you. It is an opportunity to talk through the instructions and the possible advice, and a chance for research and analysis before going to t he client. The student then accompanies the solicitor when they give the legal advice to the client.
If you meet these criteria and are interested in contributing to the community please contact us.