It is the unenviable position that as we reflect on this past year, the Victorian community has been subject to a roller coaster of challenges such as the character of a pandemic. As a community legal service, we see the frontline impact on our community members who already face complex and compounding situations. In addition, staff, volunteers, and the Board are also managing their own personal journey through this time.

As reported last year, SMLS was able to pivot almost instantaneously to a remote service delivery model due to foundation work that had been in train before the pandemic arrived on our shores. We have been able to maintain the momentum but also build on our capabilities and capacity as the year went on. Returning to site on a number of occasions has allowed us to regroup and redefine. This started from a bricks and mortar perspective with the Springvale site being fully stripped back as we went completely paperless.

We said goodbye to several long-term staff who saw this time as an opportunity to seek out new challenges on the back of their experiences with SMLS. We have welcomed a significant number of new faces to bring new ideas and dynamism to our service. We are very proud to be able to bring on a group of new lawyers as they start their journey in the legal profession.

Fortunately, during a lockdown reprieve period we were able to hold face to face strategic planning days with staff and board. We are very excited with the new 4-year plan that has emerged and have developed a 2-year operational plan to ensure we stay the course in delivering on our objectives. We are focused on future proofing the service and building on the contemporary service models we embrace.

As part of that broader plan, we realised it was time to redefine the service with a new name and identity. This represents the changes, growth, and next stage of our history. From strong foundations we can head in new directions. The organisation as a collective, has chosen South-East Monash Legal Service (‘SMLS’) to capture our incredible partnership with Monash Law as well as the whole community we now serve. We are very proud to launch the new accompanying logo.

Some critical highlights from the year include:

Integrated Services for Survivor Advocacy: additional resources have been invested into our iconic sexual assault and family violence unit partnerships with SECASA so that we can ensure that clients across the region are being fully support through their VOCAT claims

Sporting Change and School Lawyer: We welcomed Dandenong High School onboard as part of our school lawyer program and will be introducing our flagship community development program Sporting Change in the new year

Family Law: This following is an example of our engagement with the Court’s response to the pandemic

A parent withheld a child from seeing his mother after the second lockdown ended alleging child was at risk with the mother.  There was and IVO against the other parent and there had been a long history of family violence. We filed under the Federal Circuit Court/Family Court Special COVID-19 list and obtained hearing before a Registrar within 3 days of filing just prior to Christmas 2020. Orders were made for urgent family consultant report and return date first week of January for interim hearing before a Judge.  Orders were made for gradual re-introduction of time as the child had not been in the mother’s care for some time.

We were very excited to be appointed by Victoria Legal Aid Commission (VLA) as the new FASS providers at the Melbourne Registry and have partnered with Womens Legal Services to support FDRS services through VLA.

Clinic – The strength of our remote Monash Law professional practice has only grown. It has been useful to draw on feedback from students about the processes and procedures. We have enjoyed finding ways to ensure the students feel part of the broader team. We look forward to having students back on site as it is a critical part of the experience.

Civil – We have been refining our civil law practice to focus on litigation that reflects our specialisations (including employment law), and challenges our clients face in navigating civil jurisdictions (for instance; an appeal from a VCAT ruling on a technical point of error, which will have a lasting ramifications for our client).

On behalf of the Chair and Executive Director we want to acknowledge the courage and commitment that our staff have shown. It has not been an easy time but as an organisation we are very lucky to a have an incredible team atmosphere and good humour that has buoyed us along the way. We acknowledge the Board’s commitment and contribution to finding our new vision for the medium-term future and providing the support and belief in the operational direction.

As always, we note the ongoing support of our partners, including Dean Bryan Horrigan and the Monash Law team in trusting in our capability to provide a clinical student experience of excellence. We are thrilled to be building on the relationships we have established with several universities through our social work student placements. This will support the launch of our formal integrated service in the new year. We are grateful for Goodshepherd’s continued partnership with financial counselling. It was also exciting to build on our long relationship with the City of Greater Dandenong who have committed funding towards an integrated maternal and child health program. Of course, we are grateful for the ongoing strong and collaborative relationships we enjoy with the State Government and Victoria Legal Aid Commission.

South-East Monash Legal Service is excited about the what the future holds. SMLS will be focusing on being a leader in integrated services, growing the state-of-the-art educational platform we offer students across multiple disciplines, an employer of choice and having a proactive and informed contribution to policy and research.