Legal help
Right after the injury I knew there is something very wrong with me and I cannot cope. I have learned term trauma only much later. I had some mental health problems in the past and I did not hesitate to look for help. Only it proved to be way more difficult than I expected. Some of potential ways I have tried many times. Only at the end of 2024 I found out that it seems the legal aid organisations that I contacted are controlled by Law Society, no surprise I did not get any help.
My experience
Here is a list of avenues I tried and my experience with them.
| Name | Link | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| People with Disability Australia | https://pwd.org.au/ | I contacted them asking for help finding lawyer. Because of my disability I get overwhelmed and I advocate for myself. The reply was to contact legal organisations directly. |
| The Justice and Equity Centre | https://jec.org.au/ | I was told that they only provide help only for securing living place and only for homeless people or at risk of homelessness. |
| Community Legal Centers NSW | https://clcnsw.org.au/ | Use to find contacts of community centers in your area. |
| Legal Aid NSW (also their branch Legal Aid Mental Health Advocacy Service) | https://www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au/ | Does not provide any help related to personal injuries or legal fees or any other legal question I contacted them about. The only thing I got from them was fake promises and misinformation. Every time after contacting them I was left with the feeling that there is no help. However, there is a way to find help, just do not contact them. |
| Financial Right Legal Centre | https://financialrights.org.au/ | Has some useful information on their website. They do not provide help with personal injury claim or legal fees. I thought maybe they can provide at least direct where to look for help. After many attempts I managed to reach them, but they could not provide any useful information. |
| Social Justice Clinic Macquarie Law School Macquarie University | https://www.mq.edu.au/faculty-of-arts/departments-and-schools/macquarie-law-school/engage-with-us/social-justice-clinic | Private law firm specializes only in family law |
Community legal centres
Redfern Legal Centre
Marrickville Legal Centre
I have visited them in office and in walk in service at Newtown community centre, but was not able to find any useful help.
Forums, groups
I found 2 Facebook groups. I found them useful and most of people try to help. The activity is not very hight, but it make sense to try:
- Free Legal Support Group (Australia) https://www.facebook.com/groups/695283527287903,
- Legal Help Australia ◉ Advice, Referrals, Anonymous Q&A https://www.facebook.com/groups/1616728571701352.
Some comments were toxic and there is bias support for Law Society NSW, OLSC and insurance companies. You need some patience to get through toxicity.
- https://www.reddit.com/r/AusLegal/new/ - active, but very toxic. With correct expectations you may find useful advice even if it will be 1/10 comments. For example I have seen poster attacked for causing troubles by going to HR to ask for help when he find out that that manager was feeling suicidal due to bullying and stress at work, or another poster attacks for asking advice about health problems caused by bullying.
- https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladviceaustralia/new/ - less active, but a bit less toxic.
Tip: you need to manually change order of posts and comments. As bullies like to gather in gangs you will drowning in toxic comments otherwise and miss genuine advices.
Contacting with request for help
I had to contact many government organisations, law firms, private people, forums and so on asking for help. There is more or less same structure the way you present you information every time. While it is similar to other requests for help on more complex problems I like to highlight How to write when asking for help.
Useful legal information
English is not my first language, and I am not used to legal terms. I am also used to different legal system than the one in Australia. So, I been struggling with many legal terms. Here is explanation of some of them.
- Without prejudice - term often used in negotiations to allow some freedom of expressing them self without the danger of it being used against them: a guide to without prejudice.
- Advocate’s immunity unavailable to legal practitioner who allegedly exaggerated expertise - looks like interesting article. I have not read it yet but might be useful.