Founded in 1995 with a team comprising two lawyers and a support worker, this unit - the first of its kind in WA - was established specifically to address the legal needs of women seeking a Restraining Order, while also providing support and referrals to suitable social support services. It was a real innovation of the time, especially considering that the Restraining Orders Act came into effect two years later in 1997.
Initially funded for a 12-month trial, the Domestic Violence Legal Unit proved essential from the first day of service and has been responding to the needs of victims of family and domestic violence ever since. The team has grown considerably across the years and now comprises around 30 staff, including legal staff, social support workers, administration officers and paralegals.
Of course, across the past 30 years State and Commonwealth Laws around family and domestic violence have changed, society continues to evolve, and our understanding of family and domestic violence continues to grow. The Domestic Violence Legal Unit is responsive to the dynamic environment and has adapted across the past three decades. Presently we provide daily duty lawyer services for Restraining Order matters in the metro area, shuttle conferencing in Perth, Joondalup, Armadale, Fremantle and Bunbury, and have a specialist team within the unit that manages the Stronger Women program.
Stronger Women was established in 2020 to serve vulnerable women in regional Western Australia, to combat the twin issues of a high demand for legal services in regional areas alongside a high rate of conflict due to the limited services available in regional hubs. Our Stronger Women team provides legal services in the areas of Family Law, Care and Protection and Family Violence Restraining Orders.
The second component of the Domestic Violence Legal Unit is where a client’s non-legal needs are addressed. Through the provision of social support and referrals to partner agencies working in this space, clients are provided genuine holistic care, enabling them to address multiple issues at the same time and work towards resolutions, while being supported.
The statistics tell us that 4.2 million Australians – or around 21% of the population - over the age of 15 have experienced partner violence or abuse. For Legal Aid WA’s Family Law Division, family and domestic violence is disclosed by 75% of clients. So although we have come a long way, the demand for our Domestic Violence Legal Unit services remains strong. The Unit will continue to respond to the needs of clients, adapt, change and grow. We will continue to innovate in the provision of legal and non-legal services in the area of family and domestic violence, with plans already underway for improved collaborative information sharing with the network of service providers, and educating the Bench, while keeping the client at the centre of all we do.