Policy and law reform skills Workshop 1 – an introduction Teena Balgi, Principal Solicitor, Top End Women’s Legal Service, Anna Cody, Director, Kingsford Legal Centre & Nicole Rich, Policy & Campaigns Director, Consumer Action Law Centre National CLCs Conference 2010 Session 21 – Room 204 Tuesday 26 October 2010

Two questions  Why do law reform? Why not?  What’s stopping me/my Centre doing law reform? - Barriers?

Why yes? – participants:  It’s exciting!  Systemic change  Change unfair laws  Stop repeat problems  Make sure our clients’ voices/interests are heard  Plug gaps in the law  Leads to more areas for work  Can be more efficient than individual casework  Builds relationships with others in the sector  If don’t complicit in unfair system  Raises profile of your Centre/Service

Why yes? – participants:  Allows law to adapt to changing social standards  Can also spark social change  Not reactive like a lot of lawyering, rather creative

Why not? Barriers? - participants:  Other priorities – casework; KPIs to meet  It’s very resource-intensive  Lack of funding for law reform (contra casework)  Reformist – so can distract us from deeper social change – concentrates on the smaller stuff  Slow process – especially for lawyers!  Loss of “corporate” memory as a result – loss of history of both the campaign and of doing law reform work more generally  Requiring a whole of organisation commitment to this sort of work – can face conservatism / charity approach  High staff turnover – and lack of staff skills

Why not? Barriers? - participants:  Can be hugely dissatisfying if not seeing change (speculative by nature)  Breadth of issues is difficult to master, difficult to choose between  Internal politics  External politics  If Centre has dedicated policy officer, is difficult to get support from rest of Centre/Service  No opportunity to reflect, evaluate, learn  Lawyers not trained in policy/law reform work skills?  Can’t do it on your own  Not as immediate/pressing as client work  Can put clients/communities at risk

Why not? Barriers? - participants:  Easier to keep work in-house because gets messy when work with others  Lawyers are trained to do advocacy and to lead – but some law reform work requires community engagement/community to lead  Lawyers need problems to stay in business??!!  Timeframes are different between client work and policy/law reform work  Don’t always agree amongst ourselves on what to do  Difficulty retrieving useful/accurate historical data to support your advocacy (esp from CLSIS)  Need to find activist clients

Beat those Barriers! - participants:  Loss of organisational memory: Good induction programs for new staff eg read annual reports Contact ex-staff and get briefings (carry a big stick) Keep a policy file just as you would a case file Keep file notes, records – and keep them accessible not in your head Proper handovers including the policy work Aim for specific funding for policy work/officers and think about sharing those resources b/w Centres All staff to be involved – incl vollies and management committee members

Beat those Barriers! - participants:  Attitude/support of the Centre: Review Centre’s policies and purpose Ensure all involved in the Centre can attend planning Should be embedded in Centre’s operations, not reliant on individuals with a particular interest in it Make use of external experts to help evaluate and improve services Educate the public on the issue and why you are working on it

Beat those Barriers! - participants:  Lack of skills: Use collaborative approaches and resources Develop toolkits based on people’s living experience Develop external resources to tap into – at sector level eg advisory committees On-line mentors / on-line toolkit Shadow referred cases or other Centres’ work so keep track of matters and learn more about those issues

Beat those Barriers! - participants:  Competing priorities: Must plan for policy work not just do on the run Ability to say no to clients Move away from sole reliance on a policy officer – move to policy coordination role Make aims of the work achievable Recruit Board members with law reform experience Do what you can with the resources you’ve got – even some case studies can help

Beat those Barriers! - participants:  Time / resources: All about planning and saying no Cut your casework targets Deal with concerns from funders by eliciting support from other stakeholders eg your local MP Harness support from others and do it early on – eg volunteer students, pro bono

Beat those Barriers! - participants:  Resources: Source support from different sources – eg pro bono; philanthropics Think creatively eg law firms to take some conditional fees But note – sometimes we are the experts Work in alliances – share knowledge

Beat those Barriers! - participants:  Lack of knowledge of govt process: Get training Promote partnerships Don’t assume public servants understand your issues Follow up training sessions with practical tasks to use those skills