1. Community organising and community legal centres Some ideas from my Churchill Fellowship
James Farrell
Director
Queensland Association of Independent Legal Services

2. What is community organising?
Win real improvements in people’s lives
Get a sense of their own power
Alter the relations of power

3. Source: Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall and Steve Max, Organizing for social change (MidWest Academy, 4th ed, 2010) p 8

4. 3 models of integration Legal organisation Activist organisation
Organisers
Activist organisation
Lawyers
Legal organisation
Activist organisation

5. Most evident in Ontario CLCs; some US organisations (eg ACLU SDEC)
Legal organisation
Organisers
Most evident in Ontario CLCs; some US organisations (eg ACLU SDEC)
Organisers on staff
Strengths
Campaign focus for change – eg SCC
Staff play to strengths
Weaknesses
Relies on historical, cultural model
Some cross-discipline challenges

6. Activist organisation
Lawyers
Not a common model in Aus
Unlikely to be govt funded
US examples:
environmental orgs
worker centers
Strengths
Weaknesses
Some cross- discipline challenges

7. Activist organisation
Legal organisation
Activist organisation
Contemporary model for CLCs
Strengths
Independence
Mission clarity
Weaknesses
Not always coordinated (eg marriage equality)

8. Conclusions No clear, obvious fit
Opportunities to work within both disciplines