Gippsland Legal Assistance Forum (GLAF)

The Gippsland Legal Assistance Forum facilitates coordinated legal service delivery and networks with a wide range of stakeholders to improve access to legal services across greater Gippsland

Who is GLAF?

GLAF is a collaboration of legal assistance services comprised of two mainstream and two Aboriginal-led organisations. Our partners are Gippsland Community Legal Service, Victoria Legal Aid, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and Djirra (formerly known as Family Violence and Prevention Legal Service)

We work together to improve access to legal help for priority clients across the whole of Gippsland. We network with a range of support services, health services, government agencies, law enforcement and NGO’s to get the right legal assistance to clients sooner.

We assist agencies to spot oft-missed legal issues and make the best referrals. We do this in a number of ways:

  • Inreach: GLAF lawyers can attend agencies such as Bushfire Recovery Hubs or The Orange Door to advise clients or workers
  • Secondary consultations: GLAF can arrange for a lawyer to give general advice to a worker about a client’s legal issues, or potential legal issues, in a de-identified one-on-one session or group discussion.
  • Legal Health Check: a one-page questionnaire that can help workers ascertain whether a legal referral is needed for their client
  • Professional Development Training for agencies: We offer a range of training to help frontline workers identify legal need and when to make a referral
  • Community Legal Education: GLAF member agencies offer a range of training for schools and community groups around important legal topics such as family violence, consent, culpable driving, bushfire insurance, dealing with police and sexting

GLAF also collects and collates data on unmet legal need in Gippsland and provides informed recommendations to government.

Contacting GLAF

If you are a worker and would like to make a referral to GLAF please email GLAFlegalreferrals@vla.vic.gov.au.

Gippsland Community Legal Service