about Marrickville Legal Centre (MLC):
How can we help?
You can get free advice on many types of legal problems including:
Fines
Employment issues
Debt
Tenancy
Consumer Complaints
Discrimination
Victims compensation
Minor Criminal Charges
Complaints about police or government agencies
Car accidents
We work closely with many other local and community organisations, and can refer you if we are unable to assist.
Who can we help?
Our Youth Legal Service assists children and young people up to the age of 25 living anywhere in NSW.
Our General Legal Service can help adults who live in the Inner Western and Southern Suburbs of Sydney.
Our Domestic Violence Service is available to anyone living in the Inner West or South West of Sydney.
Our Family Law Service is available to clients of Family Relationship Centres by direct referral by the FRC.
Our Tenants Advocacy Service is available to tenants in the Inner West.
Our Strata Service is available to residential owner occupiers across NSW.
North Sydney Tenants
Our Northern Sydney Area Tenants’ Service helps tenants living from North Sydney to Ryde & Pittwater. Call 02 8198 8650 or visit www.nsats.org for more information.
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More Information
Contact us or visit the pages below for more information:
OUR PEOPLE
Principal Solicitor & Acting Executive Officer
Annette van Gent
General Legal Service
Lisa Woodgate
Vasili Maroulis
Bill Clarke
Family Relationship Centre Partnership
Margie Martin
Youth Legal Service
Vasili Maroulis
Katie Green
Frankie Sullivan
NSW Strata Collective Sales Advocacy Service
Jake Edwards
Justin Abi-Daher
Family Violence Service
Zoe McMillan
Inner West Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service (IWTAAS)
Eloise Parrab
Julia Murray
Martin Barker
Northern Sydney Area Tenants’ Service (NSATS)
Sousan Ghecham
Janice Yeung
Un-Ai Jo
Operations Manager
Alex Ariti
Our Story
Our Story
OUR STORY
Marrickville Legal Centre was established in 1979, staffed primarily by law student volunteers. Its establishment was motivated by the local Greek community’s need for legal advice that they could not afford. The Centre targeted the needs of the community, who were mainly of non-English speaking backgrounds and young people.
By 1984 the Centre employed four part-time solicitors and was open 3 nights per week with regular Greek and Vietnamese interpreters, 50 student volunteers and 35 solicitor volunteers. In 1980 the Centre received a grant from the NSW Legal Services Commission for a pilot Children’s Legal Service, which is ongoing.
From Robert St, the Centre moved in 1994 to its current premises on Illawarra Road. The Inner West Tenants’ Advice & Advocacy Service started the following year. After 10 years of operation, the Inner West Domestic Violence Court Assistance Scheme was followed in 2009 by the Inner West Domestic Violence Pro-Active Support Service.
From those early days on the first floor of Marrickville Town Hall Marrickville Legal Centre has grown and its services now incorporate the generalist legal service, tenancy service, domestic violence support and referral scheme, the evening legal advice service and our award winning state-wide youth legal service. The Centre now provides legal services to the residents of 12 local government areas. These areas cover the inner west, south and parts of south west Sydney and have a combined population of over 1.1 million people. This means that approximately 1 in 20 people living in Australia live in Marrickville Legal Centre’s catchment area.
Feedback and Complai
Feedback and Complai
Feedback and Complaints
Marrickville Legal Centre welcomes feedback of all kinds, as it assists us to improve our services. We are committed to a fair and transparent complaints process.
This information is a summary of the Marrickville Legal Centre Managing Complaints Policy and is designed to assist you in making a complaint.
Raising Concerns
We encourage you to raise any immediate concerns with a staff member at the time you experience difficulties. The staff member will make all reasonable efforts to resolve your concerns with you.
Making a Complaint
If you feel that your concerns have not been resolved through discussion with a staff member, you may make a formal complaint by writing to the Centre’s Principal Solicitor.
The Principal Solicitor will investigate your complaint, and inform you in writing of the outcome of that investigation and any action that will be taken.
Wherever possible, the Principal Solicitor will resolve your complaint within five working days. Where this is not possible, the Principal Solicitor will inform you within five days of how long it will take to respond to your complaint.
Making an Appeal
If you are not satisfied with the Principal Solicitor’s decision about how your complaint should be resolved, you may make an appeal by writing to the Centre’s Executive Officer.
The Executive Officer will investigate your appeal, and inform you in writing of the outcome of your appeal.
Complaints about the Executive Officer or Principal Solicitor
If you wish to complain about the Centre’s Executive Officer or Principal Solicitor, you can do so by writing to the Centre’s Chair.
Complaints to an External Agency
You are entitled at any time to make a complaint about our services to the NSW Office of the Legal Services Commissioner.
Important Contacts
Written complaints to Marrickville Legal Centre should be emailed to info@mlc.org.au or sent to:
The Executive Officer / The Principal Solicitor
338 Illawarra Road
Marrickville NSW 2204
Complaints about the Centre to the NSW Office of the Legal Services Commissioner can be made to:
Office of the Legal Services Commissioner
GPO Box 4460
Sydney NSW 2001
Ph: 1800 242 958
For further information about feedback and complaints
please contact the Executive Officer on 9559 2899