LAQ's YouTube channel
December 2013 

In this issue:

This year in review

It’s been another productive and rewarding year for our CLE program.

This year, our lawyers presented CLE sessions to more than 2400 people across Queensland. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our lawyers for their continued support of the CLE program. Please contact us communitylegaled@legalaid.qld.gov.au if you have a CLE session request for a community group or community workers in 2014.

We also participated in a range of community events this year, including the Islamic Council of Queensland Services Expo, Homeless Connect, Law Week – legal precinct open day, the Transition to Independence Expo, the Musgrave Park Family Fun Day and Finance Fairs. These events are a great opportunity for our staff to interact directly with the community and network with other agencies. We look forward to participating in more events next year. If there is an event you think we should be a part of please let us know.

This year we continued to partner with the Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS) to present two legal information forums on consumer protection issues and child protection. These forums are targeted at community workers and provide an overview of common legal issues experienced by key client groups. Representatives from a range of community service providers attend the forums, providing an opportunity for discussion about emerging issues common to our work. A video of the consumer protection information forum is available on our YouTube channel; the child protection video will be uploaded soon. Two QCOSS forums are planned for 2014 so keep an eye on the CLE-bulletin for more information.

Our CLE Collaboration Fund grant recipients continue to develop innovative CLE resources and deliver CLE sessions across Queensland — 16 projects have been completed to date, delivering 59 CLE sessions to 1928 people across Queensland, creating 53 new CLE resources and updating 21 existing publications. You can find out more about these projects and resources on our website.

In March 2014, we will call for applications to the CLE Collaboration Fund to resource new CLE projects or to expand CLE projects that previously received a grant from the fund. Please contact us at communitylegaled@legalaid.qld.gov.au if you have any questions about the fund.

Office closure

During the Christmas break all Legal Aid Queensland offices will be closed from 5pm on Tuesday, 24 December 2013 and will re-open on Thursday, 2 January 2014.

Happy holidays

We’d like to wish you and your family a happy and safe holiday season and best wishes for the new year.