Giving free legal support to marginalised people

Toongabbie Legal Centre
Dedicated. Committed. Selfless

Solicitor Susai Benjamin believes being marginalised and vulnerable should not deny people the right to high-quality legal support.

Driven by this philosophy, he founded the Toongabbie Legal Centre, which provides free services to culturally, socially and economically disadvantaged people who don’t qualify for means-tested support from NSW Legal Aid.

The centre operates twice a week at St Anthony’s Church, where it helps more than six hundred clients a year and has supported more than six thousand since it opened in 2007.

Susai is well known and popular in the area and never turns anyone away if they come to his home in seek of help when the centre is not open.

“We try to assist people who cannot afford legal support. Sometimes we provide representation and hopefully try to resolve legal issues so that people can avoid having to go to court,” Susai says.

Volunteers at the centre include solicitors, barristers, law students, migration agents and people from various other relevant professions.

Susai feels honoured to be voted a Westfield Local Hero and is grateful for the community support, which he says is encouraging all the volunteers at the centre. "Credit should go to everyone involved, not just me," he says.

In the beginning, the centre’s work usually involved minor criminal or traffic offences, but these days most of the cases are far more complex and often involve family law.

“Our clients are often confronting a legal issue for the first time and can be quite overwhelmed and desperately looking for legal help,” says Susai.

One of the centre’s innovative projects involves inviting experienced lawyers and judges to present insights on everyday legal issues at free seminars for the local community.

Westfield Local Heroes are nominated and voted for by their communities, with the three top finalists per Westfield centre each awarded a $10,000 grant for their affiliated organisation.

The centre will use its grant to replace its old and unreliable computers.
“This grant is important because as a team of volunteers we struggle financially and are looking for support to make our work full-time,” Susai says.

__For further information on the Westfield Local Heroes program, click here. __