Volunteering

Community Law Wellington & Hutt Valley is fortunate to have many great legal volunteers, both lawyers and law students, and we could not operate without their support. Volunteers are involved with our daily free legal drop-in sessions, and throughout our specialist advice services, such as the Student Rights Service (SRS) and our Refugee and Immigration Legal Advice Service (RILAS).

Community Law Wellington & Hutt Valley is a great place to meet people who care about justice. The mix of casework, education, and law reform are great ways to achieve real justice for members of our community.

Volunteering at Community Law enables you to learn about these strategies for social change, and makes sure the community has better access to the legal system. We encourage everyone working or volunteering at Community Law to develop their skills and contribute to making justice accessible to all.

Is there a minimum time commitment?

The time taken to induct and train new volunteers means that we ask for a commitment of at least 1 year volunteering with us. Please consider your future work and travel plans before registering your interest.

Interested in volunteering?

We are actively recruiting for volunteers in our Te Awa Kairangi office in Lower Hutt office. Volunteer lawyers and law students usually travelling from central Wellington to support us. It’s a great opportunity to gain some practical experience giving legal assistance while empowering clients and increasing their access to justice.

We are looking for more family lawyers to volunteer with us for both our Wellington and Lower Hutt clinics – please get in touch if you are interested in this.

Our Wellington office, due to its proximity to the law school and the CBD, generally has ample volunteers. We are currently operating a volunteering wait-list for both law students and lawyers. Volunteers are trained on an “as-needs” basis so you may be on the wait-list for a few months, up to a year or more. Spaces do become available over time so if you’re interested please do not be discouraged from getting in touch.

We prioritise the hiring of Kaitūao from Māori or Pasifika backgrounds, in order to best meet the needs of our communities and honour our Treaty obligations. If that’s you, then we encourage you to please get in touch via email as well as filling out the form.