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).
Why volunteer with Community Law Wellington and Hutt Valley?
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.
Current Volunteer Vacancies
Rōia kaitūao/Volunteer Lawyer
We’re looking for volunteer lawyers/rōia kaitūao in Te Awa Kairangi/Lower Hutt! Below are a list of our current vacancies.
- Employment rōia on Tuesday evening 5pm-7pm Employment session
- Tenancy rōia on Thursday 12-2pm Tenancy session
- Family rōia on Monday 10am-12pm Family session, and Friday 12pm-1pm Advice for Women session
- Refugee and immigration rōia on Wednesday 12-2pm RILAS session (training provided)
We’re looking for volunteer family lawyers/rōia kaitūao for our Wellington/Pōneke legal advice clinic, 12pm-2pm Wednesdays.
Volunteer Sub-Committee: The Volunteer Sub-Committee is a working group made up of both staff and volunteers (student and lawyers). We aim to ensure that volunteers have a strong voice within Community Law Wellington & Hutt Valley, and have a representative on the Board. The Volunteer Sub-Committee provides an easy, effective way for volunteers to directly improve our services and our working environment. To find out more, please contact one of our Volunteer Coordinators below.
Volunteer roles – Apply Now!
Most of our volunteers fall into three categories:
- Volunteer Lawyers | Rōia Kaitūao – Find out more and apply here
- Assisting Volunteers | Kaiāwhina Kaitūao Volunteers for our general free legal advice service who have no practising certificates including everyone from senior law students to graduates working in non-legal jobs. Find out more and apply here
- Volunteer advocates | Kaihāpai Volunteers for our RILAS (Refugee and Immigration Legal Advice Service) team who either provide on-going advocacy or information services for clients – find out more and apply here or contact one of our Volunteer coordinators (contact details below).
Other opportunities to work with Community Law
- Internships Learn more about this fantastic opportunity here
- Pro Bono Support Community Law Wellington & Hutt Valley is grateful for the pro bono support of a number of firms. Click here to find out more.