The Refugee Law Project

The Refugee Law Project arose out of a meeting of minds between barrister Victor Kline and some of his colleagues at the NSW Bar, and the teachers at the Thomas More Law School at the Australian Catholic University. For the barristers the Refugee Law Project was to be an opportunity to take advantage of the talents of the law schools final year law students to help them provide pro bono (free) help to the many thousands of hitherto unrepresented asylum seekers appearing before the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. For the law school, the Refugee Law Project was an opportunity to expose their students to real world practical law, and to the thinking and approach to legal practice of experienced barristers. The original team of students has been augmented by students from other universities and by graduates of all ages. These are now known as Volunteer Litigation Assistants. The VLAs attend first court date and offer the services of the Refugee Law Project to those asylum seekers w...