Hume Riverina Community Legal Service
Hume Riverina Community Legal Service (HRCLS) is a generalist, place-based, cross-border, community legal centre improving access to justice in the regional communities of 17 local government areas across North East Victoria and the Southern Riverina of New South Wales.
Established in 1999 as a service of Upper Murray Family Care (UMFC), HRCLS advances fairness in the legal system through the strategic provision of trauma-informed, client-centred legal assistance, community legal education, and advocacy and law reform to address systemic barriers to justice.
We provide assistance for a range of everyday legal problems through our civil law practice, and family law and family violence practice, including:
- family and domestic violence
- family law – children
- credit and debt
- family law – property
- consumer complaints
- separation and divorce
- victims’ compensation
- fines
- child support
- housing and tenancy
- government complaints
We assist people living in regional communities across North East Victoria and the Southern Riverina of New South Wales who are experiencing financial disadvantage and barriers to accessing justice. We prioritise assistance to:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Children and young people (up to 24 years)
- People affected by natural disasters
- People experiencing or at risk of family, domestic and sexual violence
- People living with disability or mental illness
We provide legal assistance through integrated partnerships, including health justice partnerships, with community, education, health, and family violence services, including:
- Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Health Service
- Centre Against Violence
- Gateway Health
- Intereach
- North East Support and Action for Youth (NESAY)
- Riverina Foodshare – Finley
- Upper Murray Family Care (UMFC)
- Vinnies Deniliquin
- Wodonga Flexible Learning Centre
- Women’s Centre for Health and Wellbeing
- Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service (WDVCAS)
- Yes Unlimited
Would you like more information?
Click here for our recent publications, including annual reports, program evaluations and strategic documents.
Our Leadership Team
Sarah Rodgers
Director
Ashlie Barclay
Manager Operations
Alison Maher
Principal Lawyer, Family Law and Family Violence Practice
Deborah Fisher
Principal Lawyer, Civil Law Practice
Acknowledgement of Country
Hume Riverina Community Legal Service acknowledges the traditional custodians and Elders past and present, who have raised children, taught them about the world around them and gave them the gift of culture and language. We recognise our part in bringing fairness to our Indigenous brothers and sisters and creating a community where all children, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, can ‘grow up strong’.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the first owners of this land and we recognise their right to self-determination and justice.
We are committed to walking alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on this journey.
We support diversity and inclusivity and welcome all people to our service, regardless of race, religion, gender or sexuality.
Hume Riverina Community Legal Service is accredited by the National Association of Community Legal Centres and is a member of the Federation of Community Legal Centres Victoria and Community Legal Centres NSW.
Hume Riverina Community Legal Service acknowledges funding from the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety, Victoria Legal Aid, and the Victorian Legal Services Board Grants Program, for the provision of services. We are also funded by the Australian Government, NSW Government and the Public Purpose Fund through the Community Legal Centres Program administered by Legal Aid NSW.
DONATE NOW
Please support Hume Riverina Community Legal Service in providing free legal assistance to people who need it most in communities across North East Victoria and the Southern Riverina of New South Wales.
