SCALES is a not-for-profit community legal centre and registered charity providing quality free legal advice and information services to people living within the Cities of Rockingham and Kwinana.
Contact Details
- Suite 3, St Nicholas Community Centre, 14 Council Ave, Rockingham, WA, 6168
- PO Box 542, Rockingham, WA, 6968
- scales.org.au
- scales@murdoch.edu.au
- (08) 9550 0400
Hours
Office Hours
- Monday: 9am – 12pm
- Tuesday: 9am – 5pm
- Wednesday: 9am – 5pm
- Thursday: 9am – 5pm
- Friday: 9am – 12pm
- Saturday: Closed
- Sunday: Closed
About SCALES
Work areas:Cost
- There are low or no costs associated with this service.
- Note: some costs such as Freedom of Information fees to be paid by the client
Eligibility
- People living within the Cities of Rockingham or Kwinana
- Community members with limited access to legal services
- Low income and disadvantaged community members
- Priority clients include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Culturally and linguistically diverse people, young people, residential tenants, people with disabilities including mental health issues, older people, LGBTQIA+ people, and people impacted by family and domestic violence.
Services
SCALES partners with the Murdoch University School of Law and Criminology to host the Murdoch Student Law Clinic. This enables us to provide a generalist legal service.
Law Clinic students interview clients under the supervision of solicitors and do all the related follow up work on behalf of the client.
A solicitor closely supervises every aspect of the students’ work. No advice is given without approval of a supervising solicitor.
Advice and limited casework are provided through the Law Clinic on:
- Minor Criminal matters
- Traffic offences and extraordinary drivers’ licences
- Fines and fines enforcement
- Debt and other civil matters
- Consumer disputes
- Tenancy and Housing (residential tenants only)
- Restraining orders
- Family Law (Divorce, Separations and matters relating to children)*
- Criminal Injuries Compensation
- Human rights including discrimination
- Refugee, and limited migration matters
Other services (separate to the Law Clinic) include:
- Family Domestic and Sexual Violence Service, providing holistic wrap around legal and non-legal services (including financial counselling, counselling and client advocacy) to women experiencing family domestic and sexual violence
- Advice and information to young people on criminal and civil matters
- Advice and information on Child Protection matters
- Tenant’s Advice Service for residential tenants
- Weekly Tenant’s Advice and Court Service at the Rockingham Magistrate’s Court
- Regular duty lawyer service in the family violence restraining order list at the Rockingham Magistrates Court
- Law and policy reform
- Community development and Community Legal Education