Every Victorian deserves access to legal help after family violence
No one should miss out on legal support after family violence because of where they live or how much they earn.
Family violence can create urgent and interconnected legal problems involving protection orders, parenting arrangements, housing, debt, fines and financial security. Yet regional and rural communities often have fewer specialist lawyers available to help.
At the 2026 Victorian election, we are calling on every political party to commit $17.1 million to deliver the next four rounds of the Emerging Lawyers Program across regional and outer metropolitan communities.
This investment would:
- provide legal assistance to more than 12,000 Victorians
- centrally fund and train 60 Emerging Lawyers
- expand free family violence and family law assistance across Victoria
- build a stronger and more sustainable regional legal workforce
Join the campaign
We’ll only use your details to send updates you’ve asked for. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Legal help is essential to family violence recovery
Leaving a violent relationship does not end the legal problems caused by family violence.
A person may need help with protection orders, parenting arrangements, child support, housing, debt, fines and financial security. These issues are often connected and can be difficult to navigate without specialist legal support.
The need is particularly acute in regional Victoria.
Research by the Victoria Law Foundation found that family-related legal problems were approximately 53% more prevalent in inner-regional Victoria than in major cities.
They also found that family-related legal problems frequently involve children, occur alongside other legal problems and have serious consequences for safety, housing and financial security.
Regional communities need enough lawyers to respond to this complexity. Yet individual community legal centres can struggle to recruit and retain lawyers with the specialist skills required.
A proven solution to get legal help where it is needed
The Emerging Lawyers Program supports early-career lawyers in community legal centres across Victoria.
Emerging Lawyers receive centralised recruitment, training, professional development and peer support while working within experienced local community legal centres.
This model helps community legal centres expand access to legal assistance while developing lawyers with the skills to respond to family violence, family law and related legal problems.
The Program delivers more legal help now while building the workforce needed for the future.
Our pilot proves this model works
From 2024–25, 14 Emerging Lawyers supported 3,066 Victorians across communities in Gippsland, to Mildura, across Hume and down to Warrnambool.
It also gave early-career lawyers a supported pathway into community legal practice, with 11 of the 14 Emerging Lawyers offered contract extensions or ongoing employment by their host community legal centre.
This year we're doing it again by supporting 8 Emerging Lawyers working in local communities over 18 months.
Now we're ready to expand the program to reach more Victorians.
Our election ask
We are calling on every Victorian political party and candidate to fund the next phase of the Emerging Lawyers Program.
The investment would fund:
- next four rounds of 15 Emerging Lawyers
- 60 supported lawyer positions placements in total across 15 community legal centres
- specialised legal assistance for more than 12,000 Victorians across regional and outer metropolitan areas
- centralised recruitment, training and professional development provided by Women's Legal
- stronger regional family violence and family law workforce capacity
