When young people end up in the justice system, the impacts can last a lifetime.
Even a minor offence or fine can affect a young person’s education, employment prospects, housing, and mental health. But for most young people, understanding their legal rights isn’t a priority. They’re busy with school, friends, family, and finding their place in the world. Legal issues can feel overwhelming, confusing, or simply not relevant — until something goes wrong.
At South-East Monash Legal Service, we’re working to change that by putting legal support where it can benefit young people the most: inside schools.
We’ve partnered with schools across Melbourne’s southeast region to deliver on-campus legal help to students. Students can speak directly with a lawyer at school, take part in fun and practical legal education activities, and get involved in our after-school program, Sporting Change, which combines sport with fun and accessible legal education.
We’re integrating legal help into schools in three ways
South-East Monash Legal Service’s work with schools rests on three main components, each designed to support students in different ways:
- Free legal help on school grounds
Students can book appointments or drop in to speak to our school lawyer about issues they’re facing, just like they would the school nurse.
- After-school activities with Sporting Change
This unique program combines sport with practical legal education in a relaxed, supportive environment.
- In-class legal education
We run classroom sessions tailored to issues young people are experiencing, often co-designed with schools or based on topics that come up during legal consultations.
Free legal help for young people
Our school-based lawyer is available for confidential legal consultations during the school day. Students can get help with a wide range of issues, including:
- Fines and infringements (like Myki fines, parking tickets or driving offences)
- Bullying and harassment (both in person and online)
- Financial scams (helping students who’ve been targeted)
- Consumer law (understanding their rights when buying products or services)
- Employment issues (such as unpaid wages or unfair treatment at work)
- Family issues (including family violence)
- Police and court matters (support with police interactions or navigating the Children’s Court)
In one recent case, a student had accumulated $18,000 in fines that they didn’t even understand. After our lawyer stepped in, those fines were waived entirely. We make sure students aren’t harshly penalised for not understanding the law, and can instead empower themselves with knowledge to make better decisions in the future.
Sporting Change: Game-changing legal education
Legal education doesn’t have to be boring and dry. Sporting Change is an after-school program all about getting active and learning at the same time. Students join weekly sports sessions run by professional coaches, where each week also includes discussion and activities about real-world legal topics, such as:
- How the legal system works
- Police powers
- Healthy relationships
- Employment law
- Driving and road safety
- Consumer rights
Led by our youth worker Milly, and supported by social work students, this program is fun, inclusive, and helps students build legal knowledge and confidence while engaging in the sports and games they already love. Students loved the program, with 98% of students reporting that learning about their rights and responsibilities had a positive impact on their lives.
Education that’s relevant to real life
We also run tailored in-class sessions based on what students need to know most. We’re always responding to issues that students are dealing with in real-time, whether it’s understanding consent and healthy relationships, learning what counts as assault, or how to handle online harassment.
These sessions are built around real-life questions students are asking and situations they’re facing. Without our strong relationships with the schools we work alongside, we wouldn’t be able to provide this level of tailored and responsive legal education.
