For 30 years, the Women’s Legal Centre ACT has provided free legal advice and representation to women, trans and gender-diverse people, particularly those affected by gender-based violence and discrimination.

“We provide legal assistance in conjunction with other forms of social and cultural support that help women to stay engaged with their legal matter and actually resolve it,” CEO Elena Rosenman said.

The Centre is an integrated legal assistance service, where lawyers, social workers, cultural support officers and victim advocates work together. Their clients might seek help with family and sexual violence, divorce and separation, workplace problems, or migration issues.

“We really wrap around the women that we see and meet as many of their needs as we can in the one spot,” Ms Rosenman said.

Its lawyers work in family law, employment, discrimination and sexual harassment, and migration, while its specialist programs include Mulleun Mura, led by First Nations women, and a sexual violence legal service established two years ago.

Private lawyers give their time through volunteer legal advice clinics, helping the Centre assist more people who could not afford private representation.

“It is an absolute commitment to making the justice system accessible and actually able to deliver justice to everyone in our community, not just those who can afford it,” Ms Rosenman said.

For instance, the Centre helped Laila, a migrant woman with limited English who had left an abusive husband, sell their home and secure enough money for her and her children to start again. Its Mulleun Mura team helped Bridie, an Aboriginal woman, protect her son from her ex-partner. It helped Mira, who fled persecution with her children, win the right to stay in Australia after nearly seven years.

“There are many women living in Canberra now, who have security and safety and comfort in their lives because they were able to get really specialist support at the time that they need it,” Ms Rosenman said.

One client said that the Centre’s family lawyer and social worker guided her to a positive solution when she was at her most vulnerable.

“Their expertise, patience and unwavering support has been invaluable. I cannot thank them enough for ensuring a net would appear should I jump.

“I have had so many people let me down when I needed them most, but these wonderful women not only provided the net, but held my hand and jumped with me.”

Many clients hear about the Centre from women it has helped before.

“We’re helping women that you know,” Ms Rosenman said. “This is an issue that is happening in our local communities, and it is possible to address and respond to it.”

But demand for the Centre’s services is rising sharply. Ms Rosenman said Canberra’s growing population and greater awareness of violence and coercive control had led more people to seek help. At the same time, cost-of-living pressures and fears about losing housing, financial security, or access to children could keep women in violent relationships.

Requests for assistance increased nearly 40 per cent last year, for the fifth or sixth year in a row, Ms Rosenman said. In 2025, the Centre received nearly 3,500 calls and more than 900 online requests; helped more than 1,700 women; and indirectly supported more than 2,200 children.

“Our capacity has not grown at the same rate as the requests for assistance,” Ms Rosenman said.

Fundraising helps the Centre maintain its services. The Centre’s EOFY appeal raised $13,184, exceeding its $10,000 target. One person gave $5,000, while Parker Coles Curtis Lawyers matched donations up to $10,000.

“Because of this community, someone escaping violence has a lawyer by their side,” the Centre said. “Someone afraid to speak up at work finds the courage to do it. A mother secures safe housing for herself and her children.”