PAST WEBINARS
Missed a webinar? You can catch up in your own time!
The last 12 webinars are below and older webinars can be found on our Vimeo page.
Accompanying factsheets can be found in the Resources.
Navigating the intersections of Family Law with Care and Protection
Presented by:
Michelle Hayward – Assistant Principal Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
This webinar looks at the two different court systems dealing with the care arrangements of children, being the Family Court and the Children’s Court, and how these two systems interact. We explore the alternatives to children’s court proceedings, what are Active Efforts, working with DCJ, and the potential impact of Care and Protection intervention on Family Law proceedings.
Broadcast: 10 July 2024
Spotting the red flags and assessing the risk.
Presented by:
Kellie McDonald – Senior Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
Everyone working in the domestic and family violence sector must be able to identify the red flags (risk factors) in a case and understand how to assess the level and likelihood of risk faced by clients. Having assessed risk, the next step is to respond – with safety planning, building safety into the ways we manage the case and by ensuring that the work we do doesn’t inadvertently expose our clients to further risk. For those working in family law, it includes addressing risk and where appropriate, building safety into any proposals.
Broadcast: 5 June 2024
Strangulation: Improving responses to an often-invisible form of gender-based violence
Presented by: Jackie McMillan – Senior Project Officer, Women’s Health NSW and Karen Mifsud – Senior Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
Around half of women who experience non-fatal strangulation, also known as choking, will have no external signs that the strangulation occurred. Women’s Health NSW is supporting and strengthening professional understanding and local capacity to respond to, and better meet the needs of, women who have experienced strangulation across the state. This webinar introduces that work, including their online learning hub, ‘It Left No Marks’.
Women’s Legal Service NSW addresses ways that service providers can support women with experiences of strangulation who may choose to pursue legal and compensatory outcomes in the future.
Broadcast: 1 May 2024
Applying for a child’s passport or name change without consent of the other parent
Presented by: Ella McDougall and Isabella Daley, Solicitors, Women’s Legal Service NSW
This webinar explains how a parent can apply for a child’s passport or change a child’s name when it’s not possible or safe to obtain the consent of the other parent, and there are no family law orders in place about the child. It outlines how to apply for a child’s passport by claiming special circumstances using a supporting B9 form. It also outlines how to apply to the District Court of NSW to change a child’s name.
Broadcast: 3 April 2024
Applying for Divorce: a step-by-step guide.
Presented by: Rebecca Keys, Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
Divorce applications are now completed online via the Commonwealth Courts Portal. This webinar provides a step-by-step guide to completing the application form. There are tips for helping clients upload the correct documents, serve the application to the other side and attend the hearing. It also discusses what is required where parties have lived under one roof, where there has been a short marriage and options when they don’t know where the other person is living.
Broadcast: 6 March 2024
Practical Steps for Responding to Financial Abuse
Presented by: Erin Mulally, Senior Solicitor, Financial Rights Legal Centre
Bettina Cooper, Financial Counsellor and Strategy Lead with Mob Strong Debt Help
This webinar will help you to learn more about how caseworkers can help women who have suffered financial abuse.
Broadcast: 7 February 2024
Coercive Control Reforms - an overview of the new offence
Presented by: Liz Snell, Law Reform and Policy Coordinator, WLSNSW
This webinar will briefly outline the new coercive control offence expected to commence by 1 July next year in NSW and discuss the cultural and systems reform required to accompany these reforms. It will also outline the monitoring and review mechanisms to ensure continuous improvements and the opportunities for service providers to provide input.
Broadcast: 29 November 2023
Making sense of the Family Law Amendment Bill (Parenting)
Presented by: Gabrielle Craig, Assistant Principal Solicitor, WLS NSW
This webinar provides an overview of the changes to the Family Law Act and discuss what these changes will mean for our victim survivors of family violence. While there are some positive changes in the Bill, such as the removal of the presumption of Equal Shared Parental Responsibility, we are concerned that safety is no longer prioritised in the best interest factors. We will discuss how we can best make use of the new provisions to ensure evidence of family violence is appropriately before the court and given appropriate weight.
Broadcast: 1 November 2023
Family violence in property settlement cases
Presented by: Rishika Pai – Senior Solicitor, WLS NSW
This webinar looks at the ways in which family violence might have a bearing in determining how to divide property between parties to a relationship. It will include a discussion of the “Kennon argument” and recent case law on this issue.
Broadcast: 11 October 2023
Meet the First Nations Women's Legal Program
Presented by: Taritah Daugherty – Community Outreach Officer, FNWLP
This special program aims to support and meet the legal needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. Developed in 1995, in consultation with Aboriginal women the program receives guidance and feedback from the Aboriginal Women’s Consultation Network, ensuring that services are culturally appropriate.
The First Nations Women’s Legal Program (FNWLP) is staffed by Aboriginal women and offers free legal advice via an advice line and outreach clinics; assistance in finding a lawyer; training and community workshops across NSW; resources and information. we also provide an overview of The Indigenous List at the Sydney Registry.
Broadcast: 13 September 2023
Recent reforms to the sexual harassment framework
Presented by: Ruby Catsanos – Solicitor, Working Women’s Legal Service (WWLS)
The implementation of the recommendations from the Australian Human Rights Commission Respect@Work report has seen significant reforms to Australia’s sexual harassment framework. This webinar looks at the major changes to the legislation, which include increased obligations on employers to maintain workplaces free from sexual harassment and expanded options for resolving sexual harassment complaints.
Broadcast: 9 August 2023
NSW’s first specialist criminal legal service for women
Presented by: Laura Russell – Criminal Solicitor, Homeless Person’s Legal Service
This webinar looks at a pilot program for a specialist criminal legal service for women who are victim-survivors of DFSV. The pilot provides free casework and advice to women charged with criminal offences. Noting the increase in incarceration of women and the growing body of work examining the nexus between domestic and family violence, sexual assault, homelessness and the criminalisation of women, the pilot hopes to demonstrate that a fully funded service such as this is needed.