Newcastle Legal Aid among the top 3 nationwide
Legal Aid staff say they are motivated by the fact that they are making a difference where it really matters.
Performing within 95 per cent of its target and obtaining a clean audit for four consecutive years has placed the Newcastle Legal Aid Justice Centre among the top three Business Units of the Year nationwide.
Target variables used to award the title included, among others, budget, quality and service delivery.
“We know we have an impact in the community, and on the criminal justice system, on a daily basis from the feedback we receive from our various stakeholders,” said Justice Centre executive, Fathima Buckus, when she returned with the second runner-up trophy and certificate awarded to her branch on Friday.
“Receiving acknowledgement on a national level for our hard work, however, rendered me speechless, and where have you ever heard of a lawyer being speechless. It was a very humbling experience,” she laughed.
Legal Aid’s national footprint includes 64 Justice Centres and 64 satellite offices altogether.
The 27 staff members at the Newcastle Justice Centre render a wide range of legal services to impoverished people who reside in the area that extends from Glencoe to Volksrust.
“The courts say that if you can not afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. That is what we are here for, to provide legal advice to the poor and the vulnerable people in the community. During our team-building exercises, when I ask the staff here what makes them wake up and want to come to work in the morning, they always say that it’s the fact that they are touching people’s lives positively and that they know they are making a difference where it matters,” concluded Mrs Buckus. Bethlehem Justice Centre scooped first prize while the Queenstown Justice Centre was awarded first runner-up in the Business Unit of the Year competition.
