Lawrence Page with Consumer Credit Legal Service of WA principal solicitor Gemma Mitchell.
Camera IconLawrence Page with Consumer Credit Legal Service of WA principal solicitor Gemma Mitchell. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Duncraig: aspiring lawyer inspired to volunteer

Laura PondJoondalup Times

The 21-year-old from Duncraig worked as a communications officer at the Consumer Credit Legal Service of WA as part of a McCusker Centre for Citizenship internship run through the University of WA.

Despite having little experience in it, Mr Page’s role was to create digital content for the organisation, which provides free and confidential legal advice and representation to WA consumers regarding credit, banking and finance.

“Learning new skills, techniques and the technical side, creating different videos and other content using different software was an exciting way to approach law that I hadn’t previously been exposed to at university,” he said.

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“It really involved taking complex ideas and processes and communicating them as simply as possible through video, social media posts and infographics prepared by past volunteers which were incredibly useful as well.”

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The internships aim to expose students to the non-profit and community sectors and hopefully encourage them to continue their involvement.

They complete 100 contact hours at the organisation for course credit.

Mr Page has remained at the service as a volunteer and said he “can’t get enough of it”.

“It’s a fantastic environment, it’s an incredible experience being surrounded by people who are making a real world difference,” he said.

The centre has placed 170 interns with more than 200 partner organisations.