PICAL delivered a successful event on “Empowering Support: The legal processes and assistance for family violence and relationship breakdown”, as part of Victorian Law Week.

While the expected audience size was down, due to the inclement weather, over a dozen attendees gathered to hear advice on this important topic, with some travelling from as far as Lang Lang and Warragul to attend.

Presenters on the day were Shan Stevens, a lawyer at Gippsland Community Legal Service, and Elise Moseley, a solicitor at David Luscombe and Associates in Cowes.

“All attendees were very enthusiastic and grateful for the wonderful advice imparted by Shan and Elise,” PICAL manager Greg Thompson said.

Proceedings opened with an overview of the family violence landscape in Gippsland from Greg.

Shan walked the audience through the Family Violence Intervention Order and Personal Safety Intervention Order processes.

Elise then followed with an overview of the processes and issues surrounding Mediation, Child Custody, Parenting Plans/Orders and Property Settlements.

Both lawyers also discussed the ways in which legal advice can be locally accessed in South Gippsland and on Phillip Island.

“After the presentations, most audience members stayed for another hour to ask personal one-on-one questions of Shan and Elise, who both did a fantastic job,” said Greg.