Legal
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: END-OF-YEAR CLOSURE
The UMSU Legal Service will be accepting new enquiries through our website contact form until 5pm on Thursday, 11 December 2025. If you submit a contact form before this time, we will respond to your enquiry before the service closes for 2025 (if your enquiry is non-urgent, however, please note that we may respond allocating you to receive legal help when the service re-opens in 2026).
The UMSU Legal Service will be closed to students from 5pm on Friday, 19 December 2025, and will re-open at 9am on Monday, 19 January 2026. Please note that we will not be able to respond to student enquiries during this time, and our contact form will be unavailable.
For legal help while the service is closed, we recommend contacting Victoria Legal Aid here or by calling 1300 792 387. Alternatively, you can find your local community legal centre by searching your postcode on the Federation of Community Legal Centres website here.
You can also contact a private lawyer through the Law Institute of Victoria’s Legal Referral Service here. This service entitles you to two free 30-minute preliminary consultations with private lawyers. If you wish to proceed with a private lawyer, they will charge for their services.
Further information and resources to help with common legal issues can be found on the following websites:
Renting: Tenants Victoria | Consumer Affairs Victoria | Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) | Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria (RDRV)
Employment: Fair Work Ombudsman | JobWatch | Fair Work Commission
Consumer problems: Consumer Affairs Victoria | Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) | Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT)
Visas and migration: University of Melbourne | Department of Home Affairs | Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority
Family/domestic violence and personal safety: Victoria Legal Aid | Magistrates’ Court of Victoria
Discrimination and sexual harassment: Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) | Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) | Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT)
Fines/infringements: Fines Victoria
Criminal law: Victoria Legal Aid
Car accidents: Financial Rights Legal Centre
Financial counselling: National Debt Helpline | Money Smart | Financial Rights Legal Centre | Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA)
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The UMSU Legal Service is a nationally-accredited community legal centre that provides free and confidential legal help and financial counselling to current University of Melbourne students.
The legal service is staffed by qualified lawyers, and provides assistance on various legal issues, including:
- Renting
- Employment law
- Fines / infringements
- Minor criminal law
- Consumer law
- Car and bike accidents
- Family violence / personal safety
- Discrimination
- Sexual harassment
- Debts
Before contacting the UMSU Legal Service, we recommend reviewing our Legal Information resources below - you can find the answers to many common legal issues here. Please also review our page on Working with your Lawyer below to help you understand how we operate, and what to expect when you contact us.
To contact us, please select Get Legal Help below to complete our contact form.
Our contact form is available to submit new enquiries every week from Monday to Thursday. For enquiries outside our contact hours, we recommend contacting Victoria Legal Aid here.
Last updated: 6 March 2025