Why work in refugee law? Hear from two RACS lawyers
Read about a day in the life of two RACS Solicitors, Charles Louwrens and Vicky Chen – and their motivation to work in refugee law.
Everyone - lawyers and clients alike - finds their own way to RACS. For Vicky Chen, it was during her studies that she felt immigration law was where she wanted to apply her skills. She began working with people seeking asylum at Amnesty International, then found her way to RACS.
Charles Louwrens, a New Zealander, was working in high-end retail with brands like Zegna and Louis Vuitton until, encouraged by his wife, he took on legal studies, volunteering at RACS before becoming an on-staff solicitor, one of about a dozen in-house lawyers.
Both deal daily with the real, human consequences of Australia's immigration laws, the further damage our system can do to already traumatised people.
The people who seek asylum
Vicky recalls a case she worked on last year, involving a client who had to flee her country because of her sexuality. The Department had refused her application for protection on the basis that she would not be harmed if she was sent back there. But through detailed conversations with the client, Vicky was able to document her day-to-day experiences of discrimination and harassment and provide evidence of the threats she had received from people from her own country. She convinced a tribunal on appeal that her client was owed protection, and the woman has now been granted permanent protection in Australia.
Another desperate client came on his brother's Australian passport and so spent three or four months in detention. "He felt a huge sense of despair," Vicky said. "He had come here to seek freedom and escape persecution but felt he was being punished for that." Eventually she was able to win his freedom on mental health grounds.
There are so many issues refugees face, says Charles, but in essence they come down to "people looking for a safe haven in Australia". After July 2013, however, and the "sovereign borders" fiat, they are never allowed to settle in Australia.
The only possibility for them is haven in a third country - New Zealand, the US or Canada. And while he tries to persuade them to accept the alternative option, "They might have been here for 10 or 12 years, they could have set up businesses, paid taxes, had a family..." They dread the thought of yet another massive upheaval.
"Australia does have borders and the right to protect those borders," Charles says. "For my own sanity I try for a balanced view respecting the laws, but I feel more can be done for the people who are here and have been here for 10 years. It is mental torture for them."
Auburn Community Outreach
A visit to Auburn, where lawyers and paralegals meet clients face-to-face leaves no doubt as to the overwhelming need for the work RACS does - and the distress of so many caught in this implacable system.
In theory, there is a two-hour "window" which begins at 9.30 with tickets issued up till noon. In reality, the teams start earlier and go on longer "so it's a very full day", Charles says. "A good diet day for me," he adds with a grin.
The legal team sits on one side of a long table; on the other are ranged the individuals seeking their help. In the surrounding rooms, alcoves and verandas many dozens more sit, waiting their turn. Often there are women with two or more children, or groups of men, all here with hope that they will be helped. There is a soft babble of languages, and the constant click as the doors open for more people coming in.
The issues that bring them here are varied but underlying them all, as Charles says, "is that human optimism that things will get better". For some they do, for others they do not.
Those who reached Australia prior to Operation Sovereign Borders are in a better position if found to be genuine refugees. Changes introduced by Labor mean that since February 2023, anyone on a temporary refugee visa can now apply for permanent residency (PR).
A broken system
"I have clients who received their PR and are now about to become citizens. They started [the process] 13 years ago and now, finally, they have a place to call home,” Vicky Chen says.
But she still struggles with the skewed system that treats people arriving by boat differently from those arriving by plane who can apply immediately for a permanent protection visa.
For the boat arrivals, Vicky says, "there is no good explanation as to why they are bearing the brunt of politics."
She hopes that in time "we can steer towards a more humane way of processing asylum claims. Cruelty is not a necessary part of the process.
"At the end of the day, a fair, efficient process benefits all: it reduces the backlog of cases, and the number of cases going to appeal. It means that people can contribute to their communities through work and study, kids are able to go to school, there are fewer mental health issues. And of course, [we reduce] the costs of off-shore processing.”
For now, though, she believes there will be people needing pro bono legal advice for a long time to come, and she will be there helping them. She could, of course, be making far more money in a regular legal firm but "the need is too big to ignore."
Charles shares her determination. "My previous clients were very, very wealthy people, sometimes entitled, demanding the earth. Now I work with people who have nothing and life is in perspective a little more. I often think ‘What was I doing all those years!’''
Like Vicky, and their many clients, he will keep on keeping on.
Interested in a refugee law career with RACS? See available jobs here. If you’re a student or would like a taste of what our work is like before jumping in, consider volunteering with RACS or an internship through your university.
Meet the rest of the RACS lawyers and other staff here.
This article was written by Geraldine O’Brien.