1996: A noble calling

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Tags: Arts, community service, law, winter-2009

Peter Noble (Courtesy Bendigo Weekly. Photo: Andrew Perryman)

Peter Noble, BA, LLB

Lawyer Peter Noble could be forgiven for admitting that “it feels like a long time” since he graduated from UQ in 1999, given the many experiences he has had in the meantime.

Since first completing his articles with Leanne O’Shea at Brisbane Firm Delaney & Delaney Solicitors in 2001, Mr Noble has worked at the Fitzroy Legal Service in Victoria and was instrumental in the establishment of the Bendigo-based Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Centre.

He is now Principal Lawyer at the centre, allowing him to combine his original study areas of politics and law.

But immediately after his UQ graduation, Mr Noble was like many new graduates: not sure where his career would take him.

“When I finished, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to practise law full-time,” he said.

Mr Noble became involved in the Melbourne-based Fitzroy Legal Service through a desire to combine legal casework with community development.

After several years at the Fitzroy Legal Service, Mr Noble became the driving force in the creation of the Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Centre, which established the first homeless persons’ legal clinic in regional Victoria and the first regional arm of Senior’s Rights Victoria, specialising in the legal needs of older people, especially those facing abuse.

The centre also provides family violence legal assistance services, and specialised in giving legal assistance to new immigrants in the area.

In November 2008 he received the Law Institute of Victoria President’s Award in the Community Lawyer section, and the centre received the prestigious Tim McCoy award, which recognises innovative service delivery that improves access to justice.

“We’ve done the normal community legal centre stuff while responding specifically to local needs. Addressing local needs through innovative service delivery contributed to us winning the Tim McCoy award,” Mr Noble said.

And while community legal services may not seem glamorous to the average new law graduate, Mr Noble said it had been extremely rewarding.

“It’s a privilege to have the time to work with people who are usually cut out of the legal system because of language, education or money matters,” he said.

“It’s particularly rewarding working with older people, who are one of those hidden demographics that can be abused and discriminated against, usually by people in positions of trust.

“I wasn’t particularly interested in chasing the dollar and the corporate lifestyle, I was interested in serving vulnerable communities and improving their access to justice.”

By Amanda Sproule

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