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Knowmore claims class action ‘pulling apart’ justice for abuse survivors
During an inquiry into the National Redress Scheme, community legal centre Knowmore said it is grappling with the fallout from the class action lodged against it, including fielding calls from concerned victims of childhood sexual abuse.
Naomi Neilson
Following Arnold Thomas & Becker’s announcement it had filed a class action against Knowmore Legal for advice it gave to victim-survivors, the community legal centre said it has been contacted by a number of people who are “highly distressed” by it.
The class action alleged up to 16,000 victims were short-changed and robbed of thousands of dollars due to “inadequate advice” handed out by Knowmore, particularly because they were “rarely” advised about the size of the potential civil court claims.
Jackie Mead, CEO of Knowmore, said the funding model the legal centre operates under denies its lawyers from this advice.
Committee member David Shoebridge also put it on the record that Knowmore is “entirely dependent on government funding” and this has prohibited the community legal centre from certain advice.
Knowmore also confirmed it has been in discussion with the government and with the Attorney-General’s Department about what this class action could mean for other community legal centres.
Rachel Neil, acting principal lawyer, added Knowmore intends to “vigorously” defend the class action – which may take them into 2026, depending on whether a hearing will occur.
“The fallout for our clients with media and with other advertisements that this law firm is doing is really distressing to staff and clients alike,” Neil said in response to questions from the inquiry.
Whelan said it was important for victims to “understand we continue to be here to help” and “people can still call us”.
Knowmore appeared at the committee late in the day following evidence from several people who had negative experiences with the National Redress Scheme, including a lack of communication or information and a failure to take a trauma-informed approach.
Sean Bowes, a lawyer with Knowmore, said there is often no transparency on why some applicants are rejected and the legal centre is “concerned there seems to be a tightening about which applications get approved and which don’t”.
Responding to an earlier witness who said she received shocking communications from someone at the National Redress Scheme, Bowes said that while Knowmore’s staff are optimistic this can change, “we would like to see legislative intervention”.
“More than simply requiring cultural change that needs to happen … and it’s not enough to wait for it to happen,” Bowes said.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
