Disaster response legal service has seen hundreds of clients since heavy rains began in May
Lawyers from Legal Aid NSW’s disaster response legal service (DRLS) and community legal centres have been attending recovery centres to assist hundreds of people affected by widespread flooding on the Mid North Coast, Hunter, and Central Coast regions.
The DRLS and community legal centre lawyers have offered free legal help to impacted individuals at recovery centres launched by the state’s reconstruction authority. According to a media release from Legal Aid NSW, these locations include:
Disaster lawyers of the DRLS have advised those affected by storms and floods on matters such as insurance claims, disputes with insurance companies, housing and tenancy issues, financial challenges, workplace rights, and government disaster grants, according to a previous media release from Legal Aid NSW.
“Our help often means insurance claims are resolved faster, people can access temporary accommodation avoiding homelessness and financial hardship,” said Ma’ata Solofoni, Legal Aid NSW’s senior solicitor for disaster recovery and insurance, in the media release.
“We can assist tenants to assert their rights – whether it’s compelling landlords to carry out urgent repairs or negotiating rent reductions and abatements,” Solofoni added.
In the earlier media release, Legal Aid NSW noted that DRLS has helped some individuals affected by these disasters turn the initial denials of their insurance claims into acceptances.
“For those who are uninsured, and in need of financial support to recover from the floods, we guide them through what may be complex processes of applying for government disaster grants, including preparing necessary evidence,” Solofoni said in the media release. “Our goal is to remove the legal barriers that can delay or deny vital support for recovery.”
Since the floods started on 19 May 2025, the DRLS has seen more than 500 clients and delivered 800 legal services, Legal Aid NSW shared in its media release. Since the beginning of 2025, the DRLS has noted a 68 percent increase in calls to its helpline.
According to its media release, since January 2020, the DRLS and its lawyers at disaster recovery centres have assisted more than 7,300 individuals across 113 local government areas within the state, providing face-to-face services to about 4,700 of those people.
Janelle Saffin, NSW’s minister for recovery, expressed gratitude to the lawyers at Legal Aid NSW for their efforts.
“Disasters are deeply traumatic events that are really tough to get through, and people end up coming into our recovery centres in desperate need of help, advice, and reassurance,” Saffin said in the media release. “Flood affected communities needed someone to be in their corner and that's exactly what our wonderful Legal Aid NSW lawyers have been doing.”
