After section 54 of the Principal Act , the following section is inserted in Part 7:

54A.     Community legal centres

(1)  A community legal centre does not contravene this Part only because it –

(a) employs or otherwise uses the services of a legal practitioner to provide legal services to members of the public; or

(b) has a contractual relationship with a member of the public to whom those legal services are provided or receives any fee, gain or reward for providing those legal services; or

(c) shares with a legal practitioner employed or otherwise used by it to provide those legal services, receipts from the business of the centre being business of a kind usually conducted by a legal practitioner; or

(d) adopts or uses the word "legal" or some related term in its name or any registered business name under which it provides legal services to members of the public.

(2)  A community legal centre is an organisation, whether incorporated or not, that –

(a) holds itself out as a community legal centre or a centre or establishment of a similar description; and

(b) provides legal services that –

(i) are directed generally to persons or organisations lacking the financial means to obtain privately funded legal services or whose cases are expected to raise issues of public interest or of general concern to disadvantaged groups in the community; and

(ii) are made available to persons or organisations having a special need arising from their location or the nature of the legal matter to be addressed; and

(iii) are not intended or likely to be provided at a profit to the community legal centre, and any income from which is not to be distributed to any member or employee of the centre otherwise than by way of reasonable remuneration under a contract of service or for services; and

(iv) are funded or expected to be funded to a significant level by donations or grants from government, charitable or other organisations; and

(c) employs or otherwise uses persons to provide those legal services, at least one of whom is a legal practitioner with a current practising certificate who is generally responsible for the provision of those legal services.