Top End Women's Legal Service

What Top End Women's Legal Service does

Top End Women's Legal Service (TEWLS) is a not-for-profit, specialist women's legal service established in 1996 in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, following a recommendation of the Australian Law Reform Commission. It provides free legal advice, casework, and representation across nine practice areas — family law; domestic, family and sexual violence; migration law; compensation; employment law and workplace sexual harassment; complaints and discrimination; housing and tenancy; credit, debt and consumer law; and deceased estates and superannuation — to women and non-binary persons in the Greater Darwin region and, in some areas of law, across the Northern Territory. Service delivery spans in-person appointments at the Darwin headquarters (Ground Floor, 17 Lindsay Street), outreach clinics at Palmerston, the Darwin Correctional Centre and remote Indigenous communities, a health-justice partnership at Royal Darwin Hospital, in-reach programs at all four Greater Darwin women's shelters, video and phone consultations via Microsoft Teams, and a Wednesday Evening Volunteer Legal Clinic. TEWLS supplements direct services with multilingual factsheets (Mandarin, Vietnamese, Greek, Swahili, Tagalog and others), community legal education workshops, and law reform and policy advocacy.

Name

Top End Women's Legal Service

Legal name

Top End Women's Legal Service Inc.

Website

https://tewls.org.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

TEWLS is a non-profit, government-funded specialist women's legal service in Darwin, Northern Territory, providing free legal advice, casework, and representation across nine practice areas to women and non-binary persons in the Greater Darwin region.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Darwin

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: TEWLS is a not-for-profit organization funded by Commonwealth and NT Government departments, providing free legal services to the community. No revenue is generated from clients.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

TEWLS is a not-for-profit community legal centre that provides free legal advice, casework, and representation to women and non-binary persons across the Greater Darwin region of Australia's Northern Territory. Its practice spans family law, domestic/family/sexual violence, migration law, compensation, employment law and workplace sexual harassment, complaints and discrimination, housing and tenancy, credit/debt/consumer law, and deceased estates/superannuation, delivered through office appointments, outreach clinics, in-reach at shelters and the Royal Darwin Hospital, and remote/video consultations.

Product overview

Top End Women's Legal Service (TEWLS) is a not-for-profit, specialist women's legal service offering a unified suite of free legal assistance programs for women and non-binary persons in the Greater Darwin region. The core service portfolio includes nine distinct legal practice areas (Family Law, Domestic/Family/Sexual Violence, Migration Law, Compensation, Employment Law, Complaints & Discrimination, Housing & Tenancy, Credit/Debt/Consumer Law, and Deceased Estates & Superannuation), supplemented by Community Legal Education workshops, Law Reform advocacy, and downloadable Factsheets & Publications in multiple languages. Delivery channels include in-person appointments at the Darwin office and multiple clinic locations, telephone and video consultations (via Microsoft Teams), partnerships with Royal Darwin Hospital and four women's shelters, outreach to remote Indigenous communities, and a Wednesday Evening Volunteer Legal Clinic. TEWLS provides free once-off legal advice across most areas, with casework and representation offered on a case-by-case basis for clients experiencing hardship or barriers to justice.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 2,250 legal services provided in 2022-23 financial year
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Red CrosscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Under the Temporary Visa Holders Experiencing Violence Pilot, Red Cross provides grants of up to $5,000 in financial assistance to cover immediate expenses for eligible clients. Partnership funded by Commonwealth Department of Social Services.
• Women's Legal Services Australia (WLSA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTEWLS is part of a national network of accredited, specialist, women-led community legal centres across Australia. WLSA advocates for better justice responses to women in Australia.
• Dawn House Women's SheltercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTEWLS commenced pilot 'in-reach' partnership with Dawn House Women's Shelter in 2018, providing fortnightly legal advice and ongoing representation assistance to women fleeing domestic, family, and sexual violence. Partnership expanded to regular ongoing service.
• Royal Darwin HospitalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealth-justice partnership with NT Department of Health at Royal Darwin Hospital. TEWLS solicitor attends weekly to provide legal advice and ongoing representation to in-patients and out-patients. Pilot ran 2017-2019, rejuvenated in 2024 with Commonwealth Government funding.
• YWCA AustraliacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with YWCA Domestic and Family Violence Centre providing integrated legal services every second Wednesday at the shelter.
• Darwin Aboriginal & Islander Women's Shelter (DAIWS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership providing legal services as soon as possible following referral receipt at the shelter.
• Catherine Booth HousecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Catherine Booth House providing legal services every second Wednesday at the shelter location.
• Katherine Women's Information and Legal Service (KWILS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSister Women's Legal Service in NT. Collaborates on legislative reform and presents collegiate view on issues affecting women in the Northern Territory.
• Central Australian Women's Legal Service (CAWLS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSister Women's Legal Service in NT. Collaborates on legislative reform and policy work affecting women in the Northern Territory.
• Community Legal Centres Australia (CLCA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTEWLS is an accredited member of CLCA, an umbrella organisation representing over 200 community legal centres across Australia.
• Pro bono law firm partnersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTEWLS is supported by pro bono partnerships with local and national law firms, who provide volunteer lawyers and additional expertise to extend service capacity.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Market position

Strengths5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/TopEndWomensLegalService
• Instagraminstagram.com/topendwomenslegalservice
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/top-end-women's-legal-service

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Top End Women's Legal Service