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Nolim is the founder and CEO of Anakica
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Legal, a social enterprise legal service
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with a vision of a world where everybody
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can access justice. Anakleal provides
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free legal support that enables renters
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to maintain safe housing. Those free
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services are supported by law students
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enrolled in university internship
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programs and funded by university law
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schools. The organization in 2024-25
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has supported over 1100 vulnerable
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Australians in staying in safe and
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secure homes through providing free
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legal services and liazing on their
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behalf with various government
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departments. Nol Lim was a law student
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when he stumbled across 80,000 hours a
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global movement asking people to
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consider the hours they work as their
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greatest opportunity to improve the
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world. Null immediately dedicated his
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80,000 hours to doing the most good
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possible. He knew that each year more
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than a million Australians are left to
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handle legal problems on their own
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because they can't afford a lawyer but
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aren't eligible for legal aid. So Null
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and some friends launched Anakah Legal,
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a free online legal service designed to
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meet that need. Uh the not for-p
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profofit uh is a modern and extremely
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effective form of legal services and
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aid. The service also provides practical
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experience for law students through an
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internship program supervised by lawyers
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and funded by the universities. After
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four years, Anakah has six staff and 100
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volunteers providing services
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Australiawide. Null's vision is global,
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not national, and for a world in which
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everybody can access justice. Anek legal
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has won a number of awards under his
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leadership including the Australian
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legal technology association social
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impact award, a finalist for the premier
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sustainability award, two client choice
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awards for startup of the year in 2019
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and 2020, the legal tech breakthrough
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online legal services platform of the
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year in 2020. runner up in the global
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legal hackathon 2018 nominated young
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Victorian the Westpak social change
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fellow. The winner of the Victoria Day
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award for uh public and community
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service the Victorian of the year is
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null Lim.
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If you've met me in the last seven
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years, uh whether it's in a formal
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setting or maybe you saw me on the news,
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you might recognize this suit that I'm
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wearing.
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When I started Anakah, I was working
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full-time for free and everything that I
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had was going into Anakah. And that
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meant that I didn't have money to buy a
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new suit. But I knew that my youngest
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brother had some suit pants. He founded
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an op shop and my middle brother had a
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pretty nice suit jacket as well. So the
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solution was very simple. Uh I wore
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those to my formal events and important
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meetings. Uh and and it just worked. You
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know the we had a few events a year,
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three brothers, one suit. It it it did
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the job. Uh we definitely didn't need a
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suit each.
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And that's just how I was raised. I my
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my family was very resourceful. We were
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passionate about efficiency. Um, we had
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a three- tiered plastic bag system where
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the good ones were for storing things
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like clean clothes. We had the medium
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ones for everyday use. And then we also
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had uh the most mangled ones and the,
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you know, the plastic bags that sliced
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bread comes in. That was for the bin
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liners.
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And so
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we had a similar approach with clothes.
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Um, my younger brothers were the ones
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with the fashion sense in the family.
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They'd go to the op shops, find the cool
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stuff, and wear it. After a few years,
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they'd be done with it and say, "Who
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else wants this?" Um, at that point, I'm
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usually like, "Yeah, yeah, I'll wear
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that." And I'd take that, wear it for a
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few years. When I was done with it, that
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usually meant that my mom was ready for
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them. And and after my mom was was done
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with them, then it was onto my dad. Uh,
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and when dad was done with them, then
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like it had been long enough that
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fashion trends had changed. they were
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cool again and they could go back to my
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youngest brothers.
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My my family moved from from Singapore
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to Australia when I was six. And my
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family, like so many immigrant families,
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we need to be super resourceful. We
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learned that before asking for more, we
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should think about what we already have,
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what's already on the table that could
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solve our problem. And as immigrants,
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these are the sorts of things that we
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had to do to buy a home, which my
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parents did. So, the home that my mom
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and dad still live in, uh, even though
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my brothers and I have long since moved
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out and they don't need all the space,
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it's way too big. The heating bills are
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ridiculous. But dad refuses to move
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because for him, it's not about that
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stuff. For him, it's home. It's where we
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move to for a better life. It's where my
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brothers and I grew up and it's where we
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still eat dinner every Sunday together.
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For for dad, you can't put a price on
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home. And that was what gave me and my
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brothers the stability to thrive.
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Everyone deserves a home.
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But right now, we're in a housing
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crisis.
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And every time I work with a renter who
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is being deprived of a safe home, it
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breaks my heart.
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One client in particular stands out to
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me. Her name's Alina, and she told me
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that the worst part of her day was the
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morning because she would go to her
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baby's room and see her baby's breath
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fog up in the morning cold.
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This client's name is Alina. She was a
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single mother and she was living in a
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rental home that was just falling down
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around her. There were gaps, gaps in the
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walls, holes in the floorboards, and it
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meant that all winter round her place
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was freezing. And she had done the right
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thing. She had called and texted and
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emailed the agent uh to fix the freezing
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home, but she was ignored. And that put
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Alina in a an impossible situation. She
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had to choose whether she would run the
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heater all night to keep her baby warm
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knowing that she wouldn't be able to pay
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those heating bills or
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she could let her baby freeze.
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Of course, she ran the heater. Every
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parent would. But then the heating bills
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started piling up. She fell behind on
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rent. And then that agent who was
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previously ignoring her started calling
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her almost daily, threatening to evict
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her.
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Alina had legal rights to live in a safe
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home that was wellmaintained.
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But that didn't matter because she
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couldn't afford a lawyer to enforce
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those rights. And the free tenency
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services, they're so overwhelmed by
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demand. In Victoria, at best, it's one
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in six renters that get the legal
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support that they need to enforce their
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rights. There just aren't nearly enough
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resources to go around.
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And when we hear these stories, we we
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hear one in six, we feel stuck because
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it's it feels unsolvable.
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But I I believe that real change is
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possible. And not only possible, I
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believe that it's already at hand. And
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the reason is simple. We're finally
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doing more with what we already have.
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We're using what's already on the table
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to solve our problems. And we're tapping
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into what I think as the three levers to
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help us do that. That's people,
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technology, and money. But before I tell
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you about that, let me let me show you
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how Anakah works. At Anakah, we saw
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three problems. There were millions of
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renters like Alina who were trapped in
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impossible situations who couldn't get
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the legal support that they needed.
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Meanwhile, tens of thousands of law
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students desperate for real world
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experience in solving legal problems.
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And at the same time, their
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universities, they're they're
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desperately trying to provide that
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experience to their to their law
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students, but every time they get placed
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at a law firm, they spend a lot of their
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time unjamming printers or getting
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coffees.
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Anakah connects these needs. We keep
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renters housed by connecting them with
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legal support from our qualified lawyers
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and these law students.
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We the the universities pay Anakah to
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provide this hands-on training to their
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law students and and those law students
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get invaluable experience which sets
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them up for a successful career and
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builds a socially conscious legal
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profession. Now imagine that it's
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winwinwin and that's what I mean by
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using what's already on the table to
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solve these problems.
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We did with Anakah what my family did
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with clothing and plastic bags. We
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harness untapped resources, these
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students, lawyers, universities to
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create an elegant solution that created
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value for everyone involved.
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And that's what I call radical
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resourcefulness. And now imagine trying
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applying that kind of thinking to all of
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the other unsolvable problems.
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There's never been a better time for
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this approach than right now because
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there's more on the table than ever
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before and new ways of harnessing those
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people, technology, and money. And
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that's why I believe solving problems
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like this, it's it's not only possible,
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it's within reach. So, lever one is
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people. After co the world's changed.
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People want purpose. People want to
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contribute. Uh, and that's what uh and
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and I um and that's what Anakas tapped
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into. We were we were built by
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volunteers. I had a volunteer named Ed
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who worked 70our weeks at his day job.
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I felt terrible giving him extra an
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is that gives me the energy to do my
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long hours. You know that is what people
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purposeful work energize people and
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that's what Anakah has. It has six
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employees but we have 100 we have 100
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employ uh 100 volunteers and that's on
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top of the law student interns who are
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doing the operations and marketing and
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technology. Lever two is technology the
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tech platform that makes Anakah possible
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and what we call Clark.
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This was built by a volunteer software
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developer named Matt. and I didn't think
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he could do it. And actually, he told me
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uh he told I told him it was a bad idea,
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but he convinced me to let him try. And
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what he built was a piece of software
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that allows one lawyer to supervise up
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to 90 students at one time. And and from
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this, we found there's even more on the
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table. We found that this piece of
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software allows us to capture really
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important data from our clients. got
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data that showed that renters were being
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exploited out of their bond money. Data
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that we took to the government and who
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committed to changing the laws four
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months later so that this would never
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happen again.
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This is what happens when you combine
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people, power, and technology. Uh and of
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course, lever three is money. You need
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money to harness what's unused on the
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table. That's the people, the
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technology. Uh and now more than ever,
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we're seeing organizations do this the
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right way. The Sydney Meyer Fund gave us
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5 years of untied funding to do what we
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thought was best uh to find new ways of
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harnessing these resources. RMIT have
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just partnered with us to set up the
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first virtual legal clinic.
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These are organizations using their
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money to back radical resourcefulness
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and solve our biggest problems. And
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that's why real change has never been
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more possible and why it's waiting for
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us. waiting for us to stop asking how do
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we get more and start asking how do we
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better use what we have. That's when big
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solutions to big problems emerge.
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Imagine what other problems we could fix
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if we applied a radically resourceful
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approach. So if that vision speaks to
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you, if you want to chat or work with
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us, please I would love to talk because
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real change is happening right now and
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it starts by doing more with what we
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already have. So thank you.
