As a child, Oliver Slewa came to Australia as an Iraqi refugee, and has direct experience of what it's like to adjust to a new country's laws
"It's just overwhelming. The moment you step into Australia, there's housing that you're going to sign up to - tenancy is one of the issues that might arise - signing a contract for a telephone service, consumer law issues that might arise. Some of the legal issues that they're not aware that it is a legal issue. The newly arrived might not have a particular service that was provided in their country."
Now he is part of an Australian-first program, assisting other new arrivals to learn the legal language.
He's a solicitor with Legal Aid's new dedicated refugee service, helping refugees across New South Wales.
It will provide legal advice and legal education to hopefully prevent future problems.
Oliver Slewa says the service aims to begin filling the knowledge gaps during the first six months of a refugee's settlement process.
"There's a strategy to introduce and inform so we hold community legal education which will present information sessions at adult English lessons. The AMEP are currently run collaborating with non-government organisations or migrant resource centres running sessions for their communities."
A community engagement officer will also seek to identify and address systemic issues affecting refugee communities.
The state's Coordinator General of Refugee Resettlement, Peter Shergold, spoke of the importance the service will have in assisting the transition to Australian life.
"It's a very rewarding and satisfying day. In a sense it's the conclusion of an exciting journey which is based, I hope, on new forms of government-community partnership. In another sense it's just the beginning of a very important initiative that can help refugees find their feet in Australian society."
A particular focus will be on those people coming from Syria and Iraq as part of the additional humanitarian program announced in 2015.
Of the 12,000-strong extra refugee intake, half are expected to settle in New South Wales.
90 per cent of those coming to the state will settle in Sydney's west, where the new service will be based.
Peter Shergold says the area is well-placed to deal with the high concentration of new arrivals.
"The fact that so many refugees choose western Sydney places pressure on the services, but let's remember western Sydney is also where we provide the services. This is where we've got support in schools, we've got support in hospitals, where we can support GPs - where we do have trauma and torture counselling, where we do have legal aid services."
The legal service has been given $4 million of New South Wales government funding over four years.
Legal Aid in other states will be watching closely to see the results of the program.
