With a strong desire to serve the society dually, by providing free legal assistance to the general public, as well as by producing competent and socially sensitive legal professionals; the College started the 'V. M. Salgaocar College of Law Legal Aid Society' in the year 1998. Today, the Legal Aid Society has grown and spread the ambit of its activities all over Goa and beyond, regardless of physical boundaries and is driven only by its sincere desire to contribute in whatever way it can, to secure justice to every person in the society. To facilitate this, the Legal Aid Society operates permanent Free Legal Aid Cells all over State of Goa.

The Legal Aid Society works towards achieving its stated objectives in a number of diverse ways. The following are the main modes of operation of the Society:

1. Working through permanent Free Legal Aid Cells.

2. Para-legal Services.

3. Public Interest Litigations.

4. Law Reform.

Permanent Free Legal Aid Cells

The underlying ideology of Legal Aid Cells is that, legal professionals cannot live in ivory towers. They should not only see and sense social realities but also direct their activities towards promoting social justice. To execute this theme, the Legal Aid Society has setup 35 permanent Free Legal Aid Cells all over State of Goa. These Cells are setup and housed largely in Panchayat buildings, schools, churches or temple premises. These premises are selected on the basis of availability and their easy accessibility to the public. The Cells are open to the any member of the public, once a week, preferably on weekends. The students carry out an awareness campaign about the setting up of the Cell and the services they can offer through the Cell.

These Cells are operated by a team of students who make their services available on every Saturday or Sunday, for a minimum duration of two hours per week. Any person having any sort of law-related problem can approach the Legal Aid Cells and seek help from the students in securing justice, either through their legal advice, or wherever required, by a positive action, such as meeting the other party, filing application before the concerned government officers, or securing free legal service under the Legal Services Authorities Act.

In addition to this, every the Legal Aid Cells carry on a sustained campaign for creating legal awareness by conducting village level programs such as seminars, symposia, and talks by lawyers, police officers, presiding officers and members of District Consumer Forums. To ensure the attendance of the local population, in addition to releasing information through local media, the student groups visit each house and extend personal invitations. This method has yielded such a rich harvest that even the District Legal Services Authority, has enlisted the support of the students of the Legal Aid Cells for conducting Micro Legal Literacy Programs. The Cell members also function in coordination with other NGOs, and participate in any activity meant to advance the welfare of the local populace.

Para-Legal Services

The members of the Legal Aid Society render a number of Para-legal aid services to the society. These include visiting jails, registration of marriage, births and deaths, obtaining ration cards, and preparing affidavits. Students also assist the public in preparing and filing various documents that are required for obtaining benefits under welfare schemes.

Public Interest Litigation

The teaching of Practical Paper IV at the College, i.e., the paper on public interest lawyering, legal knowledge and legal awareness, has two dimensions. The first part, is the intensive legal aid program through the Legal Aid Cells. The second part is public interest lawyering, in which the College has an excellent track record. It is extremely gratifying to note that the students of the College have successfully filed 14 public interest litigations before the Mumbai High Court (Panaji Bench) on various issues ranging from the use of helmets to violations of Coastal Regulation Zones.

Law Reform

It has become a custom and tradition at this institution, to be conscious and concerned about existing legal and social issues. In order to encourage and involve the students of the College in the process of thinking about social justice, every year through the process of a faculty meeting, the College identifies an area or legal issue in need of being addressed. After deciding on the topic, the task is entrusted to two or three faculty members to divide the topic into different areas and to formulate student teams for investigating, researching and studying the topic chosen by them. Towards the end of the academic year, the study and findings of the students are presented as a research paper at a State Level Law Seminar. The students are guided by the faculty at every stage.

The first seminar which was on Personal Laws of Goa, resulted in the formation of a Committee by the Government of Goa to formulate suitable legislation to incorporate the existing Portuguese Civil Code, as it exists in the State of Goa. The same seminar, which was presided by the Vice Chancellor, prompted the formulation of a Committee to translate a well-known commentary on Portuguese Civil Code by Mr. Cunha Gonsalves.

The Seminar on Consumer Protection Law, for which the Law Secretary was the Chief Guest, resulted in the setting up of a regular Consumer Forum at the District level, which earlier operated through a visiting Presiding Officer whose attendance was irregular.

The Seminar on Human Rights of Children, in which many of the NGOs in Goa actively participated, became a starting point whereby the Government of Goa enacted a comprehensive law for the benefit of children titled the Goa Children’s Act, 2003. Not only did the concept of Children’s Court in the Act, originate at the deliberations, but even the drafting of the Act as well as the rules regarding the Children’s Court was done by the faculty of this College.

The Seminar on Human Rights of Women, which was presided over by Mrs. Reena Ray, the then Secretary for Child and Women Welfare, Government of Goa, resulted in a group of students addressing the state officials. Their recommendation regarding the working condition of nurses was accepted by the Government of Goa.