Central Austarlian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service --- "Obituary - Raymond Vincent Guiffre" [1985] AboriginalLawB 87; (1985) 1(17) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 23

• Raymond Vincent Guiffre

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Raymond Vincent Guiffre

In appreciation of the time Raymond Vincent Guiffre spent with the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service Inc.

On 29 August this year Raymond Vincent Guiffre, a solicitor employed by the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service, died in a road accident near Alice Springs. Ray only worked with Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service for a period of four (4) short months. It was his first full time employment as a solicitor since completing the College of Law Studies in Sydney. Losing Ray has affected all of us who got to know him, very deeply.

Ray bought to CAALAS a rare quality of confident humility which allowed him to listen to Aboriginal people. He was not one to pretend he had all the answers to our problems or to try and tell us what to do. It is the ability to listen to us which is the first quality we need in white people who work for the Aboriginal cause.

Ray not only cared for his clients and worked very hard but demonstrated competence beyond that expected of a first year solicitor in both his court appearances and his office work.

Ray's tragic death not only deprived the Aboriginal people of Central Australia of a great worker but also cut short a very promising legal career.

His friends, the clients and staff of the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service.