Legal aid What is Legal Aid? Can I get legal aid? How do I apply for legal aid? Can I get Legal Aid for a criminal case? I applied for legal aid and it was denied, can I appeal? What sort of a lawyer will I get from legal aid? I don’t like my legal aid lawyer, can I get another lawyer? Can I get Legal Aid for a family case? Can I get Legal Aid for civil disputes? Do I have to pay Legal Aid back? I can’t get legal aid, where can I find a lawyer?
If you’re in a financial situation where you may not be able to afford your own lawyer, but you have to go to court, free lawyers or lawyers on largely reduced fees may be available and provided by the government through “legal aid”.
This section gives you some information about legal aid.
Legal Aid is government funding that you might be able to get in certain circumstances to pay for a lawyer if you can’t afford one yourself. It’s not just free money, though – you might have to pay the government back later or when you can afford to, but it is likely to be a lot cheaper than hiring a private lawyer.
You might be able to get legal aid if you’re charged with a criminal offence, involved in a family dispute or involved in some kinds of civil disputes.
You’ll have to show that you have a low income and not own too many assets. You’ll need to provide evidence about your income, how much money you have in the bank, any assets you have, what bills you owe and how much it costs you a week to live, including expenses like rent, food, power, gas, telephone, petrol and other regular expenses. If you’re under 20 and being supported by your parents, you need to provide this information about them as well.
Legal aid is not provided for all types of cases. If you want to know whether you are able to apply for legal aid, contact YouthLaw or your local Community Law Centre.
For criminal cases, if you’re eligible, your duty solicitor will likely help you apply for criminal legal aid on your first court date. You should apply for legal aid as early as possible. Either you’ll be told when you’re at court whether you’ve been granted legal aid, or else the Registrar of the court will send you a letter to let you know.
To apply for civil of family legal aid, you’ll need to find a legal aid lawyer that can take on your case. If you have any questions about eligibility, call YouthLaw or your local Community Law Centre.
Generally, you can only get Legal Aid for a criminal charge (including a major traffic offence) if you could be punished by at least 6 months in prison. For more minor offences, you might be able to get free help from a duty solicitor at the court.
To be eligible for legal aid, you’ll also need to have an income and assets below the Legal Aid financial limit. When you go to court for the first time, ask your duty solicitor whether they can help you apply for legal aid.
If you want some legal advice before then, contact YouthLaw or your local community law centre.
If you have been denied legal aid, or you’re required to pay back some of your legal aid, and you don’t think your situation has been assessed correctly, you can challenge the decision.
You’ll need to visit your local legal aid office and apply for reconsideration from the Legal Services Commissioner. You must make that appeal within 20 working days of receiving the notice of their decision. If they don’t change their mind after the appeal, you can apply for reconsideration at the Legal Aid Tribunal within 20 working days after you receive the reconsidered decision from the Legal Services Commissioner.
For a criminal case, you will be assigned a legal aid lawyer. In most parts of the country, you will be assigned a lawyer from the Public Defence Service (PDS), you don’t choose your own criminal legal aid lawyer.
For a civil or family case, you will need to find your own legal aid lawyer. Not all lawyers are legal aid lawyers.
If you’ve been assigned a criminal legal aid lawyer, you will need good reasons to change your lawyer. In most cases, you will not be able to change your legal aid lawyer.
If things are really bad, you can contact your local legal aid office and explain to them what’s gone wrong and why you would like a new lawyer. Similarly for a civil case, you will need to contact your local legal aid office.
If you want legal aid to help you deal with a family dispute, you first need to find a lawyer who does family legal aid work. Once you’ve found one, they will be able to tell you whether you qualify for legal aid for your specific problem and can apply for you. You might be able to get family legal aid for disputes regarding relationship property (after you have split up with someone), protection orders, separation, custody, adoption etc..
If you’re getting family legal aid, there is a $50 user charge fee. This is the only payment that your lawyer can receive directly from you. They can’t charge you this fee for some cases e.g. protection orders.
If you want legal aid to help you deal with a civil dispute, you’ll first need to find a lawyer who does civil legal aid work. Once you’ve found one, they’ll be able to tell you whether you qualify for legal aid for your specific problem and can apply for you. Some kinds of things you might be able to get civil legal aid for include debt recovery (if you’re trying to get money back from someone who owes it to you, or if someone else is trying to get money back from you), breaches of contract, defamation and bankruptcy.
If you’re getting civil legal aid, your lawyer might be allowed to charge you $50 as a user charge fee. You shouldn’t be charged for anything else unless Legal Aid has assessed that you have to pay some money back.
When you’re told that you’ve been granted legal aid you will also be told how much of it you might have to pay back. This will be based on how much you earn, what assets you own and whether you get any money or property as a result of winning your court case. Depending on your circumstances, you might have to repay your legal aid as a lump sum, through regular automatic payments or both.
If you can’t get legal aid because your income or assets are too high, you’ll need to decide whether to hire a private lawyer. Many lawyers don’t charge you anything for your first conversation, so you can find out whether they think you have a good case and how much it will cost to hire them. If your legal problem isn’t too complicated, you may also represent yourself in Court.
If you have a low income and not many assets, but you can’t get legal aid because of the type of problem you have, you might be able to get help from a Community Law Centre. Contact YouthLaw or your local community law centre.
If you have an employment issue, you might be able to get a ‘no-win, no-fee’ employment advocate. These are people (not necessarily lawyers) who help you with your case and ask you for a percentage of your payout if your boss ends up paying you some of the money that you’re claiming.