This website is made possible by contributions from California Trial Guide          Federal Civil Trial Guide and the Trial Guide series published by Matthew Bender & Company.             

HONOR ROLL OF MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS TO THE NATIONAL EQUAL JUSTICE LIBRARY

*SPONSORED COLLECTIONS* ($25,000)

Arnold and Porter Collection in honor of Abe Fortas on  the Constitutional Right to Counsel in Criminal Cases

James Doherty Collection on Indigent Criminal Defense in Chicago and the State of Illinois

Barbara and Earl Johnson Collection on Legal Aid in the United Kingdom              

Harriet Wilson Ellis Collection on Educational Programs

*FOUNDERS* ($10,000)

American Bar Association

Hale and Dorr

Jenner & Block

Washington College of Law

*BENEFACTORS* ($5,000)

ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responibilities

ABA Litigation Section

Philip H. Corboy

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & GarrisonSullivan and Cromwell

*FIRST FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL EQUAL JUSTICE LIBRARY* ($100-$3,000) presently includes over 400 individuals and law firms [for a complete list visit the Library's other website at http://nejl.wcl.american.edu] 

 FOUNDATION GRANTORS ($20,000-$250,000)

Mellon Foundation

Ford Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

Leonardt Foundation

Cudahy Fund

Joyce Foundation

Who We Are

What We Do

       The Legal Aid Commission provides legal aid services in New South Wales. We are the largest legal aid agency in Australia.

     The Legal Aid Commission is established under the Legal Aid Commission Act 1979 of New South Wales and is an independent statutory authority.

     Our goal is to assist socially and economically disadvantaged people to understand and protect their rights. One of the purposes of the legal system is to safeguard people's rights. The legal system can only perform this protective role if people have equal access to it.

     The justice system is not accessible to everybody. People with a disability, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and people who are institutionalised experience difficulties when enforcing and defending their legal rights. Legal Aid plays a special role in improving access to justice by providing a range of legal services to these groups.

     We work in partnership with private lawyers who represented 49% of all legally aided people in NSW during 1998-99.

      We give free legal advice and minor assistance at our head office in Sydney, 19 regional offices, five specialist services and advice clinics located in various metropolitan and country centres. In 1998-99 we gave 50,490 advice and minor assistance interviews.

     Easy access to information about legal aid and related services is available from the toll free Legal Aid HelpLine (1800 806 913).

     In 1998-99 our HelpLine information officers assisted 41,046 callers. HelpLine lawyers advised 5,817 callers, 60% of whom were from rural and regional NSW.

     If more than legal advice is needed, we may provide further help. We provide legal representation in many areas of law. For most services clients have to meet our means and merit tests. Also, they will usually have to pay some money towards the cost of their case. In some cases clients repay the full cost of their case when it is finished. In 1998-99 we approved grants of legal aid in 117,357 matters.

     We also offer other important services which aim to avoid court disputes, such as alternative dispute resolution, community legal education programs and publications.

     We have a strong customer focus and are continually improving the quality and efficiency of our services. We are committed to fair treatment and compliance with anti-discrimination legislation.

Our Function

Our Vision

Our Mission

To provide legal aid and other legal services under the Legal Aid Commission Act 1979

To be the pre-eminent legal aid service in Australia and a model of excellence in public sector management and service delivery

To assist disadvantaged people to understand, protect and enforce their legal rights and interests by promoting access to the legal system and encouraging the use of alternative dispute resolution

Goal 1

To facilitate delivery of high quality legal aid services in a variety of innovative ways.

Outcomes

• Provided 208,893 client services, an increase of 1.8% over the previous year.
• Achieved 89,339 "hits" to our website in its first 11 months of reporting.
• Increased telephone information services by 9% on 1997-98 figures.
• Established a free 1800 HotLine for Young People.
• Conducted do-it-yourself porce classes to assist 409 unrepresented people, applying for dissolution of their marriage, to go through the process with minimum trauma.
• Expanded the Committals pilot scheme, further reducing pending trials at District Court level.
• Participated in the NSW Drug Court pilot scheme.

Goal 2

To encourage the use of litigation as a last resort for dispute resolution, by providing high quality specialist legal education and by promoting alternative dispute resolution

Outcomes

• Conducted 135 community legal education workshops attended by 4,599 participants.
• Facilitated 303 Alternative Dispute Resolution conferences, with agreements reached in 68%, across the Family Law Conferencing, Family Law Mediation and Civil Law Mediation schemes.
• Resolved potentially complex and expensive actions involving claims by Wollongong residents against insurance companies, through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes.
• 13 Additional staff received accreditation as mediators.
• Refered appropriate matters to the Youth Justice Conferencing Scheme.
• Actively utilised the Life Insurance Complaints Scheme and the General Insurance Claims Review Panel to minimise litigation.

Goal 3

To play a major participative role in reforms to improve access to the law, particularly for disadvantaged groups.

Outcomes

• Presented submissions on a wide range of law reform issues and appeared before parliamentary inquiries.
• Introduced a comprehensive program to improve Aboriginal access to inhouse Civil Law services.

Goal 4

To build a legal practice which, in its quality of service delivery, its professionalism, integrity and focus on clients, is publicly recognised as commensurate with the best law firms, nationally and internationally

Outcomes

• Continued our active support of the specialist accreditation program for lawyers and encouraged and facilitated legal staff seeking the qualification. (See Table A)
• Maintained a process of continual review and compliance with Practice Management standards and codes of professional conduct, aligned with regular file reviews and case management meetings.

Goal 5

To attract and retain high quality staff at all levels.

Outcomes

• Developed and implemented a range of staff training and development and change management programs.
• Conducted annual conferences and seminars for legal professionals both internal and external to the Commission.
• Four staff members received major awards for professional excellence.

Goal 6

To deliver value for money in the use of public resources and demonstrate clear accountability for their effective, efficient and economic use.

Outcomes

• Surpassed our target services to staff ratio of (average) 350 client services provided for each full-time equivalent person on staff, ie. 352:1. (See Table B).
• Average gross client service cost was 3.6% below target cost.
• Promoted and participated in a range of initiatives to improve the efficiency and appropriateness of legal service delivery. These included Alternative Dispute Resolution programs, the Government's Court Delay Reduction Program and Drug Court initiatives, the District Court Committals Pilot scheme, website access to information and the HotLine for Young People.
• Developed a new information management system (LA Office) which will greatly improve the efficiency of administrative processes, the range and availability of information available to management, and the capacity to monitor and report upon corporate activities and performance.

Goal 1

To facilitate delivery of high quality legal aid services in a variety of innovative ways.

Outcomes

• Resolved potentially complex and expensive actions on behalf of over 250 Wollongong residents in their claims against insurance companies following the August 17 devastating storms. Initiatives included providing crisis seminars, publishing a kit, Turning the Tide: Floods, Insurance and You, assisting the Wollongong Storm Water Action Group (SWAG) and presenting high quality submissions to the General Insurance Complaints Panel.
• Negotiated with major groups within the insurance industry, including the Insurance Council of Australia, to improve insurance products. This included developing insurance products to cover natural disasters and improving the coverage of consumer credit insurance products.
• Provided 100% of all people facing involuntary deprivation of liberty under the Mental Health Act with expert, specialist legal representation.
• Achieved a greater than 90% success rate for veterans and their widows in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
• Provided a duty solicitor service to the Equal Opportunity pision of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal.
• Maintained close links with community workers in housing, discrimination, immigration, mental health, veterans, social security and consumer financial services to ensure that available resources are put to the best possible use.
• Tendered for and won contracts with the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to provide legal services to visa applicants.
• Forged new links and enhanced cooperation with Community Legal Centres to improve the quality of legal service delivery.

Goal 2

To encourage the use of litigation as a last resort for dispute resolution, by providing high quality specialist legal education and by promoting alternative dispute resolution.

Outcomes

• Hosted a monthly half hour talk-back session on the law on Radio 2BL.
• Successfully reduced litigation for the majority of clients by using industry funded customer dispute resolution schemes including the Life Insurance Complaints Scheme (LICS), the General Insurance Claims Review Panel, the Australian Banking Industry Ombudsman and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.
• Contributed to or authored a number of publications, including the Lawyers' Practice Manual chapters on the Consumer Credit Code and Procedures under the Mental Health Act and Turning the Tide: Floods Insurance and You both in booklet and pamphlet form.
• Presented community legal education seminars on housing, consumer credit, insurance, bankruptcy, disability discrimination, sex discrimination, consumer law, social security and the rights of mentally ill people, to both community members and professionals.

Goal 3

To play a major participative role in reforms to improve access to the law, particularly for disadvantaged groups.

Outcomes

• Introduced a comprehensive NSW-wide program to improve Aboriginal access to civil law services. The program, concentrated in the Coffs Harbour, Wollongong, Parramatta and Sydney offices, involved innovative outreach civil advice and information services through local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community groups and Aboriginal Legal Service offices. The program has resulted in a 111% increase in the number of Aboriginal clients who use our civil law services.
• Conducted an information campaign through regional Law Society seminars about the availability of legal aid in civil law matters. This resulted in a 78% increase in grants of legal aid to clients of private lawyers.
• Made 32 submissions on various law reform proposals. See page 67 for details.
• Developed a kit on relevant legal topics for Asian women with the Asian Women at Work Legal Reference Group.

Goal 4

To build a legal practice which, in its quality of legal service delivery, its professionalism, integrity and focus on clients is publicly recognised as commensurate with the best law firms, nationally and internationally.

Outcomes

• Achieved success in a great number of high profile public interest cases that will benefit financially and socially disadvantaged sectors as well as the wider community.
• Received overwhelming positive publicity in response to our actions on behalf of the storm victims in Wollongong, and other consumer victims of unjust conduct.
• Complied fully with stringent practice management standards, incorporating a six monthly file review and regular casework meetings.

SIGNIFICANT ACTIONS INCLUDE:

Insurance claims for Wollongong storm victims

In August 1998 the Illawarra region was subjected to prolonged heavy rainfall which led to widespread property damage. The total damages bill was estimated at more than $100m, with insurance claims totalling about $50m. The insurance industry denied claims on the basis that the damage was caused by "floodwater" rather than "stormwater", with the policies not covering damage caused by "floodwater".

    After a series of difficult negotiations, a number of insurers agreed to honour the claims.

    In June, the Wollongong Civil Law Centre represented a resident in a Supreme Court action against the local council which ensured that the remaining $100,000 in the Lord Mayor's Fund will be distributed to victims of the storm.

Strahan v R & J Sunseeker Property Developments

The Supreme Court found that Mr Strahan, a 73 year old pensioner living in a caravan park at Toukley, was entitled to compensation for the anxiety, physical inconvenience and stress he suffered when the park owner failed to provide a sealed road to his home for more than two years. This had been promised to Mr Strahan when he took up residence in the caravan park.

The Legal Aid Commission funded:

Timbarra Protection Coalition Inc v Ross Mining NL & Ors

    Timbarra Protection Coalition Inc (TPCI) started proceedings in the Land and Environment Court because of its concern about the effects of mining on flora and fauna on Timbarra Plateau in north-west NSW. The Court found that TPCI was not able to admit evidence on whether the development was likely to significantly affect threatened species. The Appeal Court reversed this decision. The mining company's subsequent appeal to the High Court was refused. As a result of this decision, the Land and Environment Court is now better able to examine the effect and impact of developments on threatened species in NSW.

Back to New South Wales first page   Back to top  Back to International Legal Aid first page  Return to Home page

Civil law services are provided by:

• the private legal profession and community legal centres through the Civil Law Referrals Section and the Common Interest Unit;
• the Civil Litigation Section in the Sydney office;
• Civil Law Centres in Liverpool, Newcastle, Parramatta, Wollongong, Fairfield and Coffs Harbour;
• civil law advice services by each of the inhouse practices as well as from regional offices in Bankstown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Gosford, Lismore, Orange, Penrith, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga; and
• advice in civil law areas given by the Legal Aid HelpLine.

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

There has been an increase in all main areas of activity this year. Grant approvals were up by 16% and merit investigation approvals increased by 9% on the previous year. The Legal Aid HelpLine continued to service an even greater demand, showing a 5% increase on last year in the number of calls relating to civil law. Grants of aid to clients of private lawyers increased by 78% on the previous year, indicating that an information campaign on availability of legal aid was successful.

    Services to Aboriginal clients increased by 111% on the previous year as a result of several strategies we implemented to improve access to our civil law services. The year also saw a 41% increase in the numbers of grants being made to children.

SIGNIFICANT CASES INCLUDE:

Flood v Police Department Employees' Credit Union

The Police Credit Union charged Ms Flood $15 per month as an "overdrawn service fee" on a Visa card. The Commercial Tribunal determined that the fee was unlawful under the new Consumer Credit Code. The Tribunal imposed a civil penalty of loss of 50% of all interest charges and the fees to be refunded to Ms Flood. The decision was the first significant decision in Australia under the Code.  

Cooper v Coffs Harbour City Council

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found that Coffs Harbour City Council had not "aided or permitted" a local cinema to breach the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) when it failed to provide wheelchair access. Mr C appealed to the Federal Court. In a ruling of national importance, the Court clarified the obligations of planning authorities under the DDA. A council is now potentially liable for a breach of the Act if it permits a development which does not make adequate provision for access by people with disabilities to public premises such as shops, offices, theatres and cinemas.

McD v NAFM

In March 1994 Mr McD took out a mortgage protection policy with National Australia Financial Management (NAFM), in order to meet the payments on his mortgage with the National Australia Bank. Mr McD had open-heart surgery in September 1994 and subsequently developed chronic obstructive sleep apnoea. He could not return to work. NAFM delayed in meeting the claim, and Mr McD was advised that the claim could take "years" to process. Although the NAB was aware of the claim, it began threatening legal action to repossess his home. Legal Aid intervened and obtained the Bank's agreement to delay the repossession. Shortly afterwards, further medical reports were obtained, and on the basis of detailed written submissions by the Commission, NAFM agreed to pay $250,000 under the policy.

M v AMP

M, a former self-employed plumber, injured his left ring finger in 1990. AMP paid M under his disability insurance policy for only three months before cancelling his policy on the basis of alleged non-disclosure of his medical history. M agreed that when he was completing the insurance application he admitted to having had a broken leg but left out the little things such as a sore shoulder, strained neck muscles, twisted left knee, sinusitis and rubella. He did this because the AMP agent told him to disclose only his "serious injuries such as fractures". M was awarded $22,000 contract damages and $21,000 interest plus $62,000 costs.

Back to New South Wales first page   Back to top  Back to International Legal Aid first page   Return to Home page

Goal 1

To facilitate delivery of high quality legal aid services in a variety of innovative ways.

Outcomes

• Introduced an outreach advice service to the Dorrigo community from our Coffs Harbour Office.
• Established do-it-yourself divorce classes for people applying for a dissolution of marriage. Classes are conducted at Fairfield, Penrith, Sydney and Coffs Harbour offices. 409 people attended the classes. Free interpreters were provided for 42 non-English speaking participants.
• Wrote a do-it-yourself guide for people wanting to adjust their financial arrangements after marriage breakdown. The guide is available on our website.
• Increased the accessibility of Family Law Practice Information through the internet and 1800 HelpLine.
• Produced a booklet Frequently Asked Family Law Questions, which has been distributed throughout NSW.
• Introduced an outreach, advice, and duty lawyer service to Lithgow Local Court from our Penrith Office.
• Family lawyers participated in the Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Scheme at various local courts.

Goal 2

To encourage the use of litigation as a last resort for dispute resolution, by providing high quality specialist legal education and by promoting alternative dispute resolution.

Outcomes

• Additional staff received accreditation by LEADR (Lawyers Engaged in Alternative Dispute Resolution) as mediators.
• Eleven family law staff participated in a four day training course accrediting them as conference chairpersons, able to conduct legal aid conferencing.
• diverted 327 matters to mediation.
• diverted 204 complex Family Court matters to the alternative dispute resolution conferencing program.
• Conducted 63 community legal education sessions throughout the state, an increase of 80% on 1997-98.

Goal 3

To play a major participative role in reforms to improve access to the law, particularly for disadvantaged groups.

Outcomes

• Participated in joint working parties on core activities, see page 71 for details.
• Presented submissions on a wide range of law reform issues, see page 67 for details.
• Established a consultative process with the Korean Resources Centre.

Goal 4

To build a legal practice which, in its quality of service delivery, its professionalism, integrity and focus on clients, is publicly recognised as commensurate with the best law firms, nationally and internationally.

Outcomes

• We are the largest group of accredited specialists in family law in any legal organisation in Australia.
• Annie Tucker was released for secondment as principal solicitor of Kingsford Legal Centre (January - July 1999).
• Edwina Hunter won a scholarship to attend a UNESCO meeting in Paris in October 1998.
• Implemented a study program so that 12 staff could nominate to seek specialist accreditation in July 1999.
• Increased the advocacy component by all staff in the Children's Court and Family Court practices.
• Maintained a process of continual practice review and compliance with Family Law Practice Management Standards and the Code of Conduct for Family Lawyers.
• Conducted a two-day Family Law Branch Conference. See Performance Highlights.

SIGNIFICANT CASES INCLUDE:

Director of Community Services v Lao (unreported)

The Department of Community Services sought orders that our client, a 14 year old boy, be returned to New Zealand at the request of his mother. Our client had resided with his father since he was five years old. He did not want to return to New Zealand. The Family Court refused our application that our client be made a party and be permitted to participate in the proceedings. The Court granted alternative orders and allowed him to be separately represented. The Family Court agreed that the objection defence was made out. The Court exercised its discretion and dismissed the application by the Department of Community Services.

CDJ and VAJ (1998) FLC 92 - 828

We represented two children in disputed parenting proceedings in which judgment was delivered by the High Court in October 1998. The High Court expounded some important new principles on the admission of further evidence on appeal in family law parenting proceedings. The High Court ordered that the parents share the costs of the child's representative, emphasising the independent role of a child's representative and the public interest in children's welfare.

M and C and Department of Community Services (1998) FLC 92 - 829

We represented two Polish children whose mother was seeking to have them returned to her in Poland. The Department of Immigration had refused the mother's request for a visa to travel to Australia to collect her children, who had remained in Australia after a holiday with their grandmother. A year and a half later the mother's visa was granted and she arrived in Australia. The Department of Community Services then started proceedings for an order returning the children to Poland. Because of the delay, the grandmother was able to successfully argue that the children were settled in Australia and the application made by the Department of Community Services was dismissed. There are now proceedings under the Family Law Act concerning the children's residence.

L and H (1999) FLC 92 - 840

We represented the children of two parents who declined to meet the costs of the child representative even though both could afford it. They argued that if costs were awarded, they should not be payable on a professional cost basis, but should reflect only out of pocket expenses. We successfully argued that legal services provided by inhouse lawyers are to be ordered on the same basis as the services provided by a privately retained lawyer for the purposes of cost orders.

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

• Increased the number of telephone advice and information services by 6% over the previous year to a total of 13,717.
• Conducted a two-day Family Law Branch Conference attended by 145 family lawyers. Private lawyers paid to attend. The profit from the conference more than doubles the funds available for staff training in the next financial year.
• The refusal rate of applications for legal aid increased by 13% over last year, reflecting the strict application of Commonwealth family law guidelines.
• Staff spoke at a variety of legal conferences and law lectures, including:
  - the 8th National Family Law Conference in Hobart;
  - the Business Law Education Centre law lecture series Masterclass;
  - the College of Law mandatory continuing legal education sessions;
  - the Pan Pacific and South East Asian Women's Conference; and
  - a series of Legal and Accounting Management Seminars.
• Back to New South Wales first page  Back to top  Back to International Legal Aid first page  Return to Home page

*Includes Advice, Minor Assistance, Telephone Information, Case Grants, Duty Grants and Section 33 Authorisations, provided by both inhouse and private lawyers.

The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program includes family law conferencing, family law mediation and civil law pro bono mediation.

Goal 1

To facilitate delivery of high quality Legal Aid services in a variety of innovative ways

Outcomes

Provided ADR services to people involved in a range of family and civil law disputes through three schemes:

• Family Law Conferencing - we hold structured meetings between parties and their lawyers, conducted by chairpersons trained in dispute resolution. Legal Aid staff, private lawyers and both inhouse and external chairpersons are involved. Conferences aim to bring about consensual resolution of disputes.
      Two hundred and four conferences were held - the highest annual number in the history of the scheme. 109 of these resulted in full resolution - also the highest to date. A further 34 resulted in partial resolutions which narrowed the issues in dispute.
• Family Law Mediation - we refer family law matters to external organisations for mediation.
      Three hundred and twenty seven matters were referred to mediation and 90 mediations were held. Thirty eight of these achieved full resolution of disputes, while a further 16 resulted in a narrowing of the issues.
• Civil Law Mediation - we refer civil law matters to an external organisation for mediation.
      Seventeen civil matters were referred to mediation, and nine mediations were held. Eight of these achieved full settlements of disputes.

Goal 2

To encourage the use of litigation as a last resort for dispute resolution, by providing high quality specialist legal education and promoting alternative dispute resolution.

Outcomes

• Promoted the use of Family Law Conferencing by requiring that all suitable matters be conferenced following the Family Court's pre-hearing conferences.
• Participated in a joint project with the Family Court, Newcastle, aimed at clearing pending matters in the court list. Legal Aid participation involved conferencing legally aided matters in the list.
• Liaised with Family Court staff to promote the conferencing program.
• Raised awareness of the Civil Law Mediation Program by requiring that suitable matters be referred to mediation.
• Made presentations to staff to enhance understanding and awareness of the Family Law Conferencing Program.

Goal 3

To play a major participative role in reforms to improve access to the law, particularly for disadvantaged groups.

Outcomes

• Significantly expanded the use of telephone conferences in family law to improve access to conferencing for clients living in remote regions of NSW.
• Improved services to Aboriginal and other rural communities by providing circuit visits to Central Western NSW to hold family law conferences.
• Circulated a discussion paper on the inclusion of children in family law conferences, and collated comments for consideration.

Goal 4

To build a legal practice which in its quality of service delivery, its professionalism, its integrity and focus on clients, is publicly recognised as commensurate with the best law firms, nationally and internationally.

Outcomes

• Increased the number of staff trained as conferencing chairpersons from 19 to 32 by conducting an inhouse training course in dispute resolution (mediation and conciliation) skills. This will enable us to increase the volume of conferences scheduled from 200 in 1998-99 to around 900 in 1999-2000.
• Provided ongoing training, development and information for conferencing chairpersons to maintain and improve dispute resolution skills.

Goal 6

To deliver value for money in the use of public resources and demonstrate clear accountability for their effective, efficient and economic use.

Outcomes

• Monitored the effectiveness and efficiency of conferences and mediations by reference to data kept on their numbers, outcomes and costs.

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

• Trained 13 more staff as inhouse conference chairpersons, thus enhancing the cost-effectiveness of conferencing while expanding the skills and career opportunities of Commission staff.
• Made conferencing available to rural communities by providing outreach conferencing services to central western NSW and by significantly increasing the use of telephone conferences.
• Continued and enhanced cooperation with the Family Court by utilising conferencing to assist reduction in court lists and by promoting conferencing at meetings with court staff.
• Although the number of clients using the Commission's ADR services was down in total on the previous year, the proportion of ADR users who were able to achieve agreements through ADR was high, at 68%.
• The family law conferencing scheme enjoyed its most significant year to date in terms of both the number of users of the scheme and the number of agreements reached through conferencing.

CASE STUDY

Complex disputes can be resolved

Family law conferencing can resolve disputes that have sad, unusual and emotionally turbulent histories. C's family dispute was resolved at a conference shortly before a scheduled three-day hearing in the Family Court, resulting in savings for both the Court and Legal Aid.

The background

C was only three years old when his mother died on Christmas Day 1996 after an illness. Before her death C and his parents lived together as a family. But on the day of his mother's death C's grandmother and the grandmother's de facto partner took C home from the hospital, and subsequently C's father had no contact with him for several months.

     C's father, who was drinking heavily at that time, admitted himself to a clinic. He underwent treatment and rehabilitation for over a year, making such good progress that he was appointed to supervisory responsibilities at the clinic. Meanwhile C continued to live with his grandmother and her partner.

     After discharge from the clinic, C's father began to have contact with C but wanted to have C return to live with him. C's grandmother and her partner did not trust the father and would not agree to this. For the father, the couple's ages (they were both in their 70s) and the grandmother's lack of mobility were issues in their ability to look after C.

The conference

C's grandmother, her partner and C's father attended the conference, the latter two with lawyers. With the conference chairperson they worked through issues of trust, C's father's problems with alcohol and the historically bad relationship between the grandmother's partner and C's father.

     After a two-and-a-half hour conference, the matter settled with an agreement that C would return to live with his father and would have regular contact with his grandmother and her partner. Essentially that agreement required an acceptance by C's father that the grandmother and her partner should continue to play a meaningful role in C's life, and by the grandmother's partner that C's father should be allowed to demonstrate he was able to care for C on a full-time basis.

Back to New South Wales first page            Back to top          Back to International Legal Aid first page  

Return to Home page

OUTPUTS ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

CONFERENCE & MEDIATION AGREEMENTS

Goal 1

To facilitate delivery of high quality legal aid services in a variety of innovative ways.

Outcomes

• Provided a duty lawyer service for criminal matters in every local court in NSW daily. Utilising both legal aid and private lawyers, our duty lawyer service made over 88,000 grants of aid covering a wide range of matters, and appeared in more than 150 local courts.
• Provided advice and representation to prisoners and their families. The Prisoners Legal Service, a specialist service, visited most of the State's gaols regularly. It represented prisoners in a range of matters, as well as giving advice and assistance concerning legal problems generally.
• Provided free, high quality representation to children facing criminal charges at children's courts, utilising both inhouse Children's Legal Service and rostered private lawyers.
• Maintained funding to the enhanced Juvenile Justice Visiting Legal Service, which provides advice to young people in detention through regular visits. We are the first legal aid commission in Australia to implement such a service. This service will be expanded to new centres at Grafton and Dubbo in late 1999.
• Successfully expanded a committals pilot scheme from the Sydney District Court to include Sydney West. Using inhouse and private lawyers, this pilot has dramatically reduced pending trials in the District Court.
• Participated in the NSW Drug Court located at Parramatta by placing two senior staff at the Court to provide legal aid services to clients participating in this innovative trial.
• Participated in two special court delay reductions sittings of the District Court at Queanbeyan and Bathurst. These sittings targeted areas of backlog and were able to resolve approximately 55 trial matters. As a result of the success of these sittings, more are planned during 1999 and 2000 in selected country locations.
• Maintained our weekend and public holiday bail service, which provides representation before bail justices for defendants who have been refused bail.

Goal 2

To encourage the use of litigation as a last resort for dispute resolution, by providing high quality specialist legal education and by promoting alternative dispute resolution.

Outcomes

• Updated seven criminal law information cards.
• Conducted a one day specialist education seminar for inhouse staff and 90 private lawyers on the children's court duty roster.
• Conducted the annual Duty Solicitor Conference attended by over 100 staff and external lawyers.
• Children's Legal Service lawyers continued their strong support for the Youth Justice Conferencing Scheme (established under the Young Offenders Act to divert juvenile offenders away from the court system).
• Participated in inter agency meetings at senior levels with the aim of seeking reforms to the criminal justice system to reduce the number and length of trials. These discussions resulted in commitments to processes designed to achieve early consideration of the appropriateness of criminal charges and a reduction in the numbers of committals for trial.

Goal 3

To play a major participative role in reforms to improve access to the law, particularly for disadvantaged groups.

Outcomes

Made seven submissions on various law reform proposals and appeared before two parliamentary inquiries. See page 67 for full details.

Participated in Interdepartmental Committees and outside bodies to contribute to law reform and to change implementation. Further details on page 71.

Goal 4

To build a legal practice which, in its quality of service delivery, its professionalism, integrity and focus on clients, is publicly recognised as commensurate with the best law firms, nationally and internationally.

Outcomes

• Achieved our goal to have 25% of all criminal lawyers qualify as accredited specialists. Twelve staff gained specialist accreditation in criminal law, making a total of 35 accredited specialists employed in the Branch. The Commission employs the highest number of accredited specialists in criminal law of any legal organisation in Australia.
• Maintained a process of practice review to ensure compliance with Criminal Law Practice Management Standards.
• Continued a review of internal criminal law services by extending the position of Criminal Law Analyst. The aim of this review is to make the best use of existing staff and identify priority areas for additional resources.
• Introduced a system of seamless grants for indictable matters. Aid can now be granted at local court level for indictable matters, removing the need for a second application on committal to the District or Supreme Court.

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

We conducted a number of cases which had general significance in criminal law.

In the Court of Criminal Appeal

Henry and others CCA 12.5.99 - acted for three respondents to Crown appeals and one appellant. The case addressed numerous general issues of sentencing and was the subject of the Guideline Judgment in respect of armed robbery offences. The Indictable Appeals Section will provide representation in future guideline cases which will have an enormous impact on sentencing generally.

Horton CCA 2.11.98 - clarified the meaning of "admission" in s424A Crimes Act (which generally requires admissions to be tape recorded) as including any statements adverse to the interests of the maker.

Johnston CCA 31.7.98 - set out propositions concerning the directions which should be given in sexual assault cases where there has been a delay in making complaint. The Indictable Appeals Section has run a number of successful appeals this year where the substantial argument has been that inadequate or inappropriate jury directions on late complaint were given. With the increasing number of prosecutions, particularly in country courts, of old sexual assault allegations, cases such as Johnston could make the task of trial judges and counsel in identifying correct directions easier.

Dennis CCA 23.2.99 - reaffirmed that Crown Prosecutors should not ask an accused in cross-examination to comment on whether other witnesses are lying. This case was one of several heard at the first sittings of the Court of Criminal Appeal held outside the Sydney metropolitan area.

Committals pilot

In 1998-99 we successfully conducted a committals pilot in the Sydney District Court. Using funding of $600,000 provided by the Trustees of the Public Purposes Fund, we set up a Committals Unit on 1 July 1999.

     Working very closely with private lawyers, the unit achieved a 20% reduction in new registrations for trials in the Sydney District Court by the end of 1998.

     An additional grant of $816,000 enabled the scheme to extend to Sydney West
(from 1 February 1999 until 30 January 2000), with committals being centralised at Burwood and Penrith. In Sydney West a 40% reduction in registrations of new trial matters was achieved in the first three months.

     Funding has been provided in the recent State budget to extend the program to
July 2000 and expand it to cover country matters and murder charges.

Back to New South Wales first page            Back to top           Back to International Legal Aid first page  

Return to Home page

CASE STUDY

Terminally ill client returns home

J, a United States citizen was arrested at Sydney airport with 3.6kg of drugs in his possession on 28 December 1998.

     At the time of his arrest, J was suffering from terminal cancer. Medical opinion stated his life expectancy was a few months at most, possibly weeks. J elected to provide US and Australian authorities with considerable assistance.

     In early March J received a 12 year sentence for the importation of drugs. A non-parole period was set at 68 days because of his life expectancy and the assistance he had provided. J was released from custody and returned to his family in the United States. He passed away shortly after.

The Community Education and Publications Unit is staffed by a coordinator, an editor, a graphic designer and part-time distribution officer. We are responsible for coordinating community education and publications programs, including the Commission's website. We provide services to disadvantaged groups such as new arrivals and rural communities, with the emphasis on better access to legal services and the legal system. This year, Legal Aid staff provided 135 free community legal education workshops across NSW for 4,599 participants, a 25% increase on the previous financial year.

     Unit staff, in conjunction with Helpline lawyers, presented 20 workshops for key groups, including new arrivals, disability groups and rural communities and referral agencies.

     We coordinated legal advice stalls at the annual Vietnamese New Year Festival and International Womens' Day, and organised the launch and subsequent promotion of the Legal Aid HotLine for Young People. In addition Unit staff played key organising roles for the successful national Legal Aid Forum: Towards 2010 held in Canberra.

     We distributed 274,624 publications, representing an increase of 26% in demand on the previous reporting year. We produced six new publications (see page 77) and updated eight existing publications. New publications included Family Law: Frequently Asked Questions and Turning the Tide: Floods and Insurance, a guide which we published within two months of the Wollongong storms to help victims deal with insurance claims.

     We produced a large print version of our key brochure Do You Have A Legal Problem? which we market tested with disability groups. We also developed readability guidelines for future publications.

     We marketed translations of our key brochure about Legal Aid, Do You Have a Legal Problem? to ethnic communities including migrant resource centres and ethno-specific agencies. Over 39,000 of these translated brochures were distributed. We published updated reprints in February 1999 in all 12 languages as a result of demand.

     We funded an update of An Employee's Guide to Unfair Dismissal, produced by Redfern Legal Centre, Publishing and Inner City Legal Centre, to ensure this valuable plain English resource continued to be available to the NSW public.

     We secured external sponsorship for our staff newsletter Verbals for the fourth consecutive year.

     We continued to develop the Commission's website, as part of a unique partnership with the NSW Attorney General's Department. Material on family law, going to the local court and the legal rights of young people was added to the site. Over 89,000 visits were recorded to our website for the first 11 months of this reporting year.

     We co-sponsored a NSW Law Foundation seminar about providing customer focused websites for non English speaking communities. The seminar, the first of its kind to be held in Australia, was attended by 90 different services, including justice agencies, community groups, libraries and web developers.

     As a member of a NSW Office Information Technology's Working Party we assisted that agency to develop a justice area for the Service NSW website. This gateway site will enhance the public's capacity to locate legal information from all NSW agencies.

Primary Programs

1995/96

1996/97

% change

1997/98

% change

1998/99

% change

Criminal Law ¹

Applications Received

103,918

99,593

-4.2%

97,919

-1.7%

103,415

5.6%

Applications Approved ³

96,386

92,098

-4.4%

90,236

-2.0%

95,418

5.7%

Section 33 Authorisations

563

571

1.4%

492

-13.8%

531

7.9%

Applications Refused

6,969

6,907

-0.9%

6,844

-0.9%

7,055

3.1%

Refusal Rate

7.1%

7.4%

0.3%

7.0%

-0.4%

6.9%

-0.2%

Applications Determined ³

98,120

93,319

-4.9%

97,428

4.4%

102,891

5.6%

Applications On Hand

6,321

6,214

-1.7%

7,392

19.0%

7,390

0.0%

Advice & Minor Assistance

8,636

10,479

21.3%

10,644

1.6%

10,307

-3.2%

Community Information ⁴

2,471

4,986

101.8%

6,956

39.5%

8,531

22.6%

Total Client Assistance ⁶

108,056

108,134

0.1%

108,328

0.2%

114,787

6.0%

Family Law ¹

Applications Received

16,965

15,858

-6.5%

16,566

4.5%

14,060

-15.1%

Applications Approved ³

11,231

10,272