Site Map
- Handbook
- 1 – Introduction
- 2 – Types of matters that may be assisted
- 3 – Criminal law guidelines
- Guideline 1.1 – ‘not guilty’ plea in the Magistrates’ Court
- Guideline 1.2 – ‘guilty’ plea in the Magistrates’ Court
- Guideline 1.3 – Assessment and Referral Court List matters
- Guidelines 1.4 and 1.5 – social security prosecutions
- Guideline 2 – traffic offence charges in the Magistrates’ Court
- Guideline 3.1 – committal proceedings involving homicide, consent or identification
- Guideline 3.2 – committal proceedings in other cases
- Guideline 4 – trials in the County or Supreme courts
- Guideline 4.1 – County Court and Supreme Court pleas
- Guideline 5.1 – proceedings in the Criminal Division of the Children’s Court
- Guideline 6 – bail applications in the Children's, Magistrates’, County and Supreme courts
- Guideline 7.1 – criminal appeals to the County Court
- Guideline 7.2 – interlocutory appeals to the Court of Appeal
- Guideline 7.3 – appeals to the High Court
- Guideline 7.4 – leave to appeal against sentence in the Court of Appeal
- Guideline 7.5 – appeal against sentence in the Court of Appeal
- Guideline 7.6 – leave to appeal against conviction/conviction and sentence in the Court of Appeal
- Guideline 7.7 – appeal against conviction/conviction and sentence in the Court of Appeal
- Guideline 7.8 – election to renew leave to appeal against conviction and/or sentence in the Court of Appeal
- Guideline 8 – stay applications under the Criminal Procedure Act
- Guideline 9 – hearings under the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act
- Guideline 10 – Serious Offenders Act 2018
- Guideline 11 – Supreme and County Court breach proceedings
- 4 – Commonwealth family law and child support
guidelines
- Notes on the Commonwealth family law and child support guidelines
- Introduction to Commonwealth family law and child support guidelines
- Guideline 1 − parenting disputes
- Guideline 2 – recovery, location and information orders
- Guideline 3 – international child abduction
- Notes on Guideline 3
- Guideline 3.1 – litigation in matters involving international child abduction
- Guideline 3.2 – FDRS in matters involving international child abduction
- Guideline 3.3 – appointment of an ICL for litigation relating to international child abduction
- Guideline 3.4 – appointment of an ICL for FDRS in matters involving international child abduction
- Guideline 4 − parentage determinations
- Guideline 5 − child support and child
maintenance
- Guideline 5.1 – advice and negotiation for adults in child support matters
- Guideline 5.2 – litigation and administrative review for adults in child support matters
- Guideline 5.3 – advice and negotiation for adults in child maintenance and adult child maintenance matters
- Guideline 5.4 – FDRS in adult child maintenance matters
- Guideline 5.5 – litigation for adults in child maintenance and adult child maintenance matters
- Legal assistance for children in child support and child maintenance matters
- Guideline 6 − spousal maintenance
- Guideline 7 − special medical procedures involving children
- Guideline 8 − appeals
- Guideline 9 – property disputes
- Family law costs management
- Important information about FDRS
- Key definitions
- Threshold tests
- Jurisdiction of family law proceedings
- 5 – Commonwealth civil law guidelines
- Guideline 1 – general guideline for Commonwealth civil matters
- Guideline 2 – social security and other benefits: administrative appeals
- Guideline 3 – assistance for migration cases
- Guideline 4 – equal opportunity and discrimination cases
- Guideline 5 – war veterans' matters
- Guideline 6 – other Federal Court and High Court proceedings
- Guideline 7 – Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
- Guideline 8 – extradition proceedings
- Guideline 9 – NDIS administrative appeals
- 6 – State family guidelines
- Introduction to state family guidelines
- Guideline 1 – child involved in a case in the Family Division of the Children’s Court
- Guideline 2 – parent, guardian or other interested person involved in a case in the Family Division of the Children’s Court
- Guideline 3 – appeal against interim accommodation order
- Guideline 4 – review of case planning decisions
- Guideline 5 – application to revoke a protection order
- Guideline 6 – appeal against final order of the Family Division of the Children's Court or County Court
- Guideline 7 – judicial review of the Family Division of the Children's Court, County Court or Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision
- Notes on fees and other costs payable in State family law matters
- 7 – State civil law guidelines
- Guideline 1 – general civil claims of $5000 or more
- Guideline 2 – Mental Health Tribunal cases
- Guideline 2a – supervised treatment orders
- Guideline 3 – guardianship and/or administration cases in the Guardianship List
- Guideline 4 – coronial inquests
- Guideline 5 – equal opportunity or discrimination cases
- Guideline 5a – Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal cases
- Guideline 6 – family violence protection order cases
- Guideline 6a – personal safety intervention order cases
- Guideline 7 – adoption
- Guideline 8 – evictions at VCAT
- Guideline 9 – Supreme Court
- Guideline 10 – infringements cases
- Guideline 11 – witnesses appearing before the chief examiner or examiner
- 8 – Public interest and strategic litigation
- 9 – Standard grants assessment process
- 10 – Simplified grants assessment process
- 11 – Referral and practitioner panels
- 12 – Means test
- 13 – Commonwealth merits test
- 14 – State reasonableness test and interests of justice test
- 15 – Special circumstances
- 16 – Applying for a grant of legal assistance
- How to apply
- Does a person need a lawyer to help them apply?
- Helping a client apply for a grant of legal assistance
- How to fill in the application form
- Giving false information or omitting relevant information in the application
- Late applications and time limits
- How to apply for further assistance, or additional assistance
- Submitting the application
- Urgent applications
- Applications by children
- Applications to take legal action against VLA
- Applications by VLA staff for a grant of legal assistance for themselves
- Interstate matters
- 17 – Decision to grant or refuse assistance
- 18 – Reconsideration and review of decisions
- 19 – Standard terms and conditions
- 20 – Abandoning legal assistance
- 21 – Finalising grants of legal assistance
- 22 – Allocation of work to lawyers and law firms
- 23 – Payments to lawyers and service providers
- Professional costs
- Counsel's fees
- Payments to agents
- Duty lawyer schemes
- Disbursements
- Cost ceilings
- Stage of matter limits
- Lump sum fees
- Costs payable in criminal law matters
- Fee Schedule 1 – Lump sum and other fees payable in
criminal law matters
- Conditions for paying lump sum fees in criminal law matters
- Principles applying to payment of preparation fees to solicitors
- Summary criminal proceedings
- Table A
- Table B
- Table C
- Table D – Lump sum fees for bail applications in the Supreme Court
- Principles applying to payment of fees for Magistrates' Court stage of indictable matters
- Table E – Lump sum fees for the Children's Court and Magistrates’ Court stage of an indictable crime matter
- Principles applying to payment of fees for the County or Supreme Court stage of an indictable crime matter
- Table F – Lump sum fees for County Court and Supreme Court stage of an indictable crime matter
- Table F(i) – Lump sum and other fees for serious indictable crime matters in the Children’s Court
- Table G – Lump sum fees for sentence appeals in the County Court
- Table H – Lump sum fees for appeals against sentence and conviction in the County Court
- Table J – Lump sum fees for Supreme Court and County Court breach matters
- Table K – Lump sum fees for appeals to the Court of Appeal
- Table K(i) – Lump sum fees for appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions to the Court of Appeal
- Table K(ii) – Lump sum fees for interlocutory appeal
- Table L – Lump sum fees for criminal appeals in the High Court
- Table NN
- Fee Schedule 1A – Fees payable in criminal matters if an Appeal Costs Certificate has been granted
- Fee Schedule 4 – Counsel’s fees in criminal trials
- Fee Schedule 1 – Lump sum and other fees payable in
criminal law matters
- Costs payable in State family matters
- Costs payable in Commonwealth family law and child support matters
- Costs payable in civil law matters
- 24 – Compliance reviews
- 25 – Privacy protection
- 26 – Complaints and feedback
- Invoice, forms and worksheets
- Interim fees
- Handbook archive
- Contact us