Table of contents
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Table of contents
- 1 – Introduction
- 2 – Types of matters that may be assisted
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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 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 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 Sex Offenders (Detention and Supervision) Act
- County Court breach proceedings
- Guideline 11 – two-counsel policy
- 4 – Commonwealth family law and child support guidelines
- 5 – Commonwealth civil law guidelines
- 6 – State family guidelines
- 7 – State civil law guidelines
- 8 – Standard grants assessment process
- 9 – Simplified grants assessment process
- 10 – Referral and practitioner panels
- 11 – Means test
- 12 – Commonwealth merits test
- 13 – State reasonableness test and interests of justice test
- 14 – Special circumstances
- 15 – Applying for a grant of legal assistance
- 16 – Decision to grant or refuse assistance
- 17 – Reconsideration and review of decisions
- 18 – Standard terms and conditions
- 19 – Contributions and overdue payments
- 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
- 24 – Compliance reviews
- 25 – Privacy protection
- 26 – Complaints and feedback
- Topic index
- Invoices, worksheets and forms
- Contact us
Guideline 6 – bail applications in the Magistrates’, County and Supreme courts
VLA may make a grant of legal assistance to a person who wants to apply to the Magistrates’ Court, the County Court or to the Supreme Court for bail if there is a ‘realistic prospect of bail being granted’ and, either:
- the prosecution actively opposes the person’s application for bail
- the person has to show cause why bail should be granted.
‘Realistic prospect of bail being granted’ means that a careful and experienced lawyer would consider it likely that a magistrate or a judge could grant bail.
The lawyer must take all the evidence and circumstances of the case into account and the chance of bail being granted must be real and not fanciful. This requires much more than an arguable case.
If counsel appears and the matter proceeds as a plea
If counsel appears and considers that the best interests of the person seeking bail would be to enter a plea rather than to proceed with the bail application, then VLA will grant legal assistance for counsel’s appearance at the plea instead of for the bail application.
Bail variations
VLA may grant legal assistance to a person to either:
- apply to vary the conditions of bail
- respond to an application by the Office of Corrections to vary the conditions of bail.
Applications for variation are not within VLA's guidelines and must be submitted via the standard grants assessment process.
Documentary requirements
With the exception of bail variations, applications under this guideline are within the simplified grants assessment process or the standard grants assessment process. An application for bail variation may only be made via the standard grants assessment process.
Standard grants assessment process
Lawyers or other applicants seeking a grant of legal assistance via the standard grants assessment process should forward all of the following documents for assessment:
- a completed VLA application form
- copies of the charge or charges
- the grounds they will rely on to support their application
- if the applicant is lodging the application through a lawyer, then their lawyer’s assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the application
- full details of the person's prior convictions (if any)
- relevant proof of means (if a waiver does not apply).
Simplified grants assessment process
Lawyers seeking a grant of legal assistance via the simplified grants assessment process should submit a completed simplified VLA application form and a summary crime checklist, only after ensuring that the following documents are retained on file unless they are requested by VLA for assessment:
- a reference to guideline 6
- copies of the charge or charges
- the grounds they will rely on to support their application
- the lawyer’s assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the application
- relevant proof of means (if a waiver does not apply).
Lawyers are also encouraged to complete a bail worksheet and a proof of means worksheet for their file.