Table of contents
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Table of contents
- 1 – Introduction
- 2 – Types of matters that may be assisted
- 3 – Criminal law guidelines
- 4 – Commonwealth family law and child support guidelines
- 5 – Commonwealth civil law guidelines
- 6 – State family guidelines
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7 – State civil law guidelines
- Guideline 1 – general civil claims of $5000 or more
- Guideline 2 – Mental Health Review Board cases
- 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 – State civil law matters that will not be assisted
- Guideline 10 – infringements cases
- Guideline 11 – a public interest case or a test case
- Guideline 12 – witnesses appearing before the Chief Examiner or Examiner
- Guideline 13 – social security cases at the ARO and SSAT stages
- Guideline 14 – drought legal assistance package
- 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 5 – equal opportunity or discrimination cases
VLA may make a grant of legal assistance to a person for an equal opportunity or discrimination case if there is a strong prospect that there will be a benefit to the person seeking assistance.
Documentary requirements
Equal opportunity cases
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
- after referring to guideline 5 and all available material, the lawyer’s assessment of the prospect of benefit being gained by the person applying for the grant of legal assistance (if the application is made via a lawyer)
- copies of any relevant documents
- reference to how the matter meets the State reasonableness test
- documentary proof of any State special circumstances
- relevant proof of means.
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 an equal opportunity checklist only after ensuring that the following documents are retained on file unless they are requested by VLA for assessment:
- a reference to guideline 5
- the lawyer’s assessment of the prospect of benefit being gained by the person applying for the grant of legal assistance
- documentary proof of any State special circumstances
- relevant proof of means.
Discrimination cases
A member of the section 29A practitioner panel or section 30 referral panel or other person seeking a grant of legal assistance should forward the documents listed above for the standard grants assessment process applications in equal opportunity matters.
A request for a grant of legal assistance under this guideline cannot be made via the simplified grants assessment process.