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 1.2 – ‘guilty’ plea in the Magistrates’ Court
VLA may make a grant of legal assistance to a person who has been charged with a criminal offence to be heard in the Magistrates’ Court if:
- VLA is satisfied there is no reasonable prospect of acquittal or the person or their lawyer (if any) does not provide enough information to support a view of a reasonable prospect of acquittal
- a conviction is likely to result in:
- imprisonment
- an intensive correction order
- a suspended term of imprisonment
- in serious or complex matters, in which there is a likelihood the magistrate will impose a community based order with conviction requiring more than 200 hours of unpaid community work
- a community-based order where the person will have difficulty communicating their rehabilitative needs because of a psychiatric or intellectual disability, lack of education or difficulties in understanding English.
Definitions and meanings
Psychiatric or intellectual disability
For the purposes of a grant under this guideline, a person suffering a psychiatric or intellectual disability means a person who is receiving services from an approved mental health service under the Mental Health Act 1986 or is an eligible person registered under the Disability Act 2006.
Reasonable prospect of acquittal
See Criminal law guideline 1.1 for discussion of the meaning of ‘reasonable prospect of acquittal’.
Likely to result in
See Criminal law guideline 1.1 for a definition of 'likely to result in'.
Serious or complex matter
A ‘serious or complex matter’ is one where the necessary level of legal representation is more than the duty lawyer service could provide.
Relevance of prior convictions
If a person applying for a grant has any prior convictions, then VLA will take them into account when considering the likely result of the conviction on a guilty plea.
If a person has no prior convictions, then VLA is more likely to make a grant of legal assistance if either:
- the current offence is extremely serious
- there are many charges.
Breach of previous court order
VLA may make a grant of legal assistance under this guideline to a person charged with breaching a previous court order. However, if the previous order was a low-level community-based order and the person’s breach was a minor non-compliance, then VLA is unlikely to provide a grant of assistance.
Variation of a court order
VLA will not normally make a grant of legal assistance to a person for an application to vary a court order (for example, a community-based order or an intensive correction order). However, VLA will assess each application on its own facts and circumstances.
Applications for variation, including an application by the Office of Corrections, are not within VLA's guidelines and must be submitted via the standard grants assessment process.
Documentary requirements
Applications under this guideline are within the simplified grants assessment process or 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
- full details of the person's prior convictions (if any)
- the lawyer’s assessment of the likely penalty having regard to any prior relevant convictions (if any)
- if the application is lodged through a lawyer, then the lawyer’s assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the defence or defences
- relevant proof of means (if a waiver does not apply).
Simplified grants assessment process
Lawyers seeking a grant of 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 1.2
- copies of the charge or charges
- full details of the person's prior convictions (if any)
- the lawyer’s assessment of the likely penalty having regard to any prior relevant convictions (if any)
- the lawyer’s assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the defence or defences
- relevant proof of means (if a waiver does not apply).
Lawyers are also encouraged to complete a summary crime worksheet and a proof of means worksheet for their file.