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
- 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
8 – Standard grants assessment process
VLA’s standard grants assessment process is also known as the full assessment process. It is used to assess applications for grants of legal assistance and to decide whether VLA will provide a grant of legal assistance to a person in the following matters:
- Any legal matter, where an application is made to VLA through a private lawyer who is not a member of a relevant VLA section 29A Practitioner Panel.
- All civil law matters, except child protection cases and Family Violence Protection Act 2008 matters and Stalking Intervention Orders Act 2008 matters.
- Any matter where the application is made through a relevant VLA section 29A Practitioner or an in-house lawyer, and that matter does not fall within the scope of the simplified grants assessment process.
- Any matter for which there is no specific guideline.
- Any matter where assistance is sought under the public interest and test cases guideline.
Significance of the standard grants assessment process
The main significance of the standard grants assessment process is that applications for grants of legal assistance are assessed to decide:
- whether the legal matter is one for which VLA may make a grant of legal assistance
- whether the person qualifies for a grant of legal assistance under the means test
- the merits of the legal matter
- what, if any, initial contribution VLA will require the person to pay if VLA makes a grant of legal assistance
- the conditions which VLA may place on the grant of legal assistance.
Note: the assisted person’s lawyer, if any, has no role in the decision-making process, other than to provide VLA with all relevant information relating to the application for the grant of legal assistance.
The standard application form
If a person applies for a grant of legal assistance in any of the circumstances listed above, the correct application form is the longer version: Grant of legal assistance – guide and application form.