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 – 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
- 17 – Decision to grant or refuse assistance
- 18 – Reconsideration and review of decisions
- 19 – Standard terms and conditions
- 20 – Contributions and overdue payments
- 21 – Abandoning legal assistance
- 22 – Finalising grants of legal assistance
- 23 – Allocation of work to lawyers and law firms
- 24 – Payments to lawyers and service providers
- 25 – Compliance reviews
- 26 – Privacy protection
- 27 – Complaints and feedback
- Topic index
- Invoice, worksheets and forms
- Contact us
27 – Complaints and feedback
Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) takes seriously all complaints and feedback that it receives.
VLA aims to resolve any complaints quickly, fairly and without prejudice.
This section explains VLA’s process for dealing with all complaints and feedback.
Contact the Complaints and Statutory Compliance (CaSC) team
If anyone has any complaints or feedback about a VLA service, a VLA staff member (including an in-house lawyer) or a private lawyer who is funded by VLA, then they may contact VLA’s CaSC team:
- by email: complaints@vla.vic.gov.au
- by phone: 03 9280 3789
- in writing:
Complaints and Statutory Compliance
Victoria Legal Aid
GPO Box 4380
Melbourne Vic 3001
The CaSC officer will record the complaint or feedback.
For complaints about breaches of privacy see Privacy complaints.
Feedback
If the person is lodging feedback (that is, comments which do not require any resolution), then the CaSC officer will pass it on to the relevant person in VLA.
Complaints
If the person is lodging a complaint, then the CaSC officer will discuss with the person how the complaint may be resolved. Then, depending on the nature of the complaint and what the person wants to do, the CaSC officer will do one of the following:
- investigate and help resolve the complaint immediately, if possible
- if the complaint is connected to a grant of legal assistance – refer the complaint to the relevant VLA officer for action in accordance with the Legal Aid Act 1978
- refer the complaint to the relevant VLA manager or other staff to resolve (for example, CaSC may refer the person to the relevant manager if that person has not already attempted to resolve the complaint directly with the manager)
- refer the person to another appropriate organisation for action (for example, the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner or the Victorian Ombudsman).
Complaints about the professional conduct of a lawyer
If the person’s complaint is about the professional conduct of a VLA in-house lawyer or of a private lawyer funded by VLA, then CaSC may refer the person to the relevant professional standards body at:
Information about the complaints-handling and disciplinary processes of these professional organisations is available on their respective websites.
What will happen next?
If VLA investigates the complaint, then VLA will write to the person who complains to tell them the results of the investigation, as far as possible. However, because of the confidentiality provisions of the Legal Aid Act, VLA may not be able to give the person any details of the investigation if it relates to a grant of legal assistance provided to another person.
If a complaint is about a private lawyer who is with a law firm which is a member of VLA’s Section 29A Practitioner Panel or Section 30 Referral Panel and, after investigation, the complaint is found to be valid, then VLA may remove or suspend that lawyer from the relevant panel.
If a complaint reveals a problem in any of VLA’s systems, then VLA will attempt to fix the problem so it does not happen again.
If it is appropriate to refer the complaint to another organisation, then the CaSC officer will seek permission to do this from the person who is complaining. It is then up to the other organisation to resolve the matter and to keep in contact with the person.
Review rights
If the person who complains to VLA is not satisfied with how VLA has dealt with their complaint, they may write to the Victorian Ombudsman.