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
Commonwealth civil law matters
Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) may make a grant of assistance to a person for a civil proceeding under Commonwealth law if:
- the matter is a Commonwealth civil law matter within the Commonwealth legal aid priorities set out in the National Commonwealth Legal Aid Guidelines
- the legal proceedings are to take place in Victoria (the forum test)
- usually, VLA considers the person cannot afford the full cost of private legal services (the means test)
and - the matter and the person meet the Commonwealth merits test.
However, VLA may make a grant of assistance to a war veteran or a dependant of a war veteran for certain proceedings under the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (Cth) and the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (Cth) without applying the means test.
Commonwealth civil law guidelines
The Commonwealth civil law guidelines set out the conditions under which a grant of legal assistance may be made in relation to the following Commonwealth civil law matters being heard or determined in Victoria:
- Commonwealth workers’ compensation matters, social security matters and disputes, and cases involving other Commonwealth pensions, benefits or allowances
- war veterans' matters
- action for damages under Commonwealth law
- migration
- discrimination or equal opportunity matters and consumer protection matters
- extradition proceedings
- proceeds of crime.