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 – witnesses appearing before the Chief Examiner or Examiner
- Guideline 12 – social security cases at the ARO and SSAT stages
- Guideline 13 – drought legal assistance package
- 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
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 seeking a grant of legal assistance via the standard grants assessment process should submit an application via ATLAS for assessment, including all of the following documents:
- 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
- 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 an application via ATLAS, 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 seeking a grant of legal assistance should submit an application via ATLAS with 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.