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
24 – Payments to lawyers and service providers
Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) pays professional costs and disbursements to private lawyers whom VLA has assigned to provide legal services for legally assisted people. A distinction is made between an item of professional costs and a disbursement.
Fees effective from 1 August 2012
VLA has increased all professional fees and disbursements by two per cent effective 1 August 2012.
The two per cent fee increase covers all private practitioner fees (see below). The increase also applies to associated disbursements such as for medical reports and professional witnesses.
The new fees apply to all existing grants of legal assistance where the matter has not been finalised, and new grants made on or after that date. All appearances and additional preparation completed prior to the changes attract the old fees.
Index
This section sets out the details of all the relevant payments:
- Professional costs
- Counsel's fees
- Payments to agents
- Disbursements
- Cost ceilings
- Stage of matter limits
- Lump sum fees
- Costs payable in criminal law matters
- Costs payable in State family matters
- Costs payable in Commonwealth family law matters
- Costs payable in civil law matters
Fees prior to 1 August 2012
All appearances and additional preparation completed prior to 1 August 2012 attract the old fees – see Payments to lawyers and service providers in the VLA Handbook (archived 31 July 2012). For fees payable prior to this see Archived versions of the Handbook.