Victoria Legal Aid's (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 Commonwealth Family Law 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 Personal Safety Intervention Orders Act 2010 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.
Submitting an application through the standard grants assessment process
Applications for a grant of legal assistance in any of the circumstances listed above must be made using the standard grants assessment process via ATLAS.
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.
Updated