In some and possibly all states and territories you have a duty to tell your client if they are entitled to Legal Aid or if you think they may be entitled to Legal Aid. Even if you have no intention of acting for them on the basis of being paid through Legal Aid, this does not change your duty to tell them of their right to apply for Legal Aid. Obviously, you don’t have to tell them that if you are confident they will not get legal aid, so whatever the nature of your practice, it is appropriate for you to get a broad idea of your local Legal Aid entitlement rules.

If you are new to family law, all that can be said about Legal Aid is that you take it on as your pro bono contribution. You cannot make a profit out of Legal Aid. The Legal Aid offices claim that they pay fees at the rate of 80 percent of the Family Law Scale. This is a fiction because at each stage of the legal process they have a maximum cap on the amount that is payable regardless of the actual amount of work you do. The fact is that this cap is below the level of real work which you do in most instances.

Because each state has its own Legal Aid office (the title varies from state to state), more detail on Legal Aid is beyond the scope of this book. By all means communicate with your local Legal Aid office should you wish to find out more about Legal Aid matters.

Legal Aid has produced a national publication, Untying the knots: Your guide to family law, which is designed to provide an overview of the laws and processes in family law disputes. Each state and the Northern Territory has its own edition containing information specific to it.

You should advise the client not to totally rely on general publications. The various State specific editions are available as follows:

• ACT
• New South Wales
• Northern Territory
• Queensland
• Victoria