National Legal Aid

Introduction

National Legal Aid (NLA) represents the eight state and territory legal aid commissions in Australia, including Legal Aid NSW. We work with NLA to deliver three significant national services and projects that are funded by the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department.

Your Story Disability Legal Support

Your Story was set up in 2019 to support people to take part in the disability royal commission in a safe and informed way and to help people with disability and their families with their legal problems. Your Story closed on 30 June 2024.

In total, Your Story received over 13,000 calls and enquiries through its info line and provided over 8,000 legal services to more than 3,000 clients across Australia. Around 25 percent of Your Story services were provided to people with disability in closed and segregated settings, such as juvenile detention, prison, mental health facilities and group homes.

Your Story delivered over 1,000 inclusive community legal education activities and distributed over 200 accessible resources about disability rights and the royal commission. They provided legal information in written, captioned video, audio, tactile and Easy Read formats, and translations in Auslan and community languages.

Your Story was the first national service provided jointly by legal aid commissions and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services in each state and territory. An independent evaluation of Your Story found that it provided high-quality legal services that were relevant, tailored, flexible and accessible. It was found to be highly effective at meeting the diverse needs of people with disability and to have provided services to a diverse range of clients, including clients in rural and remote communities.

Defence and Veterans Legal Service (DAVLS)

DAVLS was set up in 2021 to provide independent and confidential support to defence personnel, veterans and their families to take part in the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. DAVLS also supports clients with veteran entitlement issues and other legal problems.

In 2023–24, DAVLS received over 2,232 calls and enquiries through its info line and provided 2,478 legal services to over 825 clients across Australia. DAVLS has become an important part of the defence and veteran community and has delivered over 100 community legal education activities, often in partnership with other services, at a broad range of locations across Australia.

An independent evaluation of DAVLS found that the service is highly valued by both clients and stakeholders, effective in providing legal services to support engagement with the royal commission and that it delivers services that are independent, trauma-informed, culturally safe and nationally accessible.

The royal commission is due to release its final report to the Governor-General on 9 September 2024. DAVLS will wrap up its final work for clients and support the defence community in understanding the report before closing on 30 September 2024.

With You

The Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department funded National Legal Aid to develop training on providing trauma-informed legal assistance services to people experiencing distress, poor mental health or suicidality. The ‘With You’ training project is now being led by Legal Aid NSW on behalf of National Legal Aid.

The ‘With You’ self-paced eLearning modules will be available early in the 2024–25 financial year. The training equips legal assistance staff with the knowledge and skills to adopt a trauma-informed and rights-based approach when working with clients experiencing mental ill-health, suicidality and distress. The content was developed using an extensive national co-design process that consulted over 500 people, including lawyers, allied professionals, the mental health sector and clients.

Complementing the eLearning, the ‘With You’ project has successfully piloted in-person trauma-informed training to lawyers, allied professionals and administration staff in Canberra, Brisbane and North Queensland. The training, co-facilitated by a lived experience educator, is the first of its kind and uniquely designed for the legal assistance sector.

The ‘With You’ Trauma-Informed Organisational Toolkit is also now available. This evidence-based resource provides over 40 examples of best practice trauma-informed approaches to service delivery and design, organisational culture, leadership and management.

To further disseminate these practices, the Trauma Informed Community of Practice for the Legal Assistance Sector has been established in collaboration with LawRight and Community Legal WA, providing an opportunity to share practices and build connections across the sector. Information and resources can be found on the With You page on the National Legal Aid website.