Policies
13. Legal Aid Review Committee Appeals
13.2. The appeal process
13.2.1 Redetermination
Under s34(1) of the Act, Legal Aid NSW may at any time reconsider an application for legal aid that has been refused. This process is called redetermination.
A decision may be redetermined because a legal aid applicant or legally assisted person:
- has provided additional submissions or other material to Legal Aid NSW following the making of a determination about a grant of legal aid or a decision to terminate aid; or
- has appealed to a Legal Aid Review Committee following the making of a determination about a grant of legal aid or a decision to terminate aid. See 13.5.2 for details about how to appeal to a Legal Aid Review Committee.
If Legal Aid NSW receives notice of an appeal to a Legal Aid Review Committee, a Legal Aid NSW officer will undertake a redetermination of the decision being appealed against first.
If the officer undertaking a redetermination decides that the original decision should be changed, Legal Aid NSW will inform the appellant within 14 days that the appeal has been successful: s34(2).
If on the other hand the officer making the redetermination decides not to change the original decision, and the decision carries a right of appeal to a Legal Aid Review Committee, the appeal will be referred to a Legal Aid Review Committee. Legal Aid NSW will inform the appellant about the referral within 14 days: s34(2).
While all decisions can be redetermined, not all decisions carry a right of appeal to a Legal Aid Review Committee. See 13.4 of this policy for a list of decisions that do not carry a right of appeal.
13.2.2 Appeal to a Legal Aid Review Committee
The right of a legal aid applicant or legally assisted person to appeal to a Legal Aid Review Committee against a decision made by Legal Aid NSW is contained in s56 of the Act.
Not all decisions can be appealed, however. See 13.3 for a list of the types of decisions that can be appealed. See section 13.4 of this policy for a list of the types of decisions that carry no right of appeal.
Date Last Published: 22/12/2016