Policy bulletins
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Policy Bulletin 2021 / 1 (Criminal Law Policy - contempt of court)
19 Mar 2021
In October 2020 the Legal Aid NSW Board approved a policy allowing for representation in some criminal Contempt of Court matters.
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Policy Bulletin 2020 / 10 Civil and Family Law Polices (Aboriginal Client Services Strategy policy review)
21 Sep 2020
The Legal Aid NSW Board approved changes to Family and Civil law policies to ensure Aboriginal people can access our legal services.
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Policy Bulletin 2020 / 9 Extended Legal Assistance (Civil and Crime matters)
21 Sep 2020
The Legal Aid NSW Board approved expanding the number of matters covered by Extended Legal Assistance (ELA) in civil law and criminal law matters.
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Policy Bulletin 2020 / 8 Family Law Policy – Property matters
20 Jul 2020
The Legal Aid NSW Board approved changes to the family law property policy (Property Policy) to ensure people who are experiencing or at risk of domestic or family violence (DFV) and/or who have a disability can access grants of legal aid for property settlement matters.
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Policy Bulletin 2020 / 7 (Increased fees for private lawyers in State matters)
17 Jul 2020
The Legal Aid NSW Board approved an increase in fees paid to private lawyers doing legal aid work. The increase to fees applies to all State matters from 1 July 2020.
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Policy Bulletin 2020 / 6 (Criminal Law Policy - applications to remove driver disqualifications)
30 Jun 2020
The Legal Aid NSW CEO has declared that from 1 July 2020 legal aid is not available for applications to the Local Court to remove driver licence disqualifications under Division 3A of Part 7.4 of the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW).
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Policy Bulletin 2020 / 5 (COVID-19 changes for parents in care proceedings)
4 May 2020
The Legal Aid NSW Chief Executive Officer has approved exempting parents in primary care and protection matters from the Means Test for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Policy Bulletin 2020 / 3 (COVID-19 Telephone Mediation Scheme)
14 Apr 2020
The Legal Aid NSW Chief Executive Officer has approved a COVID-19 Telephone Mediation Scheme to be funded through Early Resolution Assistance (ERA).
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Policy Bulletin 2020 / 2 (Property Mediation Pilot – ERA)
4 Mar 2020
On 29 October 2019, the Legal Aid NSW Board approved the Commonwealth Property Mediation Pilot to be funded through a new service type, Early Resolution Assistance (ERA).
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Policy Bulletin 2020 / 1 (Private Practitioner Fees – Local Court and Children’s Court Summary matters and Travel)
20 Dec 2019
On 3 December 2019, the Legal Aid NSW Board approved changes to the Legal Aid NSW Fee Scale. The fee changes relate to Local Court State summary crime and Children’s Court summary crime matters and travel entitlements. This is the first stage of the private lawyer fee changes.
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Policy Bulletin 2019 / 12 (Elder Abuse)
30 Sep 2019
On 24 September 2019 the Legal Aid NSW Board approved changes to eligibility policies to clarify that legal aid is available to people who are experiencing, or at risk of, elder abuse.
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Policy Bulletin 2019 / 11 (Extended Legal Assistance –State Parole)
1 Jul 2019
The Legal Aid NSW Board has approved certain work in relation to State Parole and Serious Offender Review Council matters being provided under ELA.
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Policy Bulletin 2019 / 10 (Forum Test)
1 Jul 2019
From 1 July 2019, Legal Aid NSW and Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) will be piloting a more flexible approach to the Forum Test. The pilot will run for a period of 12 months, at which point it will be evaluated.
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Policy Bulletin 2019 / 9 (Contributions Policy)
28 Jun 2019
The Legal Aid NSW Board has approved a suite of changes to the Contributions Policy, including changing how clients’ contribution to legal fees is assessed.
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Policy Bulletin 2019 / 8 (Revocation of Commonwealth Parole)
20 May 2019
The Legal Aid NSW Board has approved a policy allowing for representation of clients in revocation of Commonwealth Parole matters.
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Policy Bulletin 2019 / 7 – (Means Test - Financially Associated Person)
10 May 2019
On 19 February 2019 the Legal Aid NSW Board approved a new Test and Guidelines for the assessment of Financially Associated Persons as part of the Means Test.
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Policy Bulletin 2019 / 6 (Civil Law Policy – removal of redundant policies)
11 Apr 2019
The Legal Aid NSW Board has approved the removal of certain civil law policies.
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Policy Bulletin 2019 / 5 (Extended Legal Assistance – Commonwealth Parole)
9 Apr 2019
The Legal Aid NSW Board has approved Extended Legal Assistance for Commonwealth Parole matters
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Policy Bulletin 2019 / 4 (Civil Law Policy – Forensic Patients)
1 Mar 2019
The Legal Aid NSW Board has approved a new policy which covers applications to the Supreme Court to extend a person’s status as a forensic patient
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Policy Bulletin 2019 / 1 (Family Law Policy)
16 Jan 2019
From 2016 through to 2018, Legal Aid NSW undertook a review of the eligibility policies. The review involved consultation with staff from the Family Law Practice and the Grants Division. The aspect of the review that proposed new policies relating to people experiencing domestic and family violence was approved by the Board and implemented in September. The current changes clarify certain aspects of the policy so its application is more consistent. The CEO has now approved these policy changes.