Preferred supplier newsletter — November 2022
This month:
Christmas closure period
All Legal Aid Queensland offices will be closed for the Christmas/New Year holiday period from 2pm Friday, 23 December 2022 and will re-open on Tuesday, 3 January 2023.
Last payment run for 2022
Due to office closures during the Christmas/New Year period, the last legal payment for this year will be on Tuesday, 20 December 2022.
All invoices due up to 2 January 2023 will be paid on this day.
To be paid on 20 December 2022, all invoices must be submitted by Friday, 9 December 2022 for grants officers to assess accounts by Monday, 19 December 2022.
The first payment run for 2022 will be on Tuesday, 3 January 2023
CPD event — Magistrates Court presentation
Presented by Deputy Chief Magistrate Stephen Courtney who will talk about advocacy in the Magistrates Court.
Date: Thursday, 1 December 2022
Time: 3pm to 4pm
CPD point allocation: 1 point, substantive law, self-assessed
Register here and see full event details
Note: This session is not being recorded.
Other CPD events are emailed to LAQ stakeholders including preferred suppliers, ATSILS and CLCs via separate CPD event emails.
Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court
Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court (QDAC) has noticed a pleasing increase in the number of referrals since July 2022. Referrals continue to come in from the regional courts (like Cleveland, Ipswich, Richlands and Pine Rivers), however the majority are through the various Brisbane Magistrates Courts. In the last quarter – July to September 2022 – there were 26 referrals to QDAC, with over 60% of those referrals coming through preferred suppliers or privately-funded lawyers
Referrals will continue to be accepted by QDAC, with no plans to cease referrals at any time. Referrals can be made by submitting a Form 1 – Referral Form to the magistrate on a defendant’s mention date, with the seven eligibility criteria ticked and the defendant’s contact details completed on the first page. If you have questions or issues with referral, please contact the LAQ QDAC team on 0437 918 691.
Court Link
Court Link is a therapeutic bail-based program, assisting adult participants by connecting them with treatment and support providers to address underlying issues to offending behaviour such as substance use, mental health, homelessness or risk of homelessness and other social need areas. If a participant does well on the program this should be taken into account at the time of sentencing under the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992. Court Link is in eight locations across Queensland: Brisbane, Cairns, Ipswich, Southport, Maroochydore, Caboolture, Redcliffe and Mount Isa. For more information on Court Link, please follow this link.
Other Drug and Alcohol Diversion Programs
Drug and Alcohol Diversion Programs (Illicit Drugs Court Diversion Program (CDP) and Drug and Alcohol Assessment Referral (DAAR)) are statewide and available for eligible people (CDP is also available for young people) who identify drug and/or alcohol use as a contributing factor to their offences. The programs provide education and information through a 60 – 90 minute session about the harmful use of drugs and/or alcohol to better understand the relationship between substance use and their offences. If the person completes the program, as ordered by the court, a conviction will not be recorded. For more information on the Drug and Alcohol Diversion Programs, please follow this link.
Publications and resources
Legal Aid Queensland produces a number of publications and resources, all of which can be viewed or ordered online. All publications and resources are free.
For more information about our publications or to order copies of the duty lawyer session report form, email the publications team.
Continuing professional development
Recorded CPD seminars are available on Grants Online under the Information Resources tab.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates
The latest information about COVID-19 for preferred suppliers can be viewed here.
All people entering Queensland Courts are strongly encouraged to wear a face mask.
Preferred suppliers are reminded to ensure they are confident in their ability to respond to COVID-19 by understanding the risk, minimising it where possible and complying with government and court directions.
Feedback
We welcome feedback and comments from clients, the community, and our suppliers. As preferred suppliers you play an important role in helping us to provide quality legal services to disadvantaged Queenslanders. If you would like to provide comments or suggestions about our services, policies, processes or staff members, you can complete a contact form or email us at complaints@legalaid.qld.gov.au at any time.
The Feedback and Complaints Policy can be found here.
Your feedback is important to us. We ensure a senior staff member investigates all issues thoroughly and we also analyse all feedback regularly to improve our policies, processes and services