Preferred supplier newsletter – November 2024
Stay up to date with the latest news and information for law firms that provide legal aid services.
In this issue:
Stay up to date with the latest news and information
for law firms providing legal aid services.
Congratulations to Jurgensen Horne Lawyers Caboolture
L-R- LAQ’s Peter Delibaltas,
Senior Executive Director Legal Practice, and Amber Buckland, Senior Executive Director Client and Partner
Services, with Kristie Horne, Liz
Schonknecht and the team from Jurgensen Horne Lawyers.
Congratulations
to Jurgensen Horne Lawyers Caboolture on receiving the Legal Aid Queensland
Equitable Briefing Award at this year's Women Lawyers Association of Queensland
(WLAQ) Awards night.
Jurgensen Horne Lawyers has been a preferred supplier since
October 2014 and directors Diana Jurgensen and Kristie Horne are valued
practitioners in the areas of domestic violence, family law and criminal law
matters (including youth and life matters).
The firm’s Caboolture office has provided
representation to legally-aided clients in the Caboolture region for the past
ten years and their Brisbane office since 2021. The firm has also provided
criminal law duty lawyer services since 2022, mainly at Caboolture Magistrates
Court.
LAQ Board chair
The Hon Margaret McMurdo AC and Senior Executive Director Legal Practice, Peter Delibaltas were delighted to present the Equitable
Briefing Award at the WLAQ Awards night to Kristie Horne and Liz Schonknecht,
who accepted the award on behalf of the firm.
The firm was chosen due to consistently briefing female
counsel in criminal law matters and their demonstrated commitment to the Law
Council of Australia’s Model Gender Equitable Briefing Policy.
Many of the private law firms we partner with to deliver
legal aid continue to reach or exceed our Equitable Briefing Policy target of
30 percent, which is also something to be celebrated.
Congratulations again to Jurgensen Horne Lawyers Caboolture
for being our 2024 winner!
Want to feature your firm in our newsletter or social media?
It would be great to hear from you! To register your interest please email partner.engagement@legalaid.qld.gov.au.
New
grants of aid available - historic case review and criminal law appeal
We have created new grants of aid in response to the
ODPP’s historical case reviews for forensic DNA testing in Queensland,
and the Criminal
Code and Other Legislation (Double Jeopardy Exception and Subsequent Appeals)
Amendment Act 2024.
The Commission of Inquiry into Forensic DNA testing in
Queensland final report, released in December 2022, recommended historical case
reviews be undertaken to ensure confidence in collecting, testing and analysing
DNA in Queensland’s criminal justice system.
We have created two new grants of aid for historical case
reviews, should further legal work resulting from the retesting of DNA be
needed.
We have created additional grants of aid in response to the
legislative amendments to subsequent appeals in the Court of Appeal, double
jeopardy exception applications, and applications for pardon to the Governor.
You can read details of the grants of aid available on our For lawyers -
Announcements webpage.
Reminder: new grants for
sexual violence case management
Do
you practice in
criminal law in Brisbane or Ipswich? If so, this is a reminder that LAQ has
created additional grants of aid to assist with the Sexual Violence Case
Management List pilot.
The District Court of
Queensland Practice Direction Number 3 for 2024 – Sexual violence case
management has
recently introduced new requirements for proceedings involving sexual violence
offences. Where appropriate, it requires legal representatives to attend:
- a case
review hearing
- a
mediated case conference
- a trial readiness hearing.
Legal representatives also need to complete an online form
for the court before the case review hearing and trial readiness hearing.
For
information about the grants of aid available and new practice direction
requirements, see the announcement on the For Lawyers
webpage. Information about the fee structure is also available on our
website.
If
you have questions about District Court funding in sexual violence proceedings,
please contact your Grants team.
Changes to the Queensland Ombudsman Act
You
may be aware some important amendments have been made to the Ombudsman Act
2001 (Qld), which took effect on 15 September 2024.
These
changes expand the jurisdiction of the Queensland Ombudsman, to support
oversight of, and accountability in, government operations.
The
expanded oversight is designed to achieve consistency across agencies, ensure
public confidence, and meet community
perceptions that the conduct of a non-government entity is in line with the
conduct of the agency that engaged the entity.
The
amendments now provide the option for the Ombudsman to directly investigate
administrative actions or decisions made by a non-government entity, such as an LAQ preferred supplier, when that entity performs the actions or decisions on
behalf of a government agency, such as LAQ.
Before
the September 2024 amendments, these actions or decisions were treated as
administrative actions or decisions by the government entity and when the
Ombudsman received a complaint about the actions or decisions, the Ombudsman
investigated the complaints directly with the government agency, i.e. LAQ.
So,
what does this mean for our partner law firms? The Ombudsman can now
investigate complaints about the administrative actions or decisions directly
with the LAQ preferred supplier who performed the action or made the decision.
At this stage, the Ombudsman
Office anticipates there will not be any significant changes to their
investigation processes. The office will continue to direct any enquiries
relating to administrative actions or decisions made by preferred suppliers
directly to LAQ in the first instance. We will then work with you to try to
resolve the issue.
We
are sharing these changes with you as they may impact how LAQ addresses
complaints in the future.
You
can read more about the changes on the Queensland Ombudsman website. There is also a handy
guide to the changes you can download and share with your team.
Partner law firms meet and
greet
L-R- Zane Chapman, Solicitor, Howden Saggers Lawyers, Peter Delibaltas, Senior Executive Director Legal Practice, Jacilynn
Young, LAQ Woodridge office and Will Cvitic, LAQ Woodridge office
Our
September LAQ Board meeting was held at our Woodridge office, followed by a
stakeholder networking event.
Members of the legal community,
including 19 representatives from our valued partner law firms and community
legal centres, met with the LAQ Board, the LAQ
Executive team and Woodridge office staff.
Also in attendance were Her Honour Judge
Dzenita Balic and Magistrate Shane Elliot. Over lunch, our partner law
firms shared their experiences providing legal aid services, and insights
around ways LAQ can further provide support and grow our partnership.
Thanks to those who attended the event. We look forward to
seeing many of you at the next one!
Introduction to ADA Law
We met with representatives
from ADA Law recently, a community legal centre specialising in representing
adults whose decision-making capacity is being challenged in Queensland
Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) guardianship proceedings. ADA Law told
us more about their work and how they can support your firm and clients.
ADA Law
represents adults who have had their cognition impacted by an acquired brain
injury, intellectual disability, treatment resistant mental illness, organic
age-related condition such as dementia, or a combination of these.
A small number
of their clients are prisoners detained under indefinite detention via the Dangerous
Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act, which requires periodic review by the Supreme
Court. As clients age, they may present with emerging cognition challenges and
may no longer be able to provide competent instructions to their lawyers.
In these types
of matters, QCAT may appoint a separate representative, in line with s 125 of
the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 to represent the adult.
This statutory role requires submissions based on the adult’s views,
wishes and preferences, along with submissions the representative believes are
in the adult’s interests, considering their circumstances.
You can refer
clients to QCAT if you have concerns about their ability to provide instruction
and understand the legal proceedings or understand the consequences of the
outcome.
In this
scenario, you can also make a referral to ADA Law. They can assist your client
to understand the QCAT process, what evidence is relevant, and the possible
outcomes. With the client’s consent, ADA Law can keep your firm informed
about the QCAT submission’s status.
To refer a
client to ADA Law, email intake@adalaw.com.au and provide their contact information,
date of birth and any court dates known. You can also provide any medical
evidence to help to progress the referral.
Databases of the month
Not sure where to start with the LAQ research databases?
Each month we are featuring a selection of our free databases to help you with
your legal research. This month we are taking a dive into the adult comparable sentencing decisions database
and the juvenile comparable sentencing decisions database.
Both databases contain an
archive of sentencing decisions from Queensland courts. By using them you can
access decisions about the sentencing of adult and juvenile offenders.
For guidance using the
databases, refer to our new tipsheet for the adult comparable sentencing decisions
database and the tipsheet
for the juvenile comparable sentencing decisions
database. We have also developed two new videos demonstrating how to get relevant results from your search. Check out the video tutorial for the adult comparable sentencing decisions database and the video tutorial for juvenile comparable sentencing
decisions database.
The resources and databases are available on Grants Online
under the Information Resources tab. If you need help with any of the
databases, please email library@legalaid.qld.gov.au.
Continuing professional development (CPD)
Are you looking for professional development opportunities
to boost your CPD points? You can access free live and recorded CPD sessions,
which are available on Grants Online under the Information Resources tab.
With You trauma-informed
practice training
Date: ongoing
The With You eLearning program on trauma-informed,
rights-based practice includes topics such as understanding trauma and mental
health, working with people in distress, and supporting legal capacity and
decision-making across criminal, family, and civil law. You can also join the
national monthly Community of Practice webinars and download the Trauma
Informed Organisational Toolkit, free of charge. This is a National Legal Aid training initiative for working with people
experiencing distress, mental ill-health, and suicidality.
Visit
the With You webpage for details and to register.
October/November CPD and training wrap-up
We presented several sessions in October and early November open to preferred
suppliers and eligible for CPD points.
7 to 10
cases which often arise in sentence hearings
Date: 15 October 2024
CPD Point
Allocation: 1 (SL)
Blurred
Borders training – Brisbane (in-person)
Date: 23 and
24 October 2024
Blurred
Borders training – Inala (in-person)
Date:
Wednesday 6 November 2024
Blurred
Borders training – Brisbane (in-person)
Date:
Thursday 7 November 2024
Would you like us to deliver a free training session to your
colleagues or attend one of your staff meetings to talk about the Blurred
Borders kits? Please get in touch by emailing cle@legalaid.qld.gov.au. Check out
our website to stay in the loop about our planned upcoming
sessions.
Mental
health and wellbeing in the legal profession – managing burnout and
building resilience
Date: 23 October 2024
CPD Points: 1 (PP)
Communicating forensic biology results - session 2 of 2
Date: 25
October 2024
CPD Points:
1 (PS)
Applying
for a grant of aid and navigating our process
Date: 30
October 2024
You can access
recorded CPD sessions via Grants Online under Information Resources tab and
then “Continuing professional development”. Please note, sessions may take up to 3
weeks to appear following the event.
Publication of the month
One of our most popular publications is our What
are my rights if.....I want to separate from my partner? pocket pack. Your
clients may find it useful as well, so feel free to share the link or have
copies available in your office.
You can share this publication with clients who need to leave
the family home quickly and want to separate from their partner. It covers
their legal rights and includes contact details for key services who can help.
LAQ produces more than 100 publications and resources, from factsheets
to posters, brochures, wallet cards and comprehensive legal information guides
to help you support your clients. You can check out the publications on the LAQ
website and they can be ordered
online for free. For more information about our publications or to
order copies of the duty lawyer form or duty lawyer session report form,
email publications@legalaid.qld.gov.au.