• 21.3% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
  • 8.9% Born in non-English speaking countries
  • 3.6% Interpreer required
  • 34.4% Female
  • 14.5% Under 18
  • 81.7% Aged 18-60
  • 3.8% Over 60
  • 50.8% On Commonwealth benefits
  • 10.5% With dependants
  • 60.9% Rural and regional (includes Newcastle and Wollongong)

*Client profile data is for casework, being total grants of legal aid, extended legal assistance services, and early resolution assistance. As with the prior two years, this year’s client profile data does not include in-house duty services. This should be taken into consideration when comparing it to data published in 2018–2019 and earlier.

Total representation 37,047:
  • In-house:10,675
  • Private lawyers 26,372
Total duty services 190,207:
  • In-house:10,675
  • Private lawyers 26,372
Total other services 196,177:
  • Information services: 86,873
  • Legal advice: 84,946
  • Minor assistance: 20,709
  • Extended legal assistance: 1,149
  • Early resolution assistance: 2,500

Staff Locations:
  • Regional NSW offices: 191
  • Metropolitan offices: 520
  • Central Sydney:717
Staff profile:
  • Lawyers: 730
  • Administrative and corporate services staff: 698
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff:
  • Lawyers: 26
  • Field officers and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff: 72
Gender distribution:
  • Women: 1,121
  • Men: 306
  • A gender term other than male or female (e.g non-binary)*:1

Total staff: 1,428

*We are working with the NSW Public Service Commission to change the way we use language and ask employees about their gender identity, gender expression and pronouns across the sector in order to promote a positive workplace culture of inclusion and safety where diversity is valued.

Expenditure by program:
  • Criminal law services: 46.9%
  • Family law services: 22.9%
  • Civil law services 10.3%
  • Community partnerships:19.9%
Our total income was $438.9 million. We spent $426 million.

See the financial overview for details about where our funding comes from and how we spend it. Details about our community partnership program funding can be found in Appendix 3 and Appendix 4