Correspondence, Contributions, Transfers & Appeals

The Send all my correspondence to my lawyer only box should only be ticked when there are client safety concerns. Please do not tick the box for any other reason.

If you do tick the box, it is your responsibility to pass on your client's correspondence in a timely manner.

Requisition Requests

If the information contained in your client's application for legal aid or extension request is not sufficient to enable Legal Aid NSW to make a determination, we may issue requisitions seeking further information.

These requisitions will be sent to you using Grants Online, and you will see a link in your Grants Online Inbox letting you know they have arrived.

You can respond to the requisition request via Grants Online.  If you need to supply additional documentation it can be attached to the Requisition Response.  By responding using the Respond to Requisition screen, your response will be saved directly to the file and the Grants Division will be notified that you have responded.

For detailed instructions on responding to requisitions you can access our Grants Online User Guide – Getting Started.

General Correspondence

If you need to correspond with the Grants Division about a pending application, extension request or matter assigned to your law practice, you should submit that correspondence via Grants Online.

Correspondence can be submitted using the Submit Correspondence option from the menu on the left-hand side of the Grants Online screen.

Using Submit Correspondence allows your correspondence to be saved directly to the file and the Grants Division will be notified that new correspondence has been received. 

Grants Online has the ability to convey offers of work to panel law practices, in accordance with the Grants Allocation Guidelines. The main features of this capability are:

• For the purposes of making offers, panels use a "rolling list" concept.
• Offers are made to three to five law practices.
• Offers remain open for acceptance for a period of time - generally 24 hours.
• The first law practice to accept an offer receives the work, then drops to the bottom of the list.
• An offer made to a law practice appears on the nominated associate's Notice Board in Grants Online. The nominated associate also receives an email alerting them to the offer but must go to their Notice Board to view details and accept it.
• If an offer has already been accepted by another law practice when a nominated associate opens their Notice Board, the offer no longer appears.  If the offer has already been accepted by another law practice, the law practice who was unable to accept the offer remains at the top of the list for the next offer.
• If a law practice does not wish to accept an offer appearing on their Notice Board, they can simply ignore it. After 3 offers the rolling list will refresh.

Offers of work appear below Offers to Service Providers on the Notice Board. If more than one offer is displayed, each offer appears on a separate row. Summary information about each offer appears on the same row.

To view further details of an offer and/or accept it, click on the blue, underlined word (either Unread or Read) associated with that offer in the Status column below Offers to Service Providers. The Accept Offer of Work screen appears. Here you can view further details of the offer to help you decide whether to accept it.

To accept, click on the Accept Offer button at the top of the Accept Offer of Work screen.

 A green confirmation message at the top of the Accept Offer of Work screen lets you know that the offer has been successfully accepted.

If you don't wish to accept the offer after viewing the details, exit from the Accept Offer of Work screen without entering the name of the accepting practitioner or clicking the Accept Offer button.

For detailed instructions on how to accept a panel offer you can access our Grants Online User Guide – Getting Started.

In exceptional circumstances and subject to  Legal Aid NSW policy you may request that a matter be transferred to another practitioner.

To do this you need to submit a transfer request by clicking on the Transfer option from the menu on the left-hand side of the Grants Online screen.

The Transfer Request will be assessed, and you will receive a notification via email, with a link to the details of the determination.

If the Transfer Request has been approved, you will also be advised of the practitioner to whom the matter has been assigned.

In situations where the transfer request is refused, you are required to continue to act for the client.

For detailed instructions on submitting a Transfer Request you can access our Grants Online User Guide – Lodging other types of applications.

You can request discretion be exercised to waive or vary the contribution when you are completing the application for legal aid.  You will need to include submissions  in support of the request.

Any decision to waive or vary an initial contribution will be made subject to the Contributions Policy.

Your client may have a right of appeal to the Legal Aid Review Committee (LARC) against a decision of Legal Aid NSW.

You can lodge an appeal to LARC by clicking on the Review (LARC Appeal) option from the menu on the left-hand side of the Grants Online screen.

If you need further information about the types of decisions that can be appealed to a Legal Aid Review Committee, please see Chapter 13 of our Policies.

For detailed instructions on how to submit a LARC appeal you can access our Grants Online User Guide – Lodging other types of applications.