Barrister panels

There is a restriction on readers accepting direct access briefs without their tutor’s written approval before completion of the reading period. This restriction does not apply if the reader held an unrestricted solicitor’s practising certificate immediately before being issued with this certificate, or in cases where the reader is participating in the Duty Barrister Schemes conducted in the Local Court or the District Court.

The NSW Bar Association and Legal Aid NSW have considered the procedure by which direct access matters are offered through Grants Online and have determined that the acceptance of an offer of work does not amount to acceptance of a brief in the sense contemplated by the relevant practising certificate condition.

A reader who accepts an offer of work through Grants Online and is required to seek their tutor’s written approval before accepting a brief must do so as soon as practicable after accepting the offer of work and considering the material provided. If the reader is unable to obtain their tutor’s written approval for the particular brief, the reader must immediately notify the Grants Division by submitting a transfer request on Grants Online.

A breach of the practising certificate conditions for readers would amount to a breach of the Legal Aid NSW Service Agreement.

For more information, visit the NSW Bar Association’s website.

This panel is for barristers who are briefed to represent defendants in ‘non-complex indictable’ criminal law work.

Individual requirements:

• 5 years post-admission experience (PAE) in criminal law as a solicitor or barrister.

This panel covers 'non-complex indictable' matters in the following NSW courts:

• Local Court committals,
• District Court sentences and trials.

This panel is for barristers who are briefed to represent defendants in complex criminal law work.

Individual requirements:

• 7 years post-admission experience (PAE) in criminal law as a barrister.

Complex matters are defined as follows:

• all Supreme Court trials and pleas,
• where the maximum penalty is life imprisonment,
• manslaughter trials and pleas,
• all terrorism matters,
• sexual assault matters where there are multiple complainants and/or multiple defendants,
• where the trial is complex because of the nature of the charge or the defence or where significant case management is required (e.g. sex slavery, fraud or money laundering charges where there are more than 30 counts and/or the total value is more than $500,000.00)
• where the trial involves a number of expert witnesses and identified by the trial judge as requiring significant case management pursuant to s.141 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW),
• where the trial length is estimated at 20 days or more,
• where the brief of evidence is more than 5,000 pages.

This panel covers complex criminal law work in the following NSW courts:

• Local Court committals;
• District Court sentences and trials;
• Supreme Court trials and pleas.

This panel is for barristers who are briefed in criminal appellate work.

Criminal appellate work is defined as follows:

• provision of advice on the merit of appeals;
• preparation and conduct of appeals;
• preparation of applications to review convictions and sentences pursuant to Part 7 and 8 of the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act.

Individual requirements:

• 10 years post-admission experience (PAE) in criminal law as a solicitor or barrister, including a minimum of 3 years’ experience as a barrister;
• attach written examples of work requested in questions 11, 12, 13 and 16 of the application form; AND
• attach 2 satisfactory referee reports – one from senior counsel and one from a member of the NSW Bar Association.

This panel covers appellate criminal law work in the following NSW courts:

• Supreme Court;
• High Court of Australia;
• Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA).

For more information about Legal Aid NSW policies, guidelines, relevant forms and papers or legal research in relation to appellate work, go to the CCA practice resources webpage.

Prior to applying you can view the Appellate barrister panel application questions here. 

This panel covers State and Commonwealth summary criminal law work (including duty work) in NSW local and district courts for adults only.

Solicitors and barristers (as direct representatives) are eligible to undertake work for this panel.

Individual requirements:

• 2 years post-admission experience (PAE) in criminal law.

Delegation:

• legal practitioners approved for this panel may delegate legal aid work (except duty work) to practitioners within the law practice who have less than 2 years PAE in criminal law.

This panel covers State and Commonwealth work undertaken for young people in children’s, local, district and supreme courts presided over by a specialist Children’s Magistrate or the President of the Children’s Court.

Solicitors and barristers (as direct representative) are eligible to undertake work for this panel.

Individual requirements:

• 5 years post-admission experience (PAE) in criminal law; OR
• specialist accreditation in criminal law, children’s law or advocacy; AND
• a current Working with Children Check (WWCC) for employment purposes. 

Delegation:

• delegation of work is NOT permitted under this panel.

Training:

• legal practitioners must complete 5 CPD units each year in accordance with the Quality Standards.

This panel covers children’s criminal law work in the following NSW courts:

• children’s courts;
• children’s matters in the Local Court;
• Local Court committals;
• District Court sentences and trials;
• Supreme Court sentences and trials.

This panel covers State family law funding in the representation of adults and children (including in duty work) in matters brought under the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW), authorised carers under the Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012 (NSW) and adults and children under the Education Act 1990 (NSW).

This panel is for direct legal representation of legally aided adult clients and for either direct or independent legal representation of children depending on their age.

Solicitors and barristers (junior counsel only) are eligible to undertake work for the Care Panel.

The Care Panel covers care and protection work in the following NSW courts:

• Children’s courts,
• Local courts,
• District courts,
• Supreme Court,
• High Court of Australia,
• Administrative Decisions Tribunal.

To apply, the authorised principal of a Law Practice or barrister can submit the online Care Panel Application Form through the Panels Application Website using their Grants Online username and password.

If the applicant does not have a Grants Online username and password, they will need to register here. For any assistance with registering for Grants Online, please email the Service Desk or call (02) 9219 5999 (option 2).

Applications are open to:

1. Law Practices (including barristers) that are NOT appointed to the Care Panel; or
2. Current Care Panel member law practices who wish to nominate a new eligible associate to undertake care & protection work.

Prior to applying you can view the application questions here.  

All applications for the Care Panel must be submitted through the Panels Application Website by 17 June 2024.

Individual requirements:

• 5 years post-admission experience (PAE) in care and protection; OR
• specialist accreditation in children’s law; AND
• a current Working with Children Check (WWCC) for employment purposes. 
• completion of the Legal Aid NSW Care and Protection: Representing Children module on the Lawyer Education Series;
• completion of the Legal Aid NSW Care and Protection: Representing Parents module on the Lawyer Education Series;
• satisfactory completion of the Legal Aid NSW Care and Protection Representing Children: Workshop* within the last 2 years;
• a satisfactory referee report* from a suitable referee confirming 5 years post admission experience in the care and protection jurisdiction.

*The referee report must be uploaded with the application. 

Application Assessment and Workshop Invitation

The Application Process is as follows:

1. Submit application through the Panels Application Website including referee report and confirmation of WWCC. Please note that Legal Aid NSW will not follow up any referee reports or WWCC. If these are not provided with the application, it will not be approved;
2. Application will be assessed by Legal Aid NSW;
3. Eligible applicants who have completed the online Lawyer Education Seriesraining and have satisfied the other individual requirements will be eligible to be invited to attend the Legal Aid NSW Care and Protection Representing Children Workshop. Applicants who do not satisfy the individual requirements will not be invited to the Representing Children Workshop and the application will not be approved.

Approval to carry out legal aid work under the Care Panel will be confirmed once all the individual eligibility requirements are satisfied.

Representing Children Workshop

The 2024 Representing Children Workshop (‘the Workshop’) will be held on Monday 15 July 2024.

This mandatory in-person Workshop is Phase 2 of the compulsory child representation training package for lawyers applying to the Care Panel. 

The Workshop will build upon your knowledge of care and protection and ask you to apply it to scenario questions from the perspective of independent and direct legal representatives. You will hear from experienced practitioners and also join with your fellow practitioners and trainers to work through case studies to assess your skills in care and protection and child representation.

It is expected that you will have done some pre-reading and completed online Phase 1 of the care and protection training package before attending the Workshop. You can find more about Phase 1 here: Lawyer Education Series Phase 1 Information.

Failure to satisfactorily complete the Workshop will mean that the individual requirements for the Care Panel have not been satisfied and the application will not be approved.

For any Workshop enquiries, please contact carechildrepresentation@legalaid.nsw.gov.au.

Delegation:

• Law Practices approved for the Care Panel may delegate legal aid work (except duty work) to associates within the Law Practice who have less than 5 years PAE in care and protection provided the work is for an adult client.

Training:

Associates undertaking work on the Care Panel must complete 5 CPD units on representing children each year in accordance with the Quality Standards.

This panel covers apprehended domestic violence order (ADVO) case and duty work for clients experiencing domestic or family violence in local courts throughout NSW.

Solicitors and barristers (as direct representative) are eligible to undertake work for this panel.

Individual requirements:

• 5 years post-admission experience (PAE) in ADVO matters.

Delegation:

• delegation of work is NOT permitted under this panel.

This panel covers ADVO work in the following NSW courts:

• local courts.

This panel covers State funded matters brought under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW), the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2021 (NSW), the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Act 2007 (NSW), the NSW Trustee and Guardian Act 2009 and the Guardianship Act 1987 (NSW).

Solicitors and barristers (as direct representatives) are eligible to undertake work for this panel.

Please note most of the work conducted under this panel is via the Mental Health Advocacy Duty Scheme. For further information please see our Duty solicitor scheme webpage. 

Individual requirements:

• 2 years post-admission experience (PAE) in mental health advocacy matters.
• a current Working with Children Check (WWCC) for employment purposes. 

Delegation:

• delegation of work is NOT permitted under this panel.

This panel covers mental health advocacy work at:

• local courts;
• Supreme Court;
• Court of Appeal;
• Guardianship Tribunal;
• Mental Health Review Tribunal.