Legal Aid NSW seeks to appoint a Law Practice or consortium to undertake legal aid criminal law work, specifically to deliver criminal law duty solicitor services in Belmont Local Court. This model allows for greater capacity to provide a higher level of legal assistance to clients in the Belmont/Newcastle area.
The aim of the Service Agreement is to deliver a consistent, high quality criminal law duty service to Belmont Local Court to better meet the needs of socially and economically disadvantaged clients.
Legal Aid NSW proposes a hybrid duty model for the Belmont Service, where:
- The successful tenderer will undertake all duty and summary grant work at Belmont Local Court for 20 sittings days per 4-week month (daily sittings);
- Legal Aid NSW’s in-house practice will not provide back-up duty lawyer assistance. Approved delegates may be nominated by the law practice to assist as back up.
This model will require:
- The Law Practice to be willing to enter into a Service Agreement and be able to satisfy Legal Aid NSW that they can provide a responsive duty service to Belmont Local Court and have capacity to service that Court within 45-60-minute commute from the Court;
- Appointment to the Service will apply to the Law Practice and not to specific individual practitioners;
- Appointment to the Service will be for a period of two years plus one year option;
- Appointments to the Service will include duty work for 28 sittings days per 4 week month and associated defended hearings and diversion proceedings capped at an amount to be negotiated depending on the capacity of the successful law practice.
The Service Agreement is a fixed term of two years plus one year option.
The Service Agreement will be reviewed and evaluated at every twelve (12) months from the date of commencement.
The Service Agreement is available to review here.
To be eligible, the Law Practice must be/have:
1. A Principal and/or Eligible Associate on the Legal Aid NSW Summary Crime Panel;
2. Able to access Belmont Local Court within a 45-60 minute commute;
3. Three years post-admission experience and devotion of not less than 50% of normal full-time practice to the area of criminal law in each year of the past three year period;
4. Experience or capacity to conduct criminal duty list work in a Local Court;
5. Proven experience delivering high quality legal services to socially and economically disadvantaged clients, both in person and electronically, and a demonstrated understanding of the complex needs of these clients;
6. Demonstrated cultural competency and experience in acting on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients;
7. Ability to provide a responsive service to the needs of Legal Aid NSW and its clients within the Belmont/Newcastle area. In order to satisfy this requirement, it would generally be expected that the principal place of business of the practitioner would be located within or in close proximity (within 45-60 minutes) to Belmont Local Court;
8. Knowledge of Legal Aid NSW policies, guidelines and procedures to determine applications of legal aid on a duty basis and advise clients about eligibility; or the capacity to rapidly acquire such knowledge;
9. A short proposal as to the capacity of the Law Practice to resource the Service, manage conflicts of interests and provide and maintain the duty service at Belmont Local Court; and
10. Willingness and ability to agree to and comply with the Legal Aid NSW Service Agreement and Quality Standards including reporting and administrative requirements.
Law Practices who wish to be considered for appointment to the Service are invited to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI). To be considered, Law Practices must satisfy all selection criteria.
The EOIs will be considered by a selection committee comprising of a nominee of the Legal Aid NSW Executive Director Criminal Law, a nominee of the Director Legal Services and a nominee of the Legal Aid NSW Executive Director Client Service. The selection committee will make recommendations to the Chief Executive Officer or their delegate who will determine appointments to the Service.
The EOI containing further information is available here.
Q: What is the minimum and maximum number of defended hearings permitted?
A: This number is not prescribed. It will depend on the capacity of the Law Practice and the detail from the Law Practice in the EOI.
Q: What is the lump sum daily fee payable?
A: The fees are paid in accordance with the Fee Scale. The daily rate is capped to a maximum of seven hours at $1365 (plus GST) per day.
Q: What is the administration fee?
A: This fee can be nominated by the applicant Law Practice in the EOI and is to reflect the amount of time required to undertake the administration of duty files.
Q: Do Legal Aid want a Law Practice to undertake the roster duties for all lawyers who are currently on the BUDS Scheme?
A: The BUDS Scheme will not operate at Belmont Local Court. A Law Practice/s will be contracted to do all duty solicitor work at Belmont Local Court for the two year period (plus one year option) of the Service Agreement.
Q: Is the EOI for Law Practice to take over the rostering of Belmont Court? Would Legal Aid have no involvement?
A: It will be a contract to provide all of the duty lawyer services at Belmont Local Court including defended hearings if there was capacity. Legal Aid may, in exceptional circumstances, have a nominal role in the duty work as a back up (if that was ever required).
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