Additional legal help

Legal Aid WA 

Legal Aid WA provides legal advice and assistance services on many different criminal, family and civil law issues. How they can help you depends on your type of legal problem, your personal situation, and their resources. 

Services provided by Legal Aid WA include: 

• InfoLine on 1300 650 579. This is a telephone service that provides information about common legal problems. You can call the InfoLine to ask about appointments for legal advice. If Legal Aid WA is is not able to assist you, they will suggest other services and organisations who may be able to help. Legal Aid WA also has an online chat service, InfoChat, that can be accessed through their website.
• Duty Lawyer at Court. Legal Aid WA have a duty lawyer service in many courts in Western Australia. A duty lawyer can give you advice about your legal options, how to progress your case, and what you can expect to happen in court.
• Legal Representation. In cases with special needs or complexity, Legal Aid WA can pay for a lawyer to do ongoing work on your legal problem. The lawyer will either be a Legal Aid WA employees or will be a lawyer in private practice. You might be asked to help contribute to the cost of providing a lawyer.
• Get help from prison.  If you are in prison Legal Aid WA may be able to assist you with legal problems including; Getting advice when you are on remand, Where to get help about appeals, Where to get help about parole, Where to get legal help, How to find legal information. 

Legal Aid WA’s legal advice and representation services are often in high demand, and priority is given to people who need help the most, including situations where:

• a child is at risk of physical, emotional or psychological harm
• you cannot access legal services because of your location, including being in custody
• you experience (or are at risk of) family violence or abuse
• you need extra help because of physical or mental illness, impairment or disability
• you have language or literacy problems
• your legal problem is very complex or serious.

Legal Aid WA will be able to explain what help they can give you based on your legal problem, personal situation and financial resources. If they cannot help with your legal problem, they will refer you to another service or agency that might be able to assist you.

Law Access 

If our Community Legal Centres and Legal Aid WA are unable to assist with your legal problem, you may be eligible for assistance from Law Access. 

Law Access matches applications for pro bono legal assistance from individuals and not for profit organisations to lawyers. The means-tested service is designed to increase community access to justice and legal services where the application has legal merit and all other avenues of assistance such as Legal Aid and community legal centres have been exhausted. 

You will need to make an application to Law Access to be considered for pro-bono assistance. 

Please check the list of considered and excluded matter types.

• If your matter is listed as an ‘excluded matter’ type Law Access is unable to help you. 
• If your matter is listed as a ‘considered matter’ and meets the eligibility criteria, you will need to complete an application form here. 

Law Access does not provide any face to face advice or accept applications in person. You will need to complete an application form for assistance. 

For more information about Law Access visit the FAQ section on their website or call (08) 6488 6813 (10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays).