Duty Lawyer Procedure Manual for Private panel practitioners

Introduction

Where salaried in-house Legal Aid practitioners are unavailable to provide duty services at Local, Youth or Supreme Courts, we rely upon private practitioners who have been appointed to the Legal Aid panel to assist, subject to budget constraints.

These panel practitioners appear for clients on behalf of Legal Aid NT on a duty basis. That is, appearing for clients on mentions, bail applications, summary pleas on the day, adjournments or breach of suspended sentence/bail matters in the Supreme Court.

Legal Aid provides duty lawyer services at Courts located in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.

The amount of private practitioner duty lawyer work available is limited and depends upon the capacity of the in-house lawyers to meet the demand for Legal Aid duty lawyer services in each Legal Aid Office. This will vary from time to time and from court to court.

How to apply to be a panel practitioner

Private practitioners interested in being considered for appointment to the Legal Aid criminal law panel are required to submit an Application for Appointment to Private Practitioner Panel form, found on our website. Individual practitioners, rather than a firm of practitioners, are appointed to the panel and only those individual practitioners who are appointed are eligible to perform duty lawyer work.

Legal Aid NT is not bound to appoint any practitioner who seeks to be appointed to the panel. Applications are considered, and those who are the most suitably qualified are appointed to the panel.

Panel practitioners who undertake duty lawyer work

Panel practitioners may be asked whether they are available to undertake duty lawyer work. Only those with suitable skills will be asked to assist with duty lawyer services. For panel practitioners with no experience of duty work, there will be a probational period during which the practitioner will be assessed as to whether they meet the requisite standards and expectations of a duty lawyer.

Any information or opinion provided by the Practice Manager or senior criminal lawyers at which office the practitioner has been allocated work, will be taken into account in relation to the standard of legal service provision provided by the practitioner.

Private duty lawyer standards and responsibilities

Legal Aid NT expects private practitioners undertaking duty lawyer work to meet certain standards of service provision thereby ensuring that people facing or experiencing disadvantage have access to quality legal services and understand their legal rights. These standards include the following:

• To provide high-quality legal advice and representation to clients of the Legal Aid Commission.
• To observe high standards of ethical and professional behavior, in accordance with the principles of professional conduct, the Legal Profession Act 2006 (NT), Legal Aid Act 1990 (NT), the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules (NT) and if applicable, the Northern Territory Barristers’ Conduct rules.
• To be respectful and courteous to clients, and follow their lawful instructions.
• Familiarise themselves with and apply the Northern Territory Law Society’s Indigenous protocols for lawyers when representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons.
• Familiarise themselves with the Legal Aid guidelines.
• Be mindful of the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Northern Territory, of special communication needs, and of the need to engage interpreters.
• To demonstrate impartiality in their dealings with clients.
• To adhere to their obligation of privacy and confidentiality in relation to a client’s

  matter, unless the law says otherwise.

• To arrive at court in sufficient time to receive Prosecution material, take instructions from clients, provide advice and represent the client in a timely manner.
• To provide duty lawyer services efficiently, competently and diligently.
• To clearly record all relevant information and court outcomes, and provide that record to Legal Aid.
• To either complete, or clearly identify in a memorandum to Legal Aid NT any work that needs to occur for the duty client. For example, where an offer to resolve a matter needs to be made, but there has been insufficient time to make that offer, you are required to bring this to Legal Aid’s attention.
• To treat Legal Aid administrative staff with courtesy and respect.

Role of a Private duty lawyer

When required to perform duty lawyer work a private practitioner is required to do the following:

1. Arrive at Court between between 8.00 and 8.30 am or otherwise directed by the relevant Legal Aid Office.
2. If a practitioner is unable to attend as arranged, they must notify Legal Aid as soon as possible.
3. Duty lawyer work cannot be delegated by a private practitioner to another private practitioner. This delegation can only be made by the Practice Manager or delegate at the relevant Legal Aid Office.
4. Fresh custody matters are to be prioritised by the duty lawyer and heard in Court as soon as is practicable. In circumstances where duty is busy, people who are not in custody need to be encouraged to make their own adjournment application and referred to the Law Society’s $99 first interview scheme, or a Legal Aid Advice Clinic by ringing the Legal Aid NT Helpline on 1800 019 343.
5. Clients with special needs should also be prioritised, for example clients with mental health or cognitive impairment, elderly clients or clients requiring interpreters.
6. The duty lawyer must undertake the legal aid work in an effective and efficient manner bearing in mind the volume demands of duty work.
7. The duty lawyer must represent clients to a high professional and ethical standard and has the same duties toward the Legal Aid client as would apply to a private client under the normal practitioner-client relationship.
8. The duty form (or D sheet) must be completed by the practitioner. All fields of the duty form must be completed. 
9. The duty lawyer must assist the duty client to complete an application for legal aid if the case is not concluded on the duty day, that application should be made even where it is likely to be refused
10. Provide to the duty client any Legal Aid NT material that may assist them: e.g. pamphlet re. Dietrich applications
11. Work with our administrative team and social support team (where available). Make appropriate referrals as required.

SCOPE OF DUTY LAWYER SERVICES (CHAPTER 1, PART 3 LEGAL AID NT GUIDELINES)

Duty lawyers are available to undertake the following:

• • advise accused persons
  • appear for them in bail proceedings
  • appear for them in extradition matters
  • appear for them in adjournment applications
  • in appropriate cases represent accused persons on a guilty plea
  • If requested by the Practice Manager appear for eligible clients in the Supreme Court who are summonsed (where capacity allows and Supreme Court has been informed that Legal Aid NT will attend) or in custody for an alleged breach of a suspended sentence or breach of Supreme Court bail.
  • duty lawyers do not appear in defended cases unless the circumstances are exceptional.

Administrative Requirements

• • It is expected that private duty lawyers will prepare legible file notes of their appearance to ensure that we have clear and accurate records of instructions, advice and what occurred on the duty court date.
  • If the matter was adjourned for representations practitioners must provide clear and legible file notes outlining instructions and on what basis representations are to be made.
  • If it appears that the client requires on-going legal assistance and cannot afford a private lawyer, practitioners will assist a client in filling in a legal aid application form for continued legal assistance in their matter.
  • Practitioners must ensure that duty lawyer forms and notes are provided to the Legal Aid administrative team.
  • Attend to any follow up work from appearances. For example, make referrals to residential rehabilitation centres, or when instructed to inform family members of court outcomes.
  • Alert Legal Aid administrative staff to any bail appeals or sentence appeals that should be made on behalf of clients represented whilst on duty.