The role of institutions available to assist an accused

1. The role of institutions available to assist an accused

2. The High court has ruled that if a person is charged with a serious indictable offence and through, no fault of their own, is unrepresented, they should be given the opportunity to seek legal representation. • This is based on the principle that every accused person has the right to receive a fair trial, and that legal representation is necessary for a fair trial of a serious criminal offence. A court can adjourn a trial if the accused doesn’t have legal representation, can’t afford a lawyer and won’t get a fair trial if they aren’t represented. • If an accused can’t afford legal representation, government-funded institutions such as Victoria legal aid and Victorian community legal centres may be able to help them.

3. How does Victorian legal aid help? • See other powerpoint for video….

4. Victoria legal aid • Victoria legal aid (VLA) is a government agency that’s provides free legal advice to the community, and low-cost or no-cost legal representation for people who can’t afford to pay for a lawyer. • VLA helps people with legal problems, and focuses on people who need it the most and can’t get legal assistance any other way. • Vla’s vision is to a fair and just society where rights and responsibilities are upheld. • Its purpose is to make a different by resolving and preventing legal problems, and encouraging a fair and transparent justice system.

5. Role of vla: The objectives of vlaarE: • Provide legal aid in the most effective, economic and efficient manner • Manage its resources to make legal aid available at a reasonable cost to the community and on an equitable basis throughout Victoria • Provide the community with impoved access to justice and legal remedies • Pursue innovative means to provide legal aid to minimise the need for individual legal services in the community

6. Role of vla: • The most critical role of vla plays is to provide legal aid to accused people. • In 2015-16 vla helped 86,847 different clients. Of these, 48,511 clients were assisted in criminal cases.

7. Role of vla: Legal aid includes: • Legal education and information • Legal advice and legal representation • Legal advice is normally limited to advice and information about the law and how it applies to a particular case. IT doesn’t necessarily mean the lawyer giving that advice formally represents the accused. • Legal representation means the VLA will ‘represent’ the accused in the case (on the record as the accused’s lawyer)

8. Other Roles of vla: • Control and administer the legal aid fund (which contains the money available to vla) • Meet the needs of the community for legal aid in cooperation with government bodies and departments • Make recommendations about law reform • Design and implement educational programs to promote understanding by the public of their rights, powers, privileges and duties under laws • Research legal aid issues Funding for VLA is criticised for not being enough to meet the demands for legal services. Because of a lack of funding, a large part of the community is ineligible for legal aid and people are forced to defend themselves in criminal cases.

9. Go further: VLA main two sources of funding: • Victorian and commonwealth government. (2015-16 financial yr, vla received $140.7m in govt funding. $91.3m from Victoria, $49.4m from C’weath govt. • The public purpose fund (PPF), a Victorian fund to meet the costs of regulating the legal profession in Victoria and fund the vla. The funds come from lawyers and legal practices. In the 2015-16, vla received $28.3m in income from the PPF

10. Type of legal aid: Using page 78 of your textbooks, fill in the table of the different types of legal aid FOR CRIMINAL MATTERS, VLA PROVIDES THE TYPES OF LEGAL AID SOME SERVICES ARE AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE, BUT OTHERS ARE AVAILABLE ONLY TO PEOPLE WHO NEED IT THE MOST AND MEET VLA’S GUIDELINES.

11. Eligibility for vla The income test vs the means test • An accused meets the income test if they produce to the duty lawyer a current Centrelink benefit card or pensioner concession card. If they don’t have one of these, they may still meet the income test if they sign a declaration which shows they have limited income. VS • The means test is for people who are seeking a grant of legal assistance (including legal advice, help with preparing for a case, or representation in court). The means test takes into account the person’s income and other assets (e.g. houses, cars, savings). E.g. if the accused receives more than $360p/w in income, then they aren’t eligible under the means test.

12. Eligibility for vla Order the court: • The criminal procedure act 2009 (vic) gives the courts power to adjourn a trial until legal representation from vla has been provided. • The courts must be satisfied that the accused person would not be able to receive a fair trial without legal representation, and the accused cannot afford to pay for their own lawyer. • The burden of proof is on the accused to establish that they can’t afford the full cost of obtaining legal representation. • The ability of the court to do so upholds principle of fairness by making sure that the accused is able to have a fair trial by being legally represented.

13. Adrian ernestbayley case study • See other powerpoint for video

14. Adrian ernestbayley case study • See other powerpoint for video

15. Adrian bayley’s application for legal aid and appeals Turn to page 80 of your textbook and read of bayley’s legal appeal against vla