Data Standards Manual Workshop (Not CLASS!)

1. Data Standards Manual Workshop (Not CLASS!) Carly Hanson Friday 9 March 2018

2. Context and aims • National Legal Assistance Data Standards Manual (DSM) • Achieve clarity and consistency across CLCs with data definitions • Discuss aspects of the DSM that require further clarification to fit with your business processes DSM Workshop |2

3. Today’s workshop • Hear from you about opportunities for improvement re: • Information & referral services • Legal tasks • Representation services – court / tribunal & other rep • Duty lawyer services • Non-legal support services • Others? • CLCQ to pull together feedback from Qld and work with NACLC and other states to re-draft / supplement the DSM • Qld DSM working group? DSM Workshop |3

4. Information – Definition & examples • Provision of information to a client in response to an enquiry about: • The law, legal systems and processes • Legal and other support services to assist in the resolution of legal and related problems • The information provided is of general application • Involves direct communication and/or provision of material • Does not include admin tasks such as booking appointments • Example: • Providing a web link via phone with tenancy information & sending follow up email with the link = 1 information service DSM Workshop |4

5. Referral – Definition & examples • Simple referral: Where a centre determines that a client can be assisted by another individual or organisation and provides the client with contact details to that service – then up to the client to make contact, eg: • Referral to financial counselling service, which is co-located with the CLC = 1 simple referral • Facilitated referral: Where a client is directly assisted to make contact with another individual or organisation eg: • Making an appointment on behalf of the client • Contacting the other service to check the client’s eligibility & availability of service within the appropriate timeframes • Attending the other service with the client providing background information or a professional assessment relevant to the provision of the target service (with the client’s approval) DSM Workshop |5

6. Information & Referral – Concerns & solutions • Examples – what kinds of additional examples would be helpful? • Simple vs facilitated referrals • Conflict checking concerns • Information vs referral • No shows / cancellations • Time taken – does this have an impact? Is this an issue? • Counting rules / data entry DSM Workshop |6

7. Legal task – Definition & example • Completion of a discrete piece of legal work to assist a client to resolve a problem or a particular stage of a problem eg: • Preparation / assistance with drafting documents (eg a will) • Writing a letter to another party • Advocating for a client without taking ongoing carriage of the matter (eg a phone call) • Example: • Client receives 2 x legal advice, after second legal advice, CLC writes a letter on client’s behalf = 1 x legal task DSM Workshop |7

8. Legal task – Concerns & solutions • Overlap with legal advice, duty lawyer, and other representation – threshold questions (time & complexity) • When does it turn into an ongoing other representation service? Eg writing a letter on CLC letterhead vs ‘ghost written letter’? • Multiple advices & tasks for the same client – missing files, efficiency issues, inconsistencies, not meeting representation service targets • Recording a service as a legal task may not be reflective of the work that has been done / time spent eg: • Preparation of lengthy court documents • Counting rules: • 2 tasks (letter and phone call) counted as 1 task? • Legal tasks subsumed by duty lawyer services DSM Workshop |8

9. Representation services – Dispute resolution • Taking carriage of a matter in an ongoing, representative capacity • 1. Dispute resolution service • Legal representation of a client in a facilitated resolution (FRP) or ADR • Does not include court/tribunal based ADR • Assistance to self-rep parties preparing to attend FRP should be categorised as legal task or duty lawyer • Examples: • 2 examples relating to the same family law matter • Second example adds an additional tenancy legal advice DSM Workshop |9

10. Representation services – Court / tribunal • 2. Court / tribunal service • Ongoing matter before a court, tribunal or inquiry, where a CLC provides legal representation to a client, and takes carriage of a matter in an ongoing, representative capacity (subsumes any court/tribunal based ADR) • Does not include duty lawyer or self-rep clients • Counting rules: • Criminal matters: multiple charges that can be finalised in the same court proceedings are counted as 1 service • Appeals count as a new service • Examples: • Criminal matter with multiple charges counted as 1 x court / tribunal service • Tenancy matter, 1 x legal advice given by legal aid, then legal aid represents her in a tribunal hearing, which counts as 1 x court / tribunal service DSM Workshop |10

11. Representation services – Other rep • 3. Other representation services • Any matter where the CLC: • takes carriage of a matter in an ongoing, representative capacity, but due to the nature of the matter, it does not proceed to court / tribunal / inquiry OR • is not required to appear before a court / tribunal / inquiry • Does not include assistance to self-rep clients where the CLC does not take carriage of a matter in an ongoing, representative capacity (instead counted as legal task, legal advice or duty lawyer service) • Example: • Tenancy dispute, CLC provides letters to landlord and assistance provided in an ongoing capacity DSM Workshop |11

12. Representation services – Concerns & solutions • How do we best capture assisting self-represented clients we work with in an ongoing capacity? • Other representation services – wider definition may be helpful • Additional examples – eg CLC assisting a self-represented client through a court process (eg giving advice, drafting documents), but where the CLC is not on the record (but is still providing ongoing assistance) • Overlap with duty lawyer and legal task • Old minor casework category – how is this work fitting into the new categories? • Concerns about not meeting representation service targets • What about ‘ghost written letters’ – are they legal task or other rep? • What else are CLCs putting in the other representation services category? DSM Workshop |12

13. Duty lawyer services – Definition & examples • Legal services provided by a duty lawyer to a client at a court / tribunal • Activity types (select the primary type of work which best reflects the substance of the work done – see Table 13): • Criminal matters: advice only / minor appearance, adjournment, uncontested bail application, mention / contested application / plea & submissions: plea of guilty is entered & sentence submissions are made • Civil and family matters: advice only / minor appearance: adjournment or procedural orders only / legal assistance: advice & drafting court documents, and/or negotiating with the other party on behalf of the client, may include appearance for adjournment / appearance: submissions made, including interim applications & court based conferences • Examples: • 3 examples provided re drink driving – note counting rule issues DSM Workshop |13

14. Duty lawyer services – Concerns & solutions • Counting rules: • Do the counting rules accurately reflect the work that is involved? Often more than a simple advice or appearance • 1 duty lawyer service can involve many hours drafting letters, giving advice and completing follow-up tasks • All work is subsumed into the duty lawyer service – would it be better if these tasks could be counted separately? • Clarity regarding whether multiple problem types can be listed as service characteristics related to the same duty lawyer service • Clarity regarding whether tasks, advice, information, referrals will be subsumed by the duty lawyer service DSM Workshop |14

15. Non-legal support services – Definition & examples • Provided by an appropriately qualified or experienced person (either through an internal or external appointment to a client in response to the request for assistance to resolve specific, non-legal problems • Includes: • general counselling • financial counselling • trauma-informed counselling • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community liaison, and • mental health assessments and support • Can be either discrete (once only) or ongoing services (see Table 21) DSM Workshop |15

16. Non-legal support services – Examples, concerns & solutions • Counting rules: • Where non-legal support is provided in the course of providing another service, it is not subsumed by the other service • Examples: • 3 examples provided: 2 x ongoing trauma counselling; general counselling and financial counselling • Social work – not expressly covered, although example 2 alludes to a social worker providing trauma counselling • Any other workers / types of work that should be listed? • What about a series of discrete non-legal support services? Not anticipated by the DSM DSM Workshop |16

17. 5. Any other burning issues? DSM Workshop |17

18. Where to from here? • Qld DSM working group: • 1-2 Principal / senior solicitors • 1-2 Admin / officer managers who use CLASS • CLCQ representative • Next steps: • CLCQ will collate the notes from today and distribute to the working group • Working group will meet to discuss & review draft resources • Once finalised, CLCQ will discuss with NACLC & other state peaks, and then work with AGD • Get in touch with any further ideas: sdo@communitylegalqld.org.au DSM Workshop |18

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