WHERE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE AND/OR INFORMATION

It is strongly recommended that if you are a party to Supreme Court proceedings you should obtain independent legal advice concerning those proceedings. You could obtain legal advice and/or information from:

• a private solicitor or barrister.
• the Law Society of New South Wales (170 Phillip Street, Sydney 2000; phone (02) 9926 0300, http://www.lawsociety.com.au)has a Solicitor Referrals Service if you want to engage a solicitor to act on a normal fees basis. The Law Society can provide names of accredited specialists in particular areas of law.
• the NSW Bar Association of NSW (174 Phillip Street, Sydney 2000; phone 9232 4055, http://www.nswbar.asn.au) can assist you to find a barrister who practices in a particular area of law and can be engaged on a normal fees basis. The NSW Bar Association also has a Legal Assistance Referral Scheme, which aims to provide legal assistance for free or at reduced rates to people who would otherwise not be able to obtain legal assistance without suffering severe financial hardship (the Bar Association requires an application form to be completed so that it can assess whether assistance should be granted).


• LawAccess NSW is a free government telephone service that provides legal information, referral and in priority cases, advice for people who have a legal problem in NSW. Phone 1300 888 529 (cost of a local call) between 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays). LawAccess Online - www.lawaccess.nsw.gov.au - is a great starting point to search for information about the law and legal issues. LawAccess is a joint initiative of the Attorney General's Department of NSW, Legal Aid NSW, Law Society of NSW and NSW Bar Association.


• your local Chamber Registrar (to make an appointment contact your nearest Local Court),


• the Legal Aid Commission of NSW, noting that you may have to meet requirements in order to qualify for a grant of legal aid (323 Castlereagh Street, Sydney 2000; phone (02) 9219 5000; http://www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au.


• a Community Legal Centre - you can find the one nearest to you by contacting your local public library or through http://liac.sl.nsw.gov.au/advice/.


• a Legal Information Access Centre (these are based in some public libraries in NSW and you could contact your local public library in order to find the Centre nearest your home; http://liac.sl.nsw.gov.au/.



ASK! Legal Service dispenses free advice to young persons aged between 14-21 years. ASK! has branches in Randwick and Parramatta. You should phone ASK! on (02) 8383 6629 or email ask!@noffs.org.au to find out if they can help and to make an appointment.

The Supreme Court’s website http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/sc contains links to legislation frequently referred to in proceedings. A Community Legal Centre or Legal Information Access Centre may hold this material or may be able to help you with Internet access.

If you are not able to access the internet from your home, you should contact your local library to find out whether they have a public access terminal available. If you live in a regional area, there may be a Community Technology Centre nearby that provides internet access.

Please note that the Duty Registrar at the Supreme Court and Chamber Registrars are able to give you information and assistance concerning legal options but will not recommend particular options or assess either the merits of your case or your chance of success. You should also note that staff at courts do not draw up legal documents.