Payments and records management for private practitioner duty lawyers in the Family Division of the Children’s Court

Private practitioners are paid for duty lawyer services as referred by Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) or in accordance with a rostered commitment to do so at the applicable rate set out in the Fees section upon submission of a claim.

Child Protection Duty Lawyer Guidelines

The Child Protection Duty Lawyer Guidelines set out the different types of services to be delivered by the child protection duty lawyer service, and eligibility criteria for the service. The guidelines must be applied by all practitioners delivering child protection duty lawyer services at Children’s Court (Family Division) locations across Victoria. Download the guidelines.

Making a claim

To make a claim you must be an individual certifier on the s29a Child Protection and Family Violence panels and an approved member of a Private Practitioner Short Service Scheme.

By signing the invoice you are declaring that all details are complete and correct as well as other matters, including:

• you were referred duty lawyer services by VLA on that date
• you completed the services listed on the invoice
• you agree to retain and manage the DLRs in accordance with the requirements sets out in Records management for private practitioner duty lawyers.

Submit your claim by email within 30 days, with the reference number provided to you in the acceptance confirmation email, and return to the relevant VLA office. Contact details for our offices are listed in Annexure 1 of the Child Protection Duty Lawyer Services Manual.

Incorrect or incomplete invoices will be returned to you unpaid for correction or completion.

Fees

From 1 January 2024 the fees payable to rostered private practitioner duty lawyers are:

• $175 (GST inclusive) per hour not exceeding $438 if only one matter is allocated
• $175 (GST inclusive) per hour not exceeding $876 for two or more matters allocated.

Payments are rounded off to the nearest quarter hour.

For rostered duty lawyer services where the lawyers are already at court, the time payment commences from the time of referral of the first client. At other courts, the time payment commences from the time of arrival at court to meet the client.

Records management for private practitioner duty lawyers

You are required to complete a duty lawyer record for each service noted on the tax invoice.

We comply with our obligations under the Public Records Act 1973. These obligations extend to all Victoria Legal Aid contractors, including private and community legal service practitioners who are funded to perform duty lawyer services.

Accordingly you must retain these records for:

• 25 years from the date of action for child clients
• seven years from the date of action for other clients.

You do not need to attach these records to your claim.

Records should be stored in date order, with records for child clients stored separately.

Records must be stored and destroyed in accordance with your obligation to maintain client confidentiality at all times.

Substantiating your claims

We will inspect nominated duty lawyer records from time to time to verify claims.

Contact us

For enquiries and issues, contact Associate Director, Child Protection, Elicia Savvas via elicia.savvas@vla.vic.gov.au