Victoria Legal Aid Handbook for Lawyers

3 – Criminal law guidelines

Under the criminal law guidelines Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) may make a grant of legal assistance in relation to:

VLA will not make a grant of legal assistance to people charged with state or Commonwealth criminal offences for court applications for stays or funding orders (Criminal law guideline 8). But see other criminal matters: special circumstances and assistance in Commonwealth criminal law matters for further discussion.

Other criminal matters: special circumstances

If a person seeks a grant of legal assistance from VLA for a state or Commonwealth criminal law matter in circumstances which are outside VLA’s state criminal law guidelines, then VLA may make a grant of legal assistance only if the person:

Assistance in Commonwealth criminal law matters

The guidelines applied in relation to any Commonwealth criminal law matters are the same for applications for assistance in state or territory criminal law matters.

Schedule A of the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance ServicesExternal Link lists the Commonwealth criminal law priorities.

Reviewed 18 February 2022

In this section