Publication
2021 Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner Annual Report
This report contains information about our operations and financial performance for the 2020-21 financial year.
Last updated on
This report contains information about our operations and financial performance for the 2020-21 financial year.
If you have a problem with a lawyer, or have concerns about their professional standards, you can contact us to discuss your issues.
We can help resolve your issues by:
Our service is free and our staff are impartial, meaning we do not take sides.
Our form takes about 5-7 minutes to complete. Please note that you cannot save the form for later so please allow enough time to answer the questions in one sitting.
Once you complete the form we will review your matter and contact you in the near future. During busy periods this may take a few weeks, however, we will prioritise urgent or high risk matters that may cause significant or immediate consumer harm.
We thank you for your patience.
Please note: if you are seeking help with locating legal documents like wills, deeds, files, powers of attorney and certificates of title please fill out our dedicated form on our How to make a request for legal records page.
We are committed to providing an accessible, responsive service to all Victorians. While the majority of people communicate with us in a courteous manner, a small number of individuals can sometimes be angry, frustrated or distressed or act in other ways that may be challenging.
We recognise that people who demonstrate challenging behaviour often have a legitimate grievance and we will continue to deal with complaints on their merits. Our officers will treat people who contact us with courtesy, and we expect this courtesy to be returned.
Our staff can encounter a spectrum of challenging behaviour, from slightly confronting to clearly unreasonable, and our responses will be graduated as follows:
1. PREVENT where possible. We aim to prevent challenging behaviour by practising good complaint handling and communication skills.
2. RESPOND to challenging behaviour. We recognise that people who contact us may feel upset, distressed or angry. Our officers will respond to angry or emotional behaviour in the first instance by attempting to defuse the situation. We will give people reasonable time to express themselves, and listen and acknowledge what they are saying, and how they feel.
3. MANAGE behaviour that is or becomes unreasonable. Behaviour becomes unreasonable when, because of its nature or frequency, it raises health, safety, resource or equity issues for the VLSB+C, our officers, or other people who use our services. Examples of behaviour or language that may be considered unreasonable include:
Behaviour can also become unreasonable if it consumes a disproportionate amount of staff resources through unreasonable requests or communication. Examples of requests that may be considered unreasonable include:
Examples of communication that may be considered unreasonable include:
If a person’s behaviour becomes unreasonable, officers will apply appropriate and proportionate strategies for managing the behaviour. For example:
4. LIMIT access. As a last resort we can consider limiting access to our services if other strategies have not worked and the person continues to engage in unreasonable behaviour. Depending on the type of behaviour, we may consider limiting:
We give serious consideration to the needs of individuals with a disability or mental health issue and take those needs into consideration in making decisions about restricting access to our services due to unreasonable behaviour.
If we have decided to limit your access and you object to our decision you may wish to contact an external oversight agency such as the Victorian Ombudsman, or, if you believe you have been discriminated against, the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.
Employees, consultants and other income sharers of law practices who are not Australian legal practitioners are referred to as lay associates under the Legal Profession Uniform Law (Victoria). Lay associates may work in management, secretarial, financial, human resources, administrative, clerical and other support roles.
Lay associates who have previously been found guilty or convicted of a serious offence (any indictable offence), or who have been disqualified from legal practice, are prohibited from being employed by a law practice without the permission of the Victorian Legal Services Board.
Law practices include sole practitioners, incorporated and unincorporated legal practices and community legal services.
Any lay associate who is a disqualified person, or has been convicted or found guilty of a serious offence must not seek to become a lay associate of a law practice unless the person first informs the law practice of the disqualification or conviction.
NOTE: Any approvals and disqualification orders made under the Legal Profession Act 2004 continue to survive under the Uniform law transitional provisions.
The Board may grant permission for a law practice to employ a prohibited lay associate under certain circumstances. The law practice must apply to the Board for approval to employ the prohibited lay associate before employment is offered. Unless the Board grants this approval, a law practice must not employ a person who the practice knows to be a disqualified person or a person who has been convicted or found guilty of a serious offence.
The Board has approved a Policy – Lay Associate Guidelines (135KB PDF) to assist the legal profession understand the legal requirements concerning employing lay associates, and to outline the process for obtaining approval for employing a prohibited lay associate.
It is a criminal offence if a law practice has a lay associate whom any principal or other legal practitioner associate of the law practice knows to be—
(a) a disqualified person; or
(b) a person who has been convicted (or found guilty) of a serious offence—
unless the lay associate is approved by the Board.
For further information on disqualified or convicted persons as lay associates and law practice responsibilities, see the Board’s Policy – Lay Associate Guidelines (135KB PDF) and the Board’s fact sheet FAQs – Prohibited lay associates (321KB PDF).
This strategy explains the way we have chosen to do our work. It ensures that we are transparent, responsive and accountable to all our stakeholders. It provides clarity of purpose among our staff, and supports the best use of our resources.
Risk management is integrated into our practices, operations, business plans, and philosophies.
Our Public Interest Disclosure Policy explains our approach to disclosures under the Victorian Government's Public Interest Disclosures Act 2012.