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The Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner are independent statutory authorities responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in Victoria. We are accountable to the Victorian Parliament. The responsible minister is the Attorney-General, The Hon. Sonya Kilkenny MP.

Fiona McLeay is the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner and CEO of the Board.

About the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner

The Victorian Legal Services Commissioner was originally established in 2005 under the Legal Profession Act 2004. The functions and powers of the Commissioner now come under the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014.

The Commissioner aims to:

• develop and maintain an independent, impartial and accessible system for managing complaints against legal practitioners
• be accountable and transparent in dealing with our stakeholders
• enhance community and consumer understanding of legal practice
• work with the legal profession to ensure that legal services in Victoria meet the highest standards of excellence
• assist practitioners in understanding, managing and meeting consumer expectations, and
• continually identify best practices in the provision of legal services.

 

About the Victorian Legal Services Board

The Victorian Legal Services Board is an independent statutory authority, responsible for regulation of the legal profession in Victoria. Originally established under the Legal Profession Act 2004, the Board’s role and functions now come under the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014.

The Board’s aims are to:

• ensure the effective regulation of the legal profession and the maintenance of professional standards
• address the concerns of clients of law practices and lawyers through the regulatory system and provide for the protection of consumers of legal services
• ensure the adequate management of trust accounts, and
• ensure that the Legal Profession Uniform Law is implemented effectively in Victoria.

Regulatory Approach Statement

Our Regulatory Approach Statement provides a clear statement of how the we seek to perform our role as regulators of the legal profession in Victoria. It outlines our operational approach to delivering on our legislative responsibilities by explaining how we set regulatory priorities, make resource allocation decisions and apply the range of regulatory tools at our disposal.

The legislative requirements that we must meet are set out in the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 and the Legal Profession Uniform Law (Schedule 1 to the Act). We seek to discharge our legislative responsibilities in accordance with the objectives of the Act and the Uniform Law and in a way that:

• promotes consistency amongst Uniform Law jurisdictions, including through directions and guidance from the Legal Services Council and the Commissioner for Uniform Legal Services Regulation; and
• is consistent with Victorian Government policies and objectives, including the Attorney-General’s Statement of Expectations.

We understand that lawyers and the broader Victorian community expect that we will be efficient and effective regulators of the legal profession. As such, we target our regulatory resources towards activities that address the areas of greatest potential harm to consumers of legal services. In doing so, we aim to strike a balance between responding to immediate issues and identifying emerging areas of concern.

Immediate issues

Responding to information we receive through complaints about lawyers, or from lawyers directly, are core activities that our staff perform on a daily basis. In resourcing these immediate issues, we prioritise issues of high risk while looking for ways to streamline our response to lower risks of harm.

Emerging issues

We use the data collected in the course of our work to identify future trends, and to design programs of regulatory work to proactively address emerging risks. These programs may also include strategic education to the profession. In seeking to strike a balanced approach to resourcing immediate and emerging issues, we are mindful that we operate in partnership with other regulators under the Legal Profession Uniform Law framework.

Therefore, we appreciate that we need to commit resources towards improving consistency in the regulation of the legal profession across Uniform Law jurisdictions, in line with the strategic priorities of the Legal Services Council.

You can download the Regulatory Approach Statement here.

Our strategy

Our corporate strategy illustrates our clear direction towards ensuring we are an effective regulator of the Victorian legal profession.

Our goal is to maintain and enhance public trust and confidence in the legal profession in Victoria. We do this because the integrity of the legal profession is fundamental to the legitimacy of the justice system and the maintenance and protection of the rule of law.

We achieve these goals through our approach to regulating the legal profession, our stewardship role, and our organisational aims.

• Strategy – Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner: A Clear Direction (852KB PDF)

Our Corporate Plan 2022-2024

This document outlines our work to protect and empower consumers, improve legal practice and ethics, and improve access to justice.

• 3 Year Corporate Plan 2022-2024

Our commitments and behaviours

The way we work is guided by the Victorian Public Sector values, and our own commitments and behaviours. Our organisational commitments, shown below, were co-created with the whole of our organisation, and guide our actions and decision-making processes.

Board members

The Board comprises seven members - a Chairperson, three lawyer members and three who are not lawyers.

The Chairperson and non-lawyer members of the Board are nominated by the Attorney-General and appointed by the Governor in Council for a four-year term. One non-lawyer member must represent the interests of consumers, and one must have experience in financial or prudential management.

The lawyer members are appointed by the Governor in Council on the recommendation of the Law Institute of Victoria and the Victorian Bar, also for a four-year term. Two lawyer members are solicitors (non-advocate members) and one is a barrister (advocate member). The day-to-day activities of the Board are managed by the Chief Executive Officer.

Mr Sam Hay KC - Chairperson

Sam is a barrister with over 20 years’ experience in a broad range of commercial, administrative and common law matters. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2019. He previously served as the President of the Victorian Bar Council and as a member of the Victorian Legal Admissions Committee.

Ms Gabi Crafti SC - barrister (advocate member)

Gabi is a senior counsel at the Victorian Bar practising in commercial litigation, particularly in the fields of insurance law and other aspects of financial services law, construction law and corporations law. She acts extensively for insurers, superannuation funds, banks and other financial institutions, financial advisory services, principals and contractors in major construction and infrastructure projects, and government departments and agencies. Prior to joining the Victorian Bar, Gabi was a commercial litigation solicitor at two of Australia’s leading national law firms and an Associate at the Federal Court of Australia. Gabi is a former member of the Victorian Bar Council and the current Chair of the Insurance and Professional Negligence Section of the Commercial Bar Association.

Ms Liz Harris – solicitor (non-advocate) member

Liz is a lawyer who has specialised in consumer complaints relating to lawyers, acting for both lawyers and consumers. She is a recognised expert in costs law as co-author of Quick on Costs, the pre-eminent Australian text. She has conducted her own legal practice, been a sessional member of the VCAT Legal Practice list, a member of the Victorian Supreme Court Costs Committee, chair of the LIV Advisory Board on costs law specialisation, and chair of LIV Cost Lawyers section. Liz conducts a consultancy advising government and corporate legal departments about best practice in managing external lawyers. She is regularly engaged as an expert witness regarding best practice in management of legal work and costs in class actions and other significant litigation. Liz is also a member of the Legal Services Council.

Ms Jacinta Lewin - solicitor (non-advocate member)

Jacinta is a Principal Lawyer at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers in the Social Justice Practice. She has a diverse range of experience across the profession. She has worked as an expert in federal worker’s compensation law managing a national law firm practice before expanding her experience through working at a Victorian government statutory human rights body (VEOHRC). Presently she works in complex litigation with a focus on tort and administrative law. Her current work entails collaborating with stakeholders within and outside the legal profession to improve access to justice outcomes for her clients.  Jacinta is the current Co-Chair of the Law Institute of Victoria Human Rights Committee and a member of the Law Council of Australia’s National Human Rights Committee. She has previous experience in governance roles within the Victorian community legal sector. Jacinta is particularly interested in diversity and inclusion initiatives that create a strong legal service culture to support practitioners and the community.  In 2022 she received the Law Institute of Victoria President’s Award for Outstanding Service.

Mr Glen Noonan - lay member

Glen is an experienced non-executive director, board chair, chair of audit risk and finance committees, professional services partner CEO and Adjunct Professor. He is the current CEO of Diabetes Victoria where he provides strategic direction and leadership to reduce the impact of all types of diabetes on individuals, families, communities, health systems and society.
Previously Glen was a Senior Partner with PwC where he worked for 33 years, including 24 years as a Partner. He held a range of leadership roles and has extensive experience in digital transformation, strategy, growth, commercial and financial management, risk and audit.
Glen is a Chartered Accountant and Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Lynne Williams AM – lay member

Lynne is an economist with over 30 years’ experience in the public sector. She is the Acting Chair of the Essential Services Commission of South Australia, a Commissioner with the Commonwealth Grants Commission, Chair of the Victorian Judicial Entitlements Panel, Board member of the Melbourne Business School, and Principal Fellow and Board member at St. Hilda's College. Lynne has previously held senior executive roles within several government departments and is the former Chair of the Victorian Government Procurement Board. Lynne has Masters degrees in economics from the University of Melbourne and the London School of Economics, a PhD from Monash University and is also a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia.

Ms Catherine Wolthuizen – lay member

Catherine is the Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria) and has a track record of leadership in Australia and the UK, with a particular focus on dispute resolution and fair outcomes in regulated markets. Before joining EWOV, Catherine held positions as the Customer Advocate at NAB, Board Director of the Australian Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, panel member at the Australian Financial Services Ombudsman, Ombudsman with the UK Financial Ombudsman Service, Chair of the Economic Abuse Reference Group, and member of the UK Legal Services Consumer Panel.

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What is the Register of Disciplinary Action (RODA)?

The RODA is a register which lists disciplinary action taken against Australian lawyers under the Legal Profession Uniform Law. 

For information on action(s) taken against non-lawyers (disqualified persons), please see the Non-lawyer Disciplinary Action page.

How do I check the RODA?

You can search the Register of Lawyers to see disciplinary action taken against lawyers, either with or without a current practising certificate.

To find a full list of lawyers with disciplinary action on the register you can select 'Lawyers' as the search type, and click the box 'Only show individuals with disciplinary action' then hit 'Search'.

What information does the RODA contain?

The RODA lists Victorian-registered lawyers who have been found guilty of a disciplinary offence or had their practising certificate suspended or cancelled. These decisions are usually made by either a Victorian court or the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The RODA also records decisions made by an equivalent court or tribunal from an interstate jurisdiction where the action is taken against a lawyer who is admitted or practising in Victoria.

The RODA also lists lawyers whose names have been struck off the Roll of Australian Lawyers maintained by the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The RODA includes disciplinary action from 1 April 1959 taken against a Victorian registered lawyer under the following legislation:

• the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (the current legislation);
• the Legal Profession Act 2004;
• the Legal Practice Act 1996;
• the Legal Profession Practice Act 1958; and
• corresponding interstate laws (see below).

Disciplinary action taken under corresponding interstate laws will appear on the RODA only if the lawyer was admitted or practising in Victoria at the time of the conduct.

The RODA lists the following information:

• the name of the lawyer;
• the date they were admitted to practice in Victoria;
• whether or not they hold a current practising certificate;
• their last known address (address for service);
• their home jurisdiction'
• the body which made the disciplinary decision;
• the date of the decision; and
• the details of the finding made against the lawyer.

If the finding in an entry is displayed as ‘other’, it indicates that we may not have information on that specific order. If it is an interstate disciplinary decision, you may contact the relevant jurisdiction to obtain further information. Links to the interstate registers are provided below.

What information does not appear on the RODA?

There are some circumstances where a lawyer’s name will not be listed on the RODA after disciplinary action is taken against them. These include:

• where the lawyer has appealed against the decision and the appeal result is not yet known;
• where disciplinary action was taken against a lawyer before they were admitted to practise in Victoria;
• where a court has ordered the decision not be published;
• where the action was taken by the Board, the Commissioner or the Victorian Bar (for barristers); or
• where the disciplinary action was taken more than five years ago and the penalty is no longer in effect.

How long are entries displayed?

An entry usually remains on RODA for a period of 5 years. After this time the law requires the entry to be removed, unless the disciplinary sanction extends for a longer period than 5 years. This includes where a lawyer’s name was struck off.

Receiverships and Management appointments

The RODA will not display all instances where a court has appointed a receiver or the Board has appointed a manager to a law practice. These will only appear on the RODA if they arise from a finding of professional misconduct against a lawyer by a court or tribunal.

To find out if a lawyer holds a current Australian practising certificate, you can search our Register of Legal Practitioners & Law Practices.

Interstate registers

Each interstate jurisdiction has a similar register. These can be accessed at the below links:

• Australian Capital Territory – ACT Law Society
• New South Wales – Office of the Legal Services Commissioner
• Northern Territory – Law Society NT
• Queensland – Legal Services Commissioner
• South Australia – Legal Profession Conduct Commissioner
• Tasmania – Legal Profession Board
• Western Australia – Legal Practice Board

Disclaimer

We are legally required to maintain the RODA to help protect consumers of legal services. While all reasonable care has been taken to ensure that the information on the RODA is correct at the time of publication, we are reliant on information provided by the courts, tribunals and interstate authorities. We cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage that may result from reliance on the RODA and any error, omission or defect in the information contained therein.

Any person whose name appears on the RODA may be eligible to apply to a court/tribunal for non-publication of the order, and may wish to seek independent legal advice on this matter.

The Grants Program has conducted three themed funding rounds that have concentrated support around a particular important legal issue. This has proved a successful strategy contributing to long term systemic and policy changes.

Advancing housing justice: The opportunity for legal services to improve access to housing

This 2024 report explores the legal issues associated with Victoria’s housing crisis, and recommends that the VLSB+C prioritises a new grant round focused on housing justice.

Learn more »

Keeping Women Out of the Justice System

This 2017 priority-funding theme of our grants program responded to rising rates of women’s incarceration in Victoria. Over five years, we provided $5 million to seven innovative projects.

Building on work undertaken as a result of that funding round, in 2024, VLSB+C engaged The Difference Incubator (TDi) to convene a collaborative co-design process to uncover investment opportunities to create more decent employment opportunities for women exiting the justice system.

Learn more »

Health-Justice Partnerships

Health Justice Partnerships (or HJPs) integrate legal assistance as an integral element of the health care team. They require the development of a sophisticated partnership between the legal and health professions and their organisations to jointly address the health and social circumstances which often manifest in the form of legal needs.

In 2014, HJPs were a new way of delivering legal services and we made it a priority to fund more of these projects; allocating $2.6 million across 12 new HJP projects.

Learn more »

Prevention of Violence Against Women

Since 2011, a total of 16 projects have shared in over $3 million of funding to address violence against women. The work that was funded has had collective impact on influencing policy and practice around this important theme.

Learn more »

Other Important Project Outcomes

Links to more reports on the important work by our grantees over the years.

Learn more »

Celebrating 10 Years, 2007-2017

Learn about the Grants Program and how it’s influencing policy and reform and changing lives through this 11 page report. 

 

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The Public Purpose Fund (PPF) is a Victorian statutory fund established by the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (Vic). Its primary function is to help meet the costs of regulating the legal profession in Victoria, while also providing funding for several other purposes that benefit the general public and consumers of legal services in particular, such as legal aid and community legal services.

The Victorian Legal Services Board (the Board) is responsible for the administration of the PPF.

What is the PPF used for?

The primary purpose of the PPF is to generate sufficient income to help pay for the regulation of the legal profession as well as to provide an ongoing stream of funding support for a range of other legal bodies and programs. The legislation specifies the different bodies and activities that may receive funds from the PPF, which is discussed in more detail on this webpage. All funding allocations are included in an annual budget approved by the Victorian Attorney-General. Details of the amounts allocated each year are listed in the Board’s annual reports.

Where does the money come from?

Lawyers and approved barristers’ clerks hold money in trust on behalf of their clients. The funds held in trust generate interest which is paid into the PPF. This provides one major income stream of the PPF. A proportion of the funds in trust accounts may also be invested by the Board to provide additional income. Other sources of income are the annual fees paid by lawyers for their practising certificates, and any fines imposed on lawyers following disciplinary action taken against them in the courts.

A diagram of how the money is received by the PPF and spent from the PPF’s different accounts is at the bottom of the page.

The cyclical nature of the financial markets affects the financial returns available for the PPF’s beneficiaries each year. The variations may result in smaller amounts being available in some years for new allocations or to maintain existing allocations.

PPF expenditure themes

There are three main themes that guide the allocations made from the PPF:

1. Regulation
2. Access to justice
3. System improvement.

Regulation

This group of allocations captures the costs of regulating the legal profession in Victoria.  It includes the costs of:

• the Board
• the Legal Services Commissioner
• the Victorian Legal Admissions Board, by supplementing revenue obtained from admission fees
• the Legal Practice List of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
• Victoria’s contribution to the cost of the Uniform Law Framework, which provides the overall regulatory structure for the jurisdictions that use the Uniform Law to regulate their legal professions. Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia are the current members of the Uniform Law scheme
• Fidelity Fund costs, if the Fidelity Fund is unable to satisfy claims or is likely to become insolvent. The Fidelity Fund is a separate fund that provides compensation for clients whose lawyers have stolen or misappropriated money that was deposited with them in relation to the provision of legal services, and
• other miscellaneous regulatory functions, such as the costs of external interveners in legal practices, judgments against the Board or Commissioner, and auditing.

The Board and Commissioner’s costs include the costs of any regulatory activities undertaken by the Law Institute of Victoria and the Victorian Bar under delegation from the Board or Commissioner.

Access to justice

Our Access to justice (A2J) funding aims to boost services for those who can’t afford legal advice and representation, and to develop more effective ways to help those who are especially disadvantaged or marginalised. Read the Access to Justice Policy Statement.

The statutory funding objectives that fall within the A2J category are:

• Victoria Legal Aid
• innovative improvements to access to justice, and
• allocations to the Law Institute of Victoria and the Victorian Bar Council for programs to improve the quality of legal services or public access to legal services provided by law practices.

The largest single annual allocation from the PPF is made to Victoria Legal Aid. This funding is a significant contribution to the annual costs of delivering legal aid to the Victorian community.

Other allocations that support A2J objectives are made under the Board’s Grants Strategy, which focuses on three goals:

• Accessible legal services
• Holistic and diversionary responses
• Fairer laws and processes.

We are committed to improving access to justice for Victorians through targeted funding that helps meet these goals.

The Grants Strategy is organised around two funding streams:

• Funding Stream 1, which is project-based and aligns with specific themes and priorities set by the Board.  This stream focuses on providing individual grants for one-off projects.
• Funding Stream 2, which focuses on supporting organisations for up to five years who have demonstrated capability and capacity in their work and can play a leadership role in the justice sector.

Many of the recipients of discretionary grants are community legal centres. Programs that receive funding are carefully monitored and their outcomes evaluated to ensure the grant recipients have met their stated objectives.

For more information, see our Grants program page.

System improvement

The Board is also empowered to support wider improvements in the justice system’s operation. The statutory funding objectives that fall within the system improvement category are:

• the Victorian Law Reform Commission and law reform activities more generally
• legal education
• judicial education
• legal research
• continuing professional development programs and other programs aimed at improving the quality of legal services operated by the Law Institute of Victoria and the Victorian Bar, and
• any purpose relating to the legal profession or the law that the Board considers appropriate.

The Board uses these funding powers to support organisations and activities that improve the justice system’s capability, such as by maintaining professional standards, developing new laws and policies, improving data, information and knowledge about the justice system, or developing innovative solutions to new and existing challenges.

The Board focuses on the parts of the justice system for which the Victorian Attorney-General is responsible. The Attorney-General has ministerial responsibility for human rights, the courts, the regulation of lawyers, legal assistance for those who are unable to afford their own legal representation, and a wide range of civil and criminal justice laws, including police investigative powers and sentencing law.

How the Board makes decisions about the PPF

The Board makes decisions about allocations from the PPF on the basis that they must be within the limits of the Victorian legislation and must align with the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner’s (VLSB+C) vision, goals and strategies. These are found in policies and plans such as its Corporate Plan, Grants Strategy, Access to Justice policy and relevant financial and risk management frameworks.

The amount of funding in any year is dependent on the amount available in the PPF for allocation. All allocations are subject to approval by the Victorian Attorney-General.

The Board’s priorities are:

1. Regulatory costs incurred by the VLSB+C and other regulatory bodies
2. Victoria Legal Aid and the Victorian Law Reform Commission, as statutorily prescribed funding recipients that support access to justice and improve the operation of the justice system
3. Other organisations and activities that promote access to justice or improve the justice system’s capability, such as community legal centres, the Victoria Law Foundation and the Sentencing Advisory Council.

The Board gives additional weighting to proposals from First Nations organisations in recognition of the role that the justice system played in the dispossession of First Nations people, the damage subsequently inflicted on their communities, and the over-representation of First Nations people in the justice system.

Allocations are prioritised for organisations and activities within the Attorney-General’s portfolio, although collaboration with bodies outside the portfolio is possible.  The Board also takes into account other sources of funding that might be available to an applicant body.

Applications for grants funding are considered under our Grants Strategy.

Allocations from the PPF are subject to the Board’s monitoring and evaluation requirements to ensure that the anticipated benefits of the funding are being delivered.

 

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External examination FAQs

Read our frequently asked questions about the external examination process.

External examination requirements

Law practices and approved barristers’ clerks who operate trust accounts are required to keep trust records. These records must be examined by an external examiner (EE) each trust examination year. The trust examination year runs from 1 April – 31 March.

For the purposes of the examination, a law practice or approved clerk must provide the EE with their accounting or other records relating to the affairs of the practice or approved barristers' clerk, as well as any other information the EE reasonably requires. Penalties apply for failing to comply with these requirements.

EEs must provide end of trust year documentation to the Board by 31 May each year.

EEs, law practices and approved barristers' clerks will be contacted directly to inform them of the end of trust examination year requirements. The trust examination year requirements via LSB Online open in early April.

Resources for External Examiners

The Board has produced several resources to assist External Examiners when completing an external examination.

Visit the Resources for External Examiners page for frequently asked questions, and our Canaries in the Coal Mine video presentation providing guidance for completing external examinations.

Examination on ceasing to be authorised to receive trust money

Law practices and approved barristers' clerks who cease to be authorised to receive trust money must also have their trust records examined by an EE for any part of the trust examination year in which they were authorised to receive trust money. Law practices or approved barristers' clerks must also lodge examination reports for each trust examination year and any remaining period during which they continue to hold trust money. These reports must be lodged with the Board within 60 days after the end of the relevant examination period (See Rule 68(4) of the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015).

The Act imposes heavy penalties for failing to comply with this requirement.

Approved trust accounting software

There are several trust accounting software packages available on the market. Before purchasing one of them, make sure it has the capacity to comply with the law.

A list of trust accounting software packages that have been examined and certified by the Trust Accounts Department of the NSW Law Society can be found on their website.

External examiner reporting

All parts of the annual trust examination reporting is conducted via LSB Online. Parts A and B are completed by the law practice. The External Examiner can then submit their report. If you are having any difficulties in submitting any part of the annual reporting, please contact edp@lsbc.vic.gov.au.