ANNU A L REPORT 1300 65 11 88 · 2011. 9. 26. · LEGA L AID QUEENS L AND ANNU A L REPORT...

LEGAL AID

QU

EENSLAN

D AN

NU

AL REPORT 2010–11

1300 65 11 88 www.legalaid.qld.gov.au

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ANNUAL REPORT 2010–11

| 1 ContentsLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Contents

2 Letter of compliance

3 Chair's report

4 CEO's report

5 Corporate governance 7 Governance 14 Organisation structure 15 Culture and communication 16 External scrutiny 17 Report card 18 Achievements and priorities for the future

19 Snapshot 20 Financial overview

25 About us 26 Our purpose, vision and values 27 Who we are and what we do

29 Our people

35 Our systems and processes

41 Our performance 42 Objective: Quality legal services are delivered

to financially disadvantaged people 64 Objective: Help achieve a fair justice system

by working with government and stakeholders

68 Objective: Legal services are sustainable and deliver value

71 Financial statements 72 Statement of comprehensive income 73 Statement of financial position 74 Statement of changes in equity 75 Statement of cash flows 76 Notes to and forming part of the

financial statements 100 Certificate of Legal Aid Queensland 101 Independent auditor's report

102 Acronyms and abbreviations

103 Feedback

Printed on Tudor RP 115gsm (contains 100% recycled fi bre) and 300gsm (contains 70% recycled fi bre and 30% elemental chlorine free bleached virgin fi bre). Tudor RP is Australian made and is certifi ed 'Carbon Neutral' and 'Greenhouse Friendly' by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Effi ciency.

ISSN 1837-3267©State of Queensland (Legal Aid Queensland) 2011

Front Cover photo: Justine Walpole

For further information about this annual report, contact:

The communications manager on (07) 3238 3004, fax (07) 3238 3340 or email [email protected] copies of this report available from: http://www.legalaid.qld.gov.au/PUBLICATIONS/REPORTS/ANNUAL-REPORT/Pages/default.aspx

What if English is my second language?

We are committed to providing accessible services to Queenslanders from all culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. If you would like this publication explained in your language, please telephone the Translating and Interpreting Service on 13 14 50 to speak to an interpreter. Ask them to connect you to Legal Aid Queensland. This is a free service.

2 |

1 September 2011

The Honourable Paul Lucas MPDeputy Premier and Attorney-General, Minister for Local Government and Special Minister of StateExecutive Building, George StreetBrisbane Qld 4000

Dear Deputy Premier

I am pleased to present the Annual Report 2010-11 for Legal Aid Queensland.

I certify this report complies with:the prescribed requirements of the • Financial Accountability Act 2009 and the Performance Management Standard 2009the detailed requirements set out in the Annual Report Requirements for Queensland • Government Agencies.

A checklist outlining the annual reporting requirements can be accessed at www.legalaid.qld.gov.au.

Yours sincerely

Rachel HunterChairperson, Legal Aid Queensland Board

Letter of compliance

Letter of complianceLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

| 3

The year 2010-11 has been dominated by natural disasters across the state. At one point, 99 percent of Queensland was disaster-declared.

We have seen horrific scenes of devastation as floodwaters

submerged entire towns, homes and businesses were battered by one of the biggest cyclones to ever cross the Queensland coastline, and families were left to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. Yet we also saw amazing acts of courage, selflessness and

thousands of people volunteer to help people they had never met.

I am proud to say that Legal Aid Queensland was among those there for people in their hour of need. Staff attended countless community meetings in the wake of the floods and cyclones to reach out to people needing legal help. They have been making a real difference in people’s lives, helping them to put together insurance claims so they can get on with the job of rebuilding.

This is right in line with Legal Aid Queensland’s chief purpose – to ensure financially disadvantaged Queenslanders have access to legal services. Over the past 12 months, the organisation has continued to embrace its key values of social justice, respect, quality and effectiveness. Our involvement in Flood and Cyclone Legal Help is just one example of this.

This past year has also seen the start of the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services. Much of the year has been devoted to putting in place systems and processes to meet our end of this new agreement. I’m pleased to report that we are making good progress and we have a performance plan in place to meet the targets required of us.

This year has been a time of change for the board, with myself replacing outgoing chair Marg O’Donnell. We were also sorry to see Peter Callaghan SC leave the board in order to act as counsel at the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry. However, we welcome Townsville lawyer Terry Browne to the board with his high-level experience in criminal law.

I would like to pay tribute to Marg’s achievements as board chair, particularly her stewardship through a difficult financial period and the transition to a new chief executive officer in 2009. Marg and the board had to make some important decisions in the last two years that have contributed to the current strong financial position that Legal Aid Queensland finds itself in.

In saying that, I would also like to thank the former Attorney-General Cameron Dick for his and the government’s support during this time. The board looks forward to working with Deputy Premier and Attorney-General Paul Lucas to ensure we maintain financial stability into the future.

Legal Aid Queensland has managed to improve its operating surplus in a time of financial downturn and this is testament to the work the organisation has put in over the past 18 months to consolidate its financial position. This will ensure Legal Aid Queensland’s long-term sustainability as it deals with the inevitable ebbs and flows of demand for legal services.

Rachel HunterBoard chairperson

Board chairpersonRachel Hunter

Chair’s report

Chair's reportLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

4 | CEO's reportLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

The 2010-11 year was marked by significant change in our operating environment, including the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services, the Moynihan reforms to the criminal justice system, and the impact of the summer’s floods and cyclones. Legal Aid

Queensland surmounted these challenges with characteristic grit, compassion and innovation.

The summer’s natural disasters hit our operations and people hard across the state. I was very proud of

the commitment that our staff demonstrated to ensure continuity of service delivery.

As well as keeping our normal operations on track, in early 2011 we led the collaborative Flood and Cyclone Legal Help initiative. The story is told in more detail in the Performance section of the report. Many thanks to all of our service delivery partners in this initiative.

The Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction Reform and Modernisation Amendment Act 2010 reforms brought about significant changes to the state's criminal justice system in late 2010. In response we overhauled our criminal law grants-of-aid for committals, realigned our in-house criminal law practice and delivered a range of training programs.

The National Partnership Agreement (NPA) on Legal Assistance Services began in mid-2010. The agreement challenges legal aid bodies across Australia to pursue innovative means to seek early resolution of legal problems and address social exclusion. Our responses to date have included the development of a Community Legal Education Strategy, an Information and Referral Strategy and the Legal Advice Renewal Project.

The NPA has changed how we categorise and report on our service delivery performance. We have aligned this annual report with the NPA to reflect this new era for Legal Aid service delivery.

Legal Aid Queensland is no stranger to innovation, and the past 12 months were no exception. We launched the new Application Assistance Program in the Brisbane Magistrates Court to help women fill out protection order applications, and our Youth Legal Aid team initiated a collaborative process with the Department of Communities to better identify youth in custody who may need representation for a bail application. Our corporate services area implemented new electronic vacancy filling and travel management systems.

Ensuring the office accommodation for our staff met basic public sector standards has been a priority over the past year. We are completing the refurbishment of our Mackay office and are in the process of relocating our Cairns office to larger premises. Our Grants division staff were relocated to new accommodation as master planning for a refurbishment of two floors of our Herschel Street headquarters began.

The Legal Aid Queensland Board also underwent change over the past year. Rachel Hunter has brought a wealth of experience and expertise to her role as chair since her appointment, and I am enjoying learning from her as each week passes. I would like to thank our outgoing chair Marg O’Donnell for her guidance and support during 2010. Our 30th anniversary dinner at the end of 2010 provided a welcome opportunity for Legal Aid Queensland’s many friends to thank Marg for her contribution.

I am fortunate to be supported by an intelligent and able Executive Management Team, as well as employees who never cease to amaze me with their dedication. Thanks to everyone for their commitment during the past year.

Anthony ReillyChief executive officer

CEO Anthony Reilly

CEO’s report

| 5

Corporate governance

6 | Corporate governanceLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Corporate governance is the system by which our organisation is managed, directed and held accountable.

Sound corporate governance means:achieving our strategic goals and objectives• being accountable for our actions• fulfilling legal requirements• managing risks• monitoring, reporting on and evaluating our corporate performance• meeting government and community expectations.•

Our corporate governance framework guides the way we manage our strategic and operational programs. The framework ensures we deliver efficient and effective services with due diligence and accountability.

Queensland Government

Attorney-General

Legal Aid Queensland Board

Chief Executive Officer

Executive Management Team

Human Resource CommitteeFinance Committee Information Technology Steering Committee

Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee

Australian Government

Figure 1. Corporate governance framework

| 7 Corporate governanceLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011


The Legal Aid Queensland Board (the board) is responsible for managing Legal Aid Queensland and ensuring the organisation achieves its objectives. The board is our organisation’s governing body and is responsible to the Attorney-General.

The board decides the organisation’s priorities and strategies, leads policy direction and ensures sound and prudent financial management.

The board has five members. Each member has specific knowledge or experience that helps in the organisation’s management. The areas of expertise include public administration, financial management, and law and legal services provision.

The board is headed by a chairperson, who is appointed by the Governor in Council. Board members are appointed by the Governor in Council for three-year terms.

The board met nine times in 2010-11. All board meetings are attended by the chief executive officer and deputy chief executive officer. Executive Management Team directors also attend as required to present papers and discuss issues with the board.

Board members

Rachel Hunter, chairpersonBoard member since November 2010

Rachel Hunter is chair of Q-COMP and the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority. A former director-general of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General and the Department of Education, Training and the Arts and former Public Service Commissioner, she brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her new role, having worked in the Queensland public sector for more than 30 years.

Iyla DaviesBoard member since June 2005

Iyla Davies was admitted as a solicitor in 1984 and is currently the head and chief executive of The Women’s College in the University of Queensland. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Law at the Queensland University of Technology and the University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. For more than 20 years she was a law academic specialising in family law, dispute resolution and mediation. She has also held community leadership roles as the Queensland and national president of Relationships Australia, and as a member of the Queensland Law Society’s Specialist Accreditation Board.

Governance

8 | Corporate governanceLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Dan ToombsBoard member since November 2007

Dan Toombs is the Founder and Business Development Manager at Grow Your Firm, a law firm marketing and innovation company working with law firms both nationally and internationally. As a lawyer, he has a strong interest in both law and administrative reform in Queensland and is heavily involved in the work of The Advocacy and Support Centre (TASC) and the Queensland Criminal Justice Centre. Dan has been the recipient of numerous awards for his innovative work, including the Australia Leadership Award, Catholic Social Justice Award, Winston Churchill Fellowship, National Human Rights Law Award and the Queensland Disability Award. He has recently completed a textbook, Disability Law and the Queensland Criminal Justice System which will be published in February 2012.

Allan WelshBoard member since July 2008

Allan Welsh has led major projects in the public and private sectors for the past 20 years, with extensive experience in managing capital infrastructure, information and business system projects and events. In 2008 he received a Public Service Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours and was awarded two Australia Day medals for capital works programming and arts infrastructure management in Queensland.

Terry BrowneBoard member since June 2011

Terry Browne was admitted as a solicitor in 1994 and is an accredited specialist in criminal law. He is a partner of the law firm Arthur Browne & Associates and has served as a member of the Queensland Law Society's Criminal Law section as well as the Access to Justice and Pro-Bono section. Terry practises primarily in regional areas and is also a casual lecturer at James Cook University.

System which will be published in February 2012.


Audit, Risk and Compliance CommitteeThe Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee is a sub-committee of the Legal Aid Queensland Board and acts in a review and advisory capacity to the board.

The committee provides independent assurance and assistance to the board on our financial administration and reporting, audit control and independence, legal compliance, internal controls, and risk oversight and management.

The committee meets quarterly and comprises:Legal Aid Queensland Board member Iyla Davies• Queensland Treasury principal analyst Trevor Dann• Department of Justice and Attorney-General Financial • Services executive director Peter CookLen Scanlan (former Auditor-General of Queensland).•

Two committee members are public servants and do not receive remuneration for meetings. Iyla Davies’ attendance is recorded as a board meeting for remuneration purposes (see Note 24 of financial statements) and Len Scanlan received remuneration between $0 and $5000 in 2010–11.

The chief finance officer attends the committee’s meetings with the CEO and Corporate Services director.

The committee’s key achievements in 2010–11 included:reviewing the 2009-10 financial statements prior to • signing by the board chairreviewing the external auditor’s recommendations from • the 2009-10 audit and audit strategy for 2010-11reviewing the results of in-house compliance audits of • preferred suppliers' filesreviewing and updating the organisation’s risk register• leading the implementation of a formal compliance • program to address the broad range of legislative, professional and business requirements expected of the CEO and the board.

The committee has operated in line with its charter. Although the charter recommends four meetings a year, only two meetings were held, with a third meeting deferred until early July 2011 to align with committee members' schedules. The charter is based on Queensland Treasury’s Audit Committee Guidelines.

Executive Management Team

The Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997 creates the position of chief executive officer and gives the position responsibility, under the board, for controlling Legal Aid Queensland’s day to day administration, providing legal services to legally assisted persons, and arranging and supervising the provision of legal services by Legal Aid lawyers.

The CEO is supported in this role by the Executive Management Team. The team’s functions are to:

monitor our strategies and activities to ensure legal • assistance is provided to disadvantaged people in the most effective, efficient and economical wayreview and approve policies and standards and ensure • these are implemented so we meet our statutory obligationsensure management systems and practices are effective • and that they reflect ethics obligations and the Code of Conductoversee our budget and monitor financial performance• promote, sponsor and develop a culture of risk • management, service delivery improvement and innovationensure we have an organisational culture and • environment that attracts and retains high-performing employees consider and make decisions on significant issues • affecting the organisationcommunicate important information to staff.•

The team meets weekly and comprises: CEO Anthony Reilly • Deputy CEO Paul Davey• Family Law, Civil Justice and Advice Services director • Nicky Davies Criminal Law Services director Peter Delibaltas • Public Defender John Allen • Grants director Louise Martin • Corporate Services director Ian Warren • Strategic Policy and Communication director • Mary Burgess.

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Anthony ReillyChief executive officer

Anthony is an experienced lawyer and public administrator who has held senior roles in the Queensland Government prior to his appointment as Legal Aid Queensland’s CEO. Before working in government, he spent many years working as a lawyer, including in community legal centres.

Paul DaveyDeputy chief executive officer

In his role, Paul is responsible for all legal service delivery aspects of Legal Aid. This includes the large Brisbane based in-house legal divisions, grants and directly managing regional legal services. Paul has extensive experience in managing large commercially focused legal practices and has held senior roles in Queensland Government legal practices over the past 12 years. Prior to joining Legal Aid, Paul was executive director of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and general manager of Crown Law. Paul has degrees in science, management and law.

Nicky DaviesFamily Law, Civil Justice and Advice Services director

Nicky has been admitted as a solicitor for almost 25 years, and has worked as a solicitor both in England and Australia. She has worked at Legal Aid Queensland for the past 15 years, undertaking various roles during this time. Nicky is a member of the Family Law Council and convenes the Council’s Violence Committee. She is a past President of the Family Law Practitioners’ Association Queensland and a member of the Children’s Law section of the Queensland Law Society. During 2011, Nicky led the Queensland Flood and Cyclone Legal Help response.

Corporate governanceLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011


Peter DelibaltasCriminal Law Services director

Peter has practised as a lawyer with Legal Aid Queensland for almost 20 years. Prior to his appointment as director, he led the Serious Crime team for over a decade where he was involved in the defence of some of Queensland’s most high profile criminal law matters. Peter has represented defendants in almost every major regional centre in Queensland. Furthermore, his commitment to the delivery of legal representation in all court jurisdictions is displayed by continuing to undertake criminal law casework and duty lawyer work as director.

John AllenPublic Defender

John was admitted as a barrister in 1986, while employed in the Public Defender's Office. From 1990 to 2010 he practised at the private bar, predominantly before the criminal courts, coronial inquests, professional disciplinary tribunals and commissions of inquiry. He is a member of the Sentencing Advisory Council.

Louise MartinGrants director

Louise has worked in the Queensland public sector for the past 20 years at Legal Aid Queensland and other community services agencies, including Disability Services Queensland. Louise has been involved in a range of financial and administrative roles including grants system development and legal costing.

12 |

Ian WarrenCorporate Services director

Ian joined Legal Aid Queensland as Corporate Services director in 2010. Ian was previously the executive director Financial Services in the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, a position he held from November 2007. His career in the Queensland Public Service spans more than 24 years in a variety of corporate positions. He held the position of executive director Corporate Services in the former Department of Tourism, Fair Trading and Wine Development before his role in the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.

Mary BurgessStrategic Policy and Communication director

In her early career, Mary practised as a lawyer in general legal practices. She has worked for the Prisoners’ Legal Service Inc and in the Research and Prevention Division of the Criminal Justice Commission (as it then was), undertaking legal and criminological research. Prior to coming to Legal Aid, Mary spent six years in Law and Justice Policy in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, first as a policy officer and later as a director. From 1997 to 1999 Mary was a part-time commissioner with the Queensland Corrective Services Commission. She has worked with Legal Aid Queensland since 2007.

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee monitors and reviews our financial, budget and performance processes.

Specifically, the committee:

oversees the annual budget • preparation and recommends its approval to the CEO and boardensures our budget is framed to • maximise the outputs from the strategic plan and government prioritiesensures the budget is effectively • managed so we achieve budget targets and comply with government requirementsmonitors our financial performance • and position, identifying the key financial performance drivers and establishing measures for determining successmonitors non-financial • performance.

The Finance Committee comprises:CEO Anthony Reilly • Deputy CEO Paul Davey• Corporate Services director • Ian WarrenChief finance officer • Michael McKee.



Information Technology Steering Committee

The Information Technology Steering Committee was established in 2011 to ensure IT operations, investments and initiatives are aligned with Legal Aid Queensland's strategic emphasis on service delivery systems and business processes.

The responsibilities of the committee include:provide corporate governance for the planning, • approval and prioritisation of significant IT investments and initiativesengage stakeholders to inform and evaluate IT • investments and initiativesensure IT investments and initiative proposals: •

are and remain consistent with the organisation's –strategic plan, priorities, budget strategy, and resourcing capability are responsive to identified needs of clients and staff –fully consider people management, change –management, and communications issues

monitor any exceptions to the progress of approved • IT investments and initiatives against their project plan, and budget.

The Information Technology Steering Committee comprises:Deputy CEO Paul Davey• Corporate Services director Ian Warren• Grants director Louise Martin• Strategic Policy and Communication director • Mary BurgessInformation Technology manager Russell Scott. •

Human Resources Committee

The Human Resources Committee provides advice and support to the CEO to ensure human resource strategies:

support and achieve equal employment opportunity • improve service delivery quality, effectiveness • and efficiency encourage high levels of productivity, performance • and innovation improve our capacity to meet new priorities • and challenges improve our ability to attract and retain skilled employees • result in employment expenses being managed efficiently • and effectivelyreflect the quality framework for public sector • workplaces.

The Human Resources Committee comprises:Corporate Services director Ian Warren• Human Resources manager Ken Raymer• Principal human resource officer Kelly Camden• Divisional representatives Patrick O'Brien (Criminal • law), Catherine Moynihan (Family law), Rosemarie Coxon (Regional services) and Cathy Carr (Grants).

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Organisation structure

Finance, Analysis & Facilities

Human Resources

Information Technology

Client Information Services

Right to Information & Privacy

Library

Recordkeeping Services

Executive Legal Officer

Supplier Contracts

Audit

eDRMS


Chief Executive Officer

Regional Support

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Criminal Law Services

Flood and Cyclone Legal Help

Public Defender

Corporate Services

Grants

Executive Services

Family Law, Civil Justice & Advice

ServicesRegional Offices

Executive Support

Strategic Policy

Media & Communications

Community Legal Education

Appeals

Criminal Law 1

Criminal Law 2

Criminal Law Coordination

Mental Health

Drug Court

Serious Crime

Solicitor Advocates

Youth Legal Aid

Grants Operations

Internal Review

Grants Management System Modernisation

Child Protection

Child Support

Family Law Duty Lawyer/Liable Parent

General Family Law

Family Law Coordination

Dispute Resolution

Women’s Legal Aid

Domestic Violence

Social Work

Independent Children’s Lawyers

First Advice Contact Team

Prison Advice Service

Victims of Crime Compensation

Consumer Protection

Anti-Discrimination

Farm & Rural Legal Service

Civil Law Legal Aid Scheme

Administrative Appeals

Bundaberg

Caboolture

Cairns

Inala

Ipswich

Mackay

Maroochydore

Mount Isa

Rockhampton

Southport

Toowoomba

Townsville

Woodridge

Counsel



Culture and communication

Employee communication

Legal Aid Queensland uses a range of communication strategies to foster regular internal communication between management and staff. Through the weekly CEO Blog, all staff are kept up-to-date on the Executive Management Team’s priorities, organisational news, progress reports, policy changes, staffing updates, sector developments and the focus of upcoming board meetings. Board chair Rachel Hunter also writes a monthly Chair’s Blog featuring board meeting highlights, board priorities as well as comments and compliments on organisational and staff achievements.

Outside of the Brisbane office, our rural and regional offices are kept up-to-date on organisational news via the Regional Round Up – a monthly update of organisational news, events and decisions prepared by Deputy CEO Paul Davey.

Chief executive officer Anthony Reilly held a number of staff forums in 2010-11 to encourage staff input and feedback on organisational issues. In 2010-11 this included the organisation’s annual Staff Forum as well as a Strategic Planning Staff Forum where staff were encouraged to provide feedback on the organisation’s proposed 2011-15 Strategic Plan.

Legal Aid Queensland’s staff intranet complements these communication strategies by keeping staff informed of recent news and announcements, and providing ready access to organisational policies, procedures and resources.

Community management standards

Effectively communicating management standards ensures staff receive up-to-date, high-quality information about their roles and responsibilities.

We communicate management standards, and seek commitment to them by:

providing induction sessions for all • new stafftraining staff in new and revised • policies and proceduresproviding electronic access to • standards, policies and proceduresconsulting staff when developing • policies and procedures.

Code of Conduct

As of 1 June 2011, Legal Aid Queensland adopted a new Code of Conduct. The new Code of Conduct was a whole of government initiative and was designed to be relevant for all public sector agencies. The single Code of Conduct reflects ethical values contained in the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994 and covers the following principles:

integrity and impartiality• promoting the public good• commitment to the system • of governmentaccountability and transparency.•

The code guides us in managing issues like:

conflict of interest• personal conduct• commitment to service delivery• information sharing and • relationship building across agencies

adherence to organisational • values and policiescontinuance improvement• appropriate use of official • information and resources.

Part of the implementation of the new code includes the introduction of training packages that will assist us to identify mechanisms for dealing with ethical problems and set out the process for dealing with breaches of the code.

Public Interest Disclosure

In December 2010, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010 was introduced to replace the Whistleblowers Protection Act 1994.

Legal Aid Queensland is developing a Public Interest Disclosure program to ensure we have the required mechanisms in place to effectively support anyone who makes a public interest disclosure, maintain confidentiality during the process and assist employees to identify what constitutes a public interest disclosure. In 2010–11, we did not receive any public interest disclosure requests from either an employee or a member of the public.

Service charter

Our service charter sets out the standards we strive to meet when dealing with clients. The charter also explains the level of service clients can expect from us and how they can make a complaint or provide feedback about the service they receive. The charter is published on our website.

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We are subject to all of the external accountability mechanisms pursuant to a statutory body in Queensland, including regular budget and performance updates with Queensland Treasury and the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.

Accountability mechanisms that complement the internal corporate governance framework include:

external audit and certification• judicial review of administrative decisions• the Queensland Ombudsman• the Crime and Misconduct Commission• the Parliamentary Estimates Committee• the Public Accounts Committee• the Legal Services Commission• public performance reporting, for example, through this annual report and the annual Service Delivery Statement.•

External scrutiny


Deputy CEO Paul Davey met with a delegation from Indonesia in early 2011, including Ambassador Alui Joelianto and Consular-General Gary Jusuf, to discuss how Legal Aid Queensland was set up to provide services to disadvantaged people, and the legal assistance being provided in Queensland to Indonesian citizens accused of people smuggling.

Consumer protection lawyers Catherine Uhr and Loretta Kreet answering questions from the media at the Booval flood insurance forum.


Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland ambition

Fair – Supporting safe and caring communities•

Outputs

Preventative legal services (community legal education, information and referral)• Early intervention legal services (advice, minor assistance and advocacy)• Dispute resolution services• Duty lawyer services• Litigation services• Post resolution services.•

Performance measures

Number of legal services delivered• Client satisfaction with legal services• Legal service suppliers’ compliance with service agreements and case management standards• Clients from disadvantaged groups access our services• Policy responses provided to government• Collaboration with other service providers• Regular liaison with government and community stakeholders• Legal service targets achieved within budget• Business improvement projects implemented• Staff satisfaction.•

Outcomes

Provided legal information to 159,615 people and provided legal advice to 50,835 people• Helped 6,365 people in family dispute resolution conferences to help them resolve disputes without going to court• Ensured 66,095 children and adults were represented by a duty lawyer• Approved 27,186 applications for children and adults to be represented in criminal, family and civil law matters• A client satisfaction survey was commenced in 2011• Ninety percent of audited preferred suppliers achieved an acceptable level of compliance with service and case • management standardsEnsured clients from identified disadvantaged groups were able to access our services (see Table 4 on page 63)• Provided policy responses to government such as the review of the • Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000. See page 67 for more informationCollaborated with service providers and liaised with government and community stakeholders on issues such as Flood • and Cyclone Legal HelpConvened three Queensland Legal Assistance Forums and 39 Regional Assistance Forums in 2010-11• Worked to achieve state and federal government targets (see Tables 2 and 3 on page 43)• Managed Legal Aid operations within budget (see financial overview on page 20)• A number of key business improvement projects were implemented in 2010-11. See pages 36 - 40 for more detail• Our staff satisfaction survey found 71 percent of staff were very satisfied with Legal Aid Queensland and the working • environment we provide.

Report card

18 |

Achievements and priorities for the future

Legal Aid Queensland’s major achievements for 2010-11 include:

provided legal services to financially disadvantaged • peopleled the collaborative Queensland Flood and Cyclone • Legal Help responseembedded the Moynihan criminal justice reforms • through new criminal law grants and training held the annual Law Week Hypothetical which focussed • on the challenges faced by people with an intellectual disability in the criminal justice systemestablished the Queensland Legal Assistance Forum • website, a one-stop-shop for legal information resourceslaunched the Application Assistance Program at the • Brisbane Magistrates Court for women who have experienced domestic violence initiated a new process to identify and assist youth in • detention who may need to make application for bailimplemented new internal electronic travel and vacancy • filling systems focussed our advice services on people at risk of • social exclusion.

Our priorities for 2011-12 include:

continuing to provide legal services to financially • disadvantaged people helping people seeking assistance to review insurance • claims outcomes arising from the 2011 natural disastersfocussing on achieving National Partnership Agreement • on Legal Assistance Services targetslaunching and distributing our new family law DVD • Life after separation: putting the pieces back togetherimplementing our new Community Legal • Education Strategyexpanding our delivery of legal information through • Legal Aid Queensland's dedicated YouTube channelcompleting improvements to our Mackay and Cairns • regional officesachieving improvements in our business practices • through the Grants Management System Modernisation project and expansion of the Visualfiles case management systemdeveloping a Workforce Strategy to plan for the • development and retention of a skilled and motivated workforce, in order to build corporate capability and sustainability.


Counsel Joe Briggs speaking at the 2011 Law Week Hypothetical.

Caitlin Collins, Fionna Fairbrother, Toni Bell, Anthony Reilly, Chief Magistrate Brendan Butler, Gai Baumann and Lorna Goldring at the launch of the Application Assistance Program at the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

| 19 SnapshotLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Snapshot

20 | SnapshotLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Managing the budget

Our budgeted expenditure for 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 was $122 million.

Budget $’000 Actual $’000

User charges 2,531 3,066

Grants and other contributions 118,992 108,962

Other revenue 1,325 1,835

Total income 122,848 113,863

Employee expenses 38,263 36,946

Supplies and services 6,896 6,878

Grants and subsidies 12,440 471

Depreciation and amortisation 1,535 1,576

Private legal practitioner expenses 60,842 56,270

Impairment losses 300 192

Other 1,727 1,920

Total expenses 122,003 104,253

845 9,610

Table 1. Published 2010–11 budget versus actual performance

Financial overview

Legal Aid Queensland has performed well financially, with most expenditure categories coming in under budget, while some revenue sources were higher than anticipated. This result is consistent with the objective of ‘legal services being sustainable and delivering value’ as stated in our strategic plan. To achieve this result we have maintained our focus on financial management, including strengthening our balance sheet. We will continue to minimise costs and risks in relation to liabilities and contingent liabilities.

A comparison of the published budget and actual result for grant income and grants expense is distorted by a change in Queensland Treasury’s prescribed accounting treatment for grant income and expenses. Funding of community legal centres passed through Legal Aid Queensland is no longer considered to be controlled by Legal Aid Queensland, and therefore is now excluded from the Statement of Comprehensive Income and disclosed as a note to the financial statements instead. In summary, $11.1 million of community legal centre funding was included in both government grant income and grants expense when the budget was set, but is excluded for year end actual reporting.


The original budget surplus of $0.85 million relates to capital funding for the implementation of an electronic document and records management system as this amount is included in state government grant income without a corresponding expense. Instead, the funding will be applied to create an asset in the Statement of Financial Position over two years.

In addition to government funding, unbudgeted income was received to assist with the response to the floods and cyclones experienced during summer. With these funds, Legal Aid Queensland provided grants to some community legal centres to assist with legal services for flood and cyclone victims, recorded in Table 1 as grants expense, as well as redirecting internal resources to coordinate the Flood and Cyclone Legal Help response. These grants are distinct from the government grants passed on to community legal centres as the criteria for control in the accounting standard was met.

While Legal Aid Queensland has always endeavoured to apply every available dollar to legal services, we are also striving to ensure the organisation is financially viable for the long term, and have a plan to carefully reinvest the savings into ageing infrastructure that will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery for many years to come. We are also proud to have taken a lead role in the government’s response to helping Queenslanders with their legal concerns as soon as practical after the cyclones and flood waters had passed.

Income statement

A trend emerged in previous years where expenditure grew in line with demand for our services, outstripping increases in income. This resulted in operating deficits in line with a government-endorsed arrangement to use surpluses (reserves) to fund growth over a five-year managed plan. That plan has now been completed, and we are focussed on keeping expenditure within available income, and for the last two years this goal has been achieved. The surpluses achieved in the last two years have allowed the accumulated surplus portion of equity to increase, after many years of being drawn down.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

-20

Mill

ion

$

2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

Income Expenditure Retained surplusMoney added to or taken from reserves

Figure 2. Income statement


Income

Grants from the federal and state governments are our main source of income, with relatively little income sourced from service charges or clients’ contributions. Interest paid on money kept in solicitors’ trust accounts is paid into the Legal Practitioner Interest on Trust Accounts Fund (LPITAF). This funding source was adversely impacted by the global financial crisis, and as a result less funding is now provided by the LPITAF. In response, the state government has increased appropriation funding to offset the reduction, and provided some additional funding for capital projects.

Expenses

The majority of Legal Aid Queensland expenditure is paid to private law firms to carry out legal aid work on our behalf. This is consistent with our service delivery model, which allocates approximately 80 percent of legally-aided matters to private lawyers. The remaining costs support the in-house legal teams and infrastructure for all service delivery.

Assets

The most valuable assets we have are cash and cash equivalents (of $26.7 million), and our land and building in Brisbane (worth approximately $16.6 million). Other assets include our unique computer-based business systems and money owed to us by clients.

Our total assets have increased compared with 2009-10 because of increased cash reserves.

2.6% SERVICE CHARGES

36.3% COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT GRANTS

25.7% DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE & ATTORNEY GENERAL GRANT (LPITAF)

1.6% INTEREST AND OTHER REVENUE

33.8% STATE GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATION

Figure 3. Income 2010-11

54.1% PAYMENTS TO PRIVATE LAWYERS

35.4% EMPLOYEE EXPENSES

8.4% SUPPLIES AND SERVICES

0.2% OTHER

1.4% DEPRECIATION AND AMORTISATION

0.5% GRANTS TO LEGAL SERVICES

Figure 4. Expenses 2010-11


Liabilities

Our biggest liability is money we have to put aside to pay private lawyers for work assigned to them, but not yet completed. Sometimes these cases can take years to complete, so money needs to be kept aside from the outset.

Equity

Equity is made up of two components; the land revaluation reserve component which represents increases in asset values that are given a dollar value, but are not available as money in the bank to be spent on services. The second component is the accumulated surplus which is available as cash in the bank and can be spent to meet business needs. In earlier years the land revaluation reserve portion increased sharply, before reducing and stabilising at $10 million since 2008-09. The accumulated surplus component was reduced in previous years to fund increasing operational costs, however the trend has now been reversed and the organisation has increased this most important part of equity.

Cash

We have maintained healthy cash levels over the past five years to make sure we can pay private solicitors for matters they finalise, and to allow us to replace equipment and other assets. We invest this cash in low-risk funds that are managed by the state government. This provides us with some income from interest, but also protects us from market fluctuations.

60

50

40

30

20

0

Mill

ion

$

2006-072005-06 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

Assets Liabilities

Figure 5. Assets and Liabilities

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Mill

ion

$

2006-072005-06 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

Land revaluation reserve Accumulated surplus

Figure 6. Equity

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Mill

ion

$

2006-072005-06 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

Figure 7. Cash


Key financial ratiosCurrent ratio = 1.5 as at 30 June 2011

The current ratio compares current assets to current liabilities. It is important to us to have sufficient cash on hand to cover our short term liabilities, particularly the requirement for potentially long delays between a grant of aid being committed and the invoice being submitted. We need to ensure that there is sufficient current assets set aside to pay out all future claims against the provision.

Legal Aid Queensland has approved that a ratio above 1.1 is desirable.

How are we going?

Our overall financial position for 2010-11 is healthy, and reflects the board and management’s commitment to sound financial management principles, and ensuring the long term sustainability of services. To assist in planning a sustainable level of service delivery, the state and federal governments now provide a fixed and realistic level of funding to reduce our reliance on volatile funding sources. However, the downside of a fixed income is managing increasing costs, hence the application of prudent

financial management now to be applied to the duration of the funding agreements with governments. This level of discipline will be required to achieve the desired level of growth over the next few years that is specified in the National Partnership Agreement for early intervention and prevention services, within a fixed funding envelope.

Where will the dollars go?

Paying private lawyers is our most significant expense (see Figure 9 for more details). Supplies and service costs are budgeted to increase and employee costs are expected to increase in line with enterprise bargaining agreements. Temporary positions will also be created to develop some programs to assist with implementation of National Partnership Agreement services and programs, and to help with some short term projects to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Corporate Services.

Criminal law work is mainly funded by the state government and forms approximately half of the casework assigned to private solicitors. Family law, which is funded by the federal government, accounts for more than 30 percent of our casework. Civil law includes child protection, domestic violence and veterans affairs matters and comprises about eight percent of our casework.

$58M PAYMENTS TO PRIVATE LAWYERS

$40.4M EMPLOYEE EXPENSES

$0.6M OTHER

$1.8M DEPRECIATION AND AMORTISATION

$10.5M SUPPLIES AND SERVICES

Figure 8. Budget 2011-12

$30M CRIME

$4.5M CIVIL

$0.1M LEGAL ADVICE & OTHER

$2M DUTY LAWYER

$20M FAMILY

Figure 9. Payments to private lawyers 2010-11

| 25

About us

26 |

Our purpose

To provide legal services to financially disadvantaged people.

Our vision

To be a leader in a fair justice system that responds to the diverse needs of disadvantaged people.

Our values

Social justice

We protect people’s rights, ensure they receive fair treatment, and reduce their risk of social exclusion.

Respect

We show respect for the people we assist and those with whom we work.

Quality

We continue to improve the quality of our work and the outcomes for our clients.

Effectiveness

We deliver responsive and cost-effective services by working with our suppliers and the community.

About usLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Our purpose, vision and values

Flood-affected residents at the Booval flood insurance forum.Chief Magistrate Brendan Butler speaking at the 2011 Law Week Hypothetical as Professor Susan Hayes looks on.

| 27 About usLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Who we are and what we do

Legal Aid Queensland provides legal help to financially disadvantaged Queenslanders. We are an independent statutory authority that operates under the Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997.

Legal Aid Queensland receives state government funding to provide legal services for state law matters, and federal government funding to provide the legal services designated in the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services.

Our range of services include community legal education, information and referral, advice and minor assistance, lawyer assisted dispute resolution, duty lawyer services, and litigation services. Our services are provided across a range of areas of law including crime, family, child protection, child support, domestic violence, social security, consumer protection and anti-discrimination law.

Our work contributes to the Queensland Government’s Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland ambition Fair — Supporting safe and caring communities. Many of our programs, like our child protection program, domestic violence services and support for the Special Circumstances Program, Breaking the Cycle of Domestic and Family Violence Court Pilot Program, drug courts, and Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Court Diversion Program, are helping to break the cycle of disadvantage in Queensland communities.

Legal Aid Queensland celebrates 30 years

Legal Aid Queensland celebrated its 30th anniversary with a special dinner in October 2010.

Almost 250 people attended the dinner, including former Attorney-General Cameron Dick, current and past staff, and members of the magistracy, judiciary and the legal sector.

Former CEO and now Magistrate John Hodgins hosted the evening along with former board member Zoe Rathus, sharing tales of the past about the organisation’s major changes and achievements. Barrister Stephen Keim SC delivered the keynote speech for the evening and current CEO Anthony Reilly gave a vote of thanks.

During the dinner we farewelled Marg O’Donnell, outgoing chair of the Legal Aid Queensland Board, and acknowledged the important contribution Marg has made to the organisation. The former Attorney-General also announced the appointment of Rachel Hunter as the new chair of the board.

The 30th anniversary dinner was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the organisation’s achievements and future directions. The large number of attendees at the dinner was a testament to the regard in which Legal Aid Queensland is held.

Legal Aid Queensland's Amber Buckland with Queensland Police Service's Mark Wheaton and the Department of Justice and Attorney-General Deputy Director-General Terry Ryan at the Application Assistance Program launch.

Legal Aid Queensland staff members Laura Reece, Catherine Morgan and Jakub Lodziak at the 30th anniversary celebrations.

28 | About usLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Our head office is in Brisbane. To meet the needs of Queenslanders living in rural and regional areas, we offer our full range of legal aid services from 13 regional offices: Southport, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Woodridge, Inala, Caboolture, Maroochydore, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Mount Isa, Townsville and Cairns. Our regional office staff work with a network of community access points which act as information outposts and referral points in communities. We also coordinate regional legal assistance forums around the state to identify emerging legal needs and help determine which service is best placed to meet needs.

We provide free legal information, advice and duty lawyer services to all Queenslanders, and legal education to the community.

While our advice services are not formally means and merit tested, we do seek to focus them on people most at risk of social exclusion.

We purchase litigation and dispute resolution services from our in-house legal teams and preferred supplier law firms around the state to maximise legal services available to disadvantaged Queenslanders. Staff assess individual legal aid applications by applying a means and merit test and manage the funding arrangements for cases where aid is approved.

We also work with the state and federal governments to advocate for law reform, and policy and system changes that improve outcomes for our clients and enhance the justice system’s efficiency.

Marie Breen and Marcia Sullivan from the Western Queensland Justice Network with Tisara Gunasekera and Jaz Ribar from Legal Aid's Mt Isa office.

| 29 Our peopleLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Our people

30 | Our peopleLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Our staff’s valuable experience and knowledge is crucial to the successful delivery of our services.

At 30 June 2011 Legal Aid Queensland had 440 full-time equivalent employees working in 14 offices throughout the state.

Continuing professional development

We continued to maintain an in-house continuing professional development program (CPD). Most session topics are open to all staff and law firms that provide legal aid services – with audio conference facilities available to regional offices. Sessions are also recorded on DVD. Seminars conducted this year covered criminal law, family law and civil justice topics. Our program aims to ensure that our lawyers remain up to date and have the opportunity to develop their professional skills and legal knowledge. The program allows legal staff to earn continuing professional development points, which are required to renew practicing certificates each year.

We also provided intensive advocacy training opportunities for staff. We held a weekend advocacy intensive seminar in conjunction with the Australian Advocacy Institute on criminal law advocacy skills. We also held in-house advocacy training days on criminal law appeals, duty lawyer and family law.

We provided staff with training opportunities to familiarise them with our policies and procedures and to develop their skills and knowledge. Training included:

Code of Conduct and workplace • behaviours trainingcomputer training • frontline services for front-counter • staffgrants operations• induction training for new staff• information privacy• legal advice, family law and • separate representatives’ intensive seminarsmanaging the psychological impacts • of practicing law (vicarious trauma)ongoing Call Centre training • and coachingPRINCE2• ® Project Management recruitment and selection • staff performance development • planningstrategic policy development.•

Litigation support officers from all Legal Aid Queensland offices also attended a one day conference.

Focus on fitness and fun

A renewed focus on teamwork, fitness and fun in 2010-11 saw Legal Aid Queensland staff participating in charity walks, runs and Corporate Games.

Legal Aid Queensland fielded two teams in the Corporate Games held at the University of Queensland St Lucia campus over 14-15 May.

A mixed netball team and a mixed touch football team represented Legal Aid Queensland at the Corporate Games.

While neither team made the finals, staff enjoyed working together outside of an office environment and it brought together staff who don’t normally work together.

With CEO Anthony Reilly leading from the front on the netball court, it was an opportunity for staff to combine fitness, fun and work.

Legal Aid Queensland also covered staff entry fees for fun runs/walks such as the Mother’s Day Classic, QPILCH Walk for Justice and the Mackay Marina Run.

This supported the participation of staff in these events, which raise money for great causes while also giving staff the incentive to stay fit and reduce stress.


Professional learning opportunities

Legal Aid Queensland staff and external lawyers were provided with a number of opportunities during the year to extend their professional learning. We worked in partnership with organisations such as the Queensland Law Society to present several professional development courses. Highlights during the year included:

A two-day intensive course for lawyers acting as Separate Representatives in child protection law matters. • Sessions included performing the role of a Separate Representative, legislative requirements, child protection practice and frameworks, and practical skills to assist in conducting litigation. A highlight was the ‘Children and Young People in Care’ session presented by the Create Foundation.A one-day legal advice intensive course for lawyers from community legal centres covering practical legal ethics, • traffic law, Queensland Civil Administration Tribunal (QCAT), family law and child protection.A ‘Member Benefit’ seminar with the Queensland Law Society and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal • Service on communication skills and cultural considerations when representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients.An extended seminar on the Moynihan reforms implemented from 1 November 2010 including new forms, • practice directions and procedures, disclosure, determination of jurisdiction, registry committals, witnesses giving evidence in committal proceedings, notice to defendants, and compulsory case conferencing.A half-day intensive course on the representation of clients suffering mental illness or intellectual impairment • – focussing on duty lawyer and magistrates court work. Content included expert commentary from forensic psychiatrists and ethical considerations in legal representation.

Legal Aid Queensland staff Paul Davey, Loretta Kreet, John Hanley, Anthony Reilly, Catherine Uhr and Paul Holmes at the QPILCH Walk for Justice during Law Week.

Former Attorney-General Cameron Dick, CEO Anthony Reilly, LAQ staff member Lynne Brassington and board member Iyla Davies at the 2010 Reward and Recognition Awards.


Figure 10: Workplace composition (full-time equivalents)

111 - REGIONS

101 - FAMILY, CIVIL, ADVICE

81 - CRIME

18 - COUNSEL

83 - CORPORATE

16 - EXECUTIVE

30 - GRANTS

Figure 11: Actual staff by employment type

402 - PERMANENT

60 - TEMPORARY

24 - CASUAL

Attracting and retaining staff

We want our staff to be able to find an appropriate work–life balance. In 2010-11, we continued to offer and promote flexible working options, including working part-time, job sharing, telecommuting and purchasing supplementary leave. We also continued to provide remote computer access to many staff.

We have implemented strategies to help our staff effectively manage the possible impact of their work on their mental health and emotional wellbeing. We are particularly aware that our lawyers and support staff are routinely involved in work that is confronting and stressful, which puts them at risk of suffering vicarious trauma.

In 2010-11, we responded to these risks by arranging workshops on managing the psychological impacts of practicing family law. We also provided staff with information about available support networks and self-help strategies, and access to confidential counselling services.

For information about staff absenteeism and turnover, see opposite page.


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12

9

6

3

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14-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

Staff absenteeism Staff turnover

Figure 12: Staff age profile

Figure 13: Staff absenteeism and turnover

Opportunities for students

We provide opportunities for law students to work at Legal Aid Queensland, one of the busiest legal practices in the state.

In 2010-11, we offered two-week vacation clerkships, which placed three law students in our legal service delivery areas to allow them to gain experience in our core practice areas in a supervised and structured environment.

As well as participating in their allocated teams, the vacation clerks sat in on sessions in the Queensland Court of Appeal, the Mental Health Court, the Drug Court and presentations by our lawyers appearing in those jurisdictions.

The feedback from the placements was overwhelmingly positive and the program gave us an invaluable opportunity to promote legal aid work to future lawyers and improve the skills of some of the state’s top law students.

We also offered QUT final year law students the chance to work at Legal Aid Queensland one day a week for a semester, allowing them to build their practical legal skills and gain an understanding of the day-to-day workings of a busy legal practice.


Supporting carers in our community

Legal Aid Queensland recognises the effort and dedication of carers in our community. Carers provide a vital service to those they care for and Legal Aid Queensland supports them in a number of ways.

In 2010-11, we:ensured our policies provided flexible work arrangements to help carers to meet their commitments, including part-• time work, job sharing and purchased leave - Carers (Recognition) Act 2008 s 9(1)(b)ensured legal information and advice services were more accessible by all Queenslanders, including carers – • Carers (Recognition) Act 2008 s 9(1)(b)ensured an easily accessible complaints section was available on the organisation's website and published our • complaints and feedback policy - Carers (Recognition) Act 2008 s 9(1)(b).

Equal employment opportunity

We are committed to equal employment opportunity (EEO) principles and have successfully implemented these principles across the organisation. Our current EEO statistics highlight the success of our EEO plan (see Figure 14).

Figure 14: Equal employment opportunity target group membership

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Women DisabilityNESBIndigenous

73%

16%

6%1%

| 35

Our systems and processes

36 |

Implementing an electronic document management system

Physical and electronic records are necessary for business operations, accountability requirements and meeting community expectations.

All Legal Aid Queensland records are 'public records' as defined under the Public Records Act 2002. Legal Aid Queensland started a project in 2010-11 to implement an electronic document and records management system (eDRMS) to enable:

reliable and secure access to information• informed decision making • cost effective use of information resources • business continuity • compliance with legislation. •

In 2010-11 we:established an eDRMS implementation project, • project team and project boardresearched eDRMS implementation in other public • sector agenciesraised awareness of the importance of recordkeeping • in Legal Aid Queensland chose an eDRMS product (HP TRIM) for implementation • in Legal Aid Queenslandstarted development of the business rules and • processes Legal Aid Queensland will use with its eDRMS.

In 2011-12 we will:install, test and begin to pilot HP TRIM in Legal • Aid Queenslanddevelop training programs for Legal Aid • Queensland staffinvestigate opportunities for integrating HP TRIM • with our existing business systems.

Continuing rollout of case management system

We have continued to rollout our new case management system, Visualfiles. Visualfiles streamlines the processes involved in the day to day management of case files. It holds file related information in one central location, provides automatic prompts for key dates and tasks and simplifies the process of generating and storing all client correspondence.

Visualfiles was first developed in our Criminal Law services division. The last 12 months has seen the project team work with our Family Law services division to customise Visualfiles for the work processes of a general Family file. In 2011-12, the development of Visualfiles for all teams within Family Law services will continue and we will also begin to rollout the Criminal application to our regional offices.

Our systems and processesLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Staff from Legal Aid Queensland's Grants division.

| 37 Our systems and processesLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Grants Management Systems Modernisation project

During the year, we developed a business case for modernising the way grants of legal aid are managed. ‘LAQ Office’, our core information system supporting grants management, has undergone a number of redevelopments to newer technology environments over the past 20 years. However, business rules and processes for management of grants of legal aid have not been substantially overhauled in that time.

The business case identified a range of wide reaching opportunities for high value improvements to grants management business processes and supporting information systems to be undertaken progressively over the next two years.

The way forward will be based on defining and standardising the interaction of grants and legal practitioners in procurement, management and delivery of grants services. This will establish the required specifications for improvements to LAQ Office and other information systems, to ensure the integrity of our information and the effectiveness of our grants management systems.

The solution will be designed over the second half of 2011 and implemented over 2012 and the first half of 2013.

Performance reporting systems

We capture most of our information and operational transactions in LAQ Office, a system designed in-house. Each night the financial transactions entered into LAQ Office are integrated into the finance system. This system is a standard financial software package supported by Technology One.

Between these two systems, nearly all reporting requirements can be met, including timely, relevant and accurate information for management, and statistics, budgets and financial statements for external funding bodies.

Changes in funding agreements have required changes to external and internal reporting, particularly in response to new performance and outcome requirements of the four year National Partnership Agreement (NPA).

The focus on early intervention and prevention services has resulted in changes to business systems, data collection, forms, data analysis tools and new reporting structures to demonstrate compliance with, and progress towards, goals set out in the NPA.

Legal Aid Queensland has played a leadership role among other legal aid commissions in Australia to assist National Legal Aid and funding bodies to reach a shared understanding of definitions and cost attribution regarding the NPA, and translating those goals into reports and process changes.

Similarly, new performance indicators have been established for state funded services to begin from 2011-12, in order to better align with the state government’s strategy outlined in Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland.

38 | Our systems and processesLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Accommodation

Legal Aid’s headquarters at 44 Herschel Street in the CBD were reviewed in 2010-11 with a Master Planning and Building Condition Assessment undertaken. Our headquarters are ideally located, with the new law courts building under construction in nearby George Street, however, it is an old building that was constructed in the 1960s. The building has reached its capacity and requires refurbishment as it does not currently meet legislative and building code requirements.

The building was last refurbished in 1989-90, with only one floor fully refurbished since then in 2002. Rather than undertaking an expensive exercise to relocate the entire headquarters to larger premises, it was decided to refurbish the building over future years and lease additional nearby accommodation space as required. The existing headquarters at Herschel Street are owned by Legal Aid Queensland, which means we pay no lease costs on the building. It is estimated we will save $10 million in lease costs over the next five years by remaining in our existing premises, and incurring fit-out expenses.

In order to solve capacity issues, additional CBD premises were acquired near Legal Aid’s headquarters in the Brisbane CBD during 2010-11 and the Legal Aid Grants and Audit teams were relocated to these premises. The new tenancy is located at 30 Makerston Street, Brisbane.

The Legal Aid office in Mackay is being expanded to improve client and staff facilities with all of the planning and preparation works completed in 2011-12. The project is scheduled to be completed in August 2011. The expanded office will provide additional accommodation space for staff, extra client interview and conference rooms, a larger waiting area for clients and a new disabled toilet which will service the whole building.

The Legal Aid office in Cairns will be relocated to larger premises in November 2011 with all of the planning and preparation work for this project completed in 2010-11. The new office will feature improved client interview and conference rooms, better client facilities and additional accommodation space for staff to enable future expansion.

Facilities manager Terry Kelly overseeing the re-establishment of the training room in Brisbane.

Human resources officers Kelly Camden and Jenni Nobbs discussing the new and improved human resources systems.

| 39 Our systems and processesLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Improved Human Resources systems

Legal Aid Queensland has introduced an improved process for approving the filling of vacant positions and subsequent staff appointments. The new system of automated workflow documentation ensures that critical financial management and human resource management parameters are considered before vacancy filling action is initiated. The web based system of vacancy filling requests allows all relevant users to track progress of individual requests through to their completion.

Once completed, the web based appointment notification process ensures appointment approval and necessary appointee data is provided in a timely way to complete the recruitment and selection process and accurate transfer of data for payroll purposes.

The Human Resources team has developed and updated a number of policies in response to legislative changes in this financial year. These have included the introduction of the Public Interest Disclosure policy in accordance with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010, the Employee Complaints policy in line with the Public Service Commission's Directive 08/10 Managing employee complaints, the whole-of government Code of Conduct which includes a set of values prescribed in the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994, and the Reporting Official Misconduct policy as per the Crime and Misconduct Act 2001.

Procedures have also been developed or updated to provide clarity or improve internal processes. Those that have changed in this financial year are the telecommuting procedure, establishment management procedure, procedure for applying for leave without pay, reward and recognition procedure and a guide for returning part-time following maternity leave. Initiatives to increase Indigenous employment at Legal Aid Queensland have also been investigated.

Recordkeeping

Under the Public Records Act 2002, we are required to make and keep full and accurate records of our activities, and to respect and follow the recordkeeping policies, standards and guidelines issued by the State Archivist.

In 2010-11 we:assessed our recordkeeping practices against • Information Standard 40: Recordkeeping requirements participated in consultation processes with Queensland • State Archives to improve recordkeeping in the Queensland public sector continued recordkeeping reforms that improved and • supported good corporate governance including:

reviewing and redeveloping our records management –policies, procedures, roles and responsibilities developing supporting tools such as a business –classification scheme implementing correspondence management in –preparation for electronic document and records management.

A major achievement of the past year was the approval of the new Legal Aid Queensland Retention and Disposal Schedule. Recordkeeping services staff now have the necessary tools to legally dispose of inactive case and administrative files.

40 | Our systems and processesLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

New travel management system

Legal Aid Queensland implemented a new travel management system in September 2010, and appointed Flight Centre Corporate Travel to a two year contract as the travel provider.

Due to Legal Aid's diverse work across the state, staff can be required to travel for work to represent clients in various locations, as well as our regular regional court circuit work and outreach clinics in remote communities.

This new system provides staff with various options and freedom around booking their own travel, and allows travellers to be paid a travel allowance while reducing paperwork as monthly travel and expenditure reconciliations are completed by finance staff on behalf of the traveller.

The following key benefits have resulted from the new system:

improvements for travellers in how they book their • travel, ie online, via telephone or through fax to the travel provideradditional flight options for staff with all airlines at • competitive pricingtravellers now being paid travel allowance rather than • using corporate cards, thereby eliminating the potential misuse of corporate cardsimproved internal controls for flight and • accommodation bookingsenhanced reporting available through the travel provider• ability to charge file related travel expenses back to • case management files (this process has not been possible in previous years due to the complexity around the process)access to low accommodation rates for quality hotels • with low booking fees.

Updated finance and facilities procedures

The Finance, Analysis and Facilities team has been involved in updating and modifying policies, procedures and reports throughout the year.

An internal review of fringe benefits tax implications has begun, to ensure that the tax benefits attributable to Legal Aid Queensland’s fortunate position as a public benevolent institution are known and accessed. At the same time, we are ensuring compliance with documentation requirements and guidance provided by the Australian Taxation Office is maintained. As a result of the review, expert advice has been arranged for areas of tax treatment that are specific to our circumstances.

A formal compliance framework has been established and endorsed by the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee, whereby roles and responsibilities for ensuring both legal and business compliance needs are detailed. The framework attaches to the existing performance management framework to include biannual certifications from all levels of management for generic and some specific responsibilities. Exceptions are provided to the chief executive officer before reporting to the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee.

A review of the Financial Management Practice Manual has begun and is expected to be updated further in 2011-12. Changes to some operational policies were prioritised over the update of financial policies, such as the motor vehicle policy. The purpose of this review was to provide greater control over vehicle bookings, distribution and safety of car keys and parking arrangements. Consequently, the fleet manager has been able to offer a service with greater reliability of fleet car availability and condition.

| 41 Our performanceLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Our performance

42 | Our performanceLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Legal Aid Queensland's main focus is to provide help to financially disadvantaged Queenslanders.

We provide this help in a number of ways, including community legal education, information and referral, advice and minor assistance, lawyer assisted dispute resolution, duty lawyer services and litigation. We provide these services across areas of law such as crime, family, child protection, child support, domestic violence, social security, consumer protection and anti-discrimination law.

As well as using our in-house legal teams, we also purchase litigation and dispute resolution services from private law firms around the state to maximise legal services available to disadvantaged Queenslanders.

National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services

The Australian Government and the states and territories entered into the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services (NPA) in July 2010. The NPA governs the manner in which Commonwealth legal aid services funding to the states and territories is to be used, as well as the broader goals and objectives of legal assistance services.

The NPA emphasises the early resolution of legal problems through preventative legal services (ie information, referral and community legal education) and early intervention services (ie advice, minor assistance and advocacy).

The service delivery categories utilised in the NPA have been adopted throughout this annual report. The categories are:

preventative legal services – community legal • education, information and referralearly intervention legal services – advice, minor • assistance and advocacy dispute resolution services• duty lawyer services • litigation.•

Statistics contained in our 2010-11 annual report have been provided under the definitions and counting rules determined by the Australian Government, states and territories as part of the implementation of the NPA. See Table 2 opposite for an overview of our performance.

In addition to reporting on NPA service delivery categories, we have state government service standards to meet that are also listed in Table 3 on the opposite page.

Objective: Quality legal services are delivered to financially disadvantaged people


Overview of services

Total

Preventative legal services1 1,285,173

Early intervention services2

- Criminal- Family- Civil

15,25520,95214,628

Dispute resolution services3 6,837

Duty lawyer services- Criminal- Family

64,4151,680

Litigation services4

- Applications received- Applications approved- Applications refused5

35,55027,1869,950

Table 2: Overview of legal aid services

1 Preventative legal services includes community legal education, information and referral. In accordance with the new NPA counting rules, the count of preventative legal services includes unique web page views of LAQ’s web legal information pages.

2 Early intervention services include advice, minor assistance and advocacy. The category of advocacy is an NPA term. 3 Dispute resolution services refer to lawyer assisted family law dispute resolution services. Service count represents the

number of people attending LAQ conferences of 5,571 plus 1,266 certificates issued per s.60I of the Family Law Act.4 Litigation services represents grants of aid for litigation.

5 Some applications received may have been initially refused, and subsequently approved on review.

Queensland Government service delivery statement targets

Target/est. 2010-11 Est. actual 2010-11 Actual 2010-11

Percentage of decisions to refuse funding that are referred for external review 8% 10% 11%

Percentage of refusals that go to external review that are overturned on review 6% 4% 4%

Average cost of state services provided – legal representation Amended measure $2,125 $2,222

Average cost of state services provided – legal advice $55 $74 $75

Average cost of state services provided – duty lawyer $55 $61 $64

Percentage of duty lawyer matters resolved without further court proceedings New measure 54% 55%

Table 3: State government service standards


Community legal education

Community legal education activities are an integral part of the services offered by Legal Aid Queensland. In 2010 we created the new role of Community Legal Education coordinator to develop and coordinate Legal Aid Queensland’s community legal education strategy and activities. Linda Richards was appointed to this role and has been consulting widely with internal and external stakeholders throughout the strategy development phase.

The strategy aims to transform our community legal education program by providing a strategic and planned approach to community legal education activities. For the first time, our community legal education activities will be coordinated through a strategy that targets priority client groups and legal problems and aims to:

improve community understanding of the law • reduce litigation and costs of the justice system • assist clients and stakeholders to understand our • services and how to access them.

The National Partnership Agreement’s focus on prevention, early intervention legal services and collaboration has been a key driver for the strategy and the coordination of our community legal education work.

Our Community Legal Education Strategy is delivered through:

web based legal information• written publications including factsheets, information • kits and legal guideslegal information sessions by lawyers for community and • government workers and other community audiencescommunity development projects that focus on • increasing awareness within hard-to-reach communities and vulnerable sections of the communitycommunity legal education events such as the • annual Law Week Hypothetical or policy forums on law reform issues.

New initiatives which support our Community Legal Education Strategy development include:

appointing a Community Legal Education coordinator• coordinating Queensland’s Flood and Cyclone Legal • Help response (regional community forums held - website and publications developed)developing a community legal education e-bulletin • for stakeholdersestablishing a Legal Aid Queensland YouTube channel • for the delivery of legal informationpreparing standard community legal education • materials and resource packages to assist session delivery by lawyersleveraging and sharing national community legal • education initiatives supporting the Queensland Legal Assistance Forum • (QLAF) website – to provide a one-stop-shop for information about free legal services and resourcesRegional Legal Assistance Forum initiated community • legal education projects.

Legal Aid Queensland’s new Community Legal Education Strategy was officially launched by Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland in July 2011.

Preventative legal services

Legal Aid Queensland delivered 2,317 hours of community legal education in 2010-11 – an increase of 31.8% on 2009-10.

Staff members Mel Humphris and Timothy Bassett-Allan at the Family Fun Day at Musgrave Park during NAIDOC Week.


Information and referral

Legal Aid Queensland provides comprehensive, state-wide, free legal information and referral services to disadvantaged Queenslanders. Our free legal information and referral services can be accessed online via the Legal Aid Queensland website, by phone through our call centre, and in person at one of our 14 offices throughout metropolitan, rural and regional Queensland.

The organisation first established a state-wide call centre in 1997 to provide telephone information services to the general public. The Legal Aid Queensland website (www.legalaid.qld.gov.au) complements this service, containing comprehensive legal information on a range of legal issues, as well as a state-wide network of referral agencies. Clients can also access

information in person by visiting one of our Legal Aid Queensland offices, or one of our community access points.

An Information and Referral Strategy was developed during 2010-11 to increase the number of information and referral services, improve the links between Legal Aid Queensland and other services and improve the accuracy and effectiveness of referral practices.

Through our Legal Advice Renewal Project (see following page), we improved the content of our legal information on our website by providing referral points to other organisations and agencies that provide assistance.

Domestic Violence Referral Pathways program

Many women who experience family or domestic violence also experience social exclusion and are therefore less likely to know their legal rights or know what assistance and support services are available to them.

Through our Referral Pathway for Legal Advice program, Legal Aid Queensland is working closely with partner service providers to help vulnerable women experiencing family violence access priority legal advice and support services, appropriate for their circumstances.

The program achieves this by increasing collaboration and cooperation between legal assistance providers and partners to ensure women experiencing family violence are referred directly to appropriate support services and services providers, to help these women address their legal problems and other issues.

The program has operated in Brisbane for three years and has five external services as referral partners. The program has also operated in Ipswich for over 18 months where it has three external services as referral partners. The program has received positive feedback from referral agencies and clients and will expand to the Gold Coast in 2011-12.

159,615 legal information and referral services were provided to the public in 2010-11.

Legal Aid Queensland's Lorraine Dias providing information to a member of the public at the 2011 Brisbane Magistrates Court Open Day during Law Week.


Advice and minor assistance

Financially disadvantaged Queenslanders can access our free legal advice and minor assistance services by telephone, videoconference, at Legal Aid Queensland offices and at designated outreach services. The legal advice service is primarily provided by our Brisbane-based First Advice Contact Team (FACT), specialist teams and regional offices. FACT provides advice to clients at our Brisbane office and telephone advice to clients state-wide. Our Women's Legal Aid team also offer a weekly legal advice clinic which operates from our Woodridge office, and from our Brisbane office by appointment.

We also provide a Prison Advice Service. Videoconferencing is used to provide legal advice services to people in Queensland’s prisons which saves significant travelling time and costs.

We also provided minor assistance services for people who might need help with preparing letters and other documents following on from initial legal advice.

Legal Advice Renewal Project

The National Partnership Agreement requires more appropriate targeting of legal assistance services to people who experience, or are at risk of experiencing social exclusion. We established a project to address the identification and adoption of a focussed list of areas of law linked to social exclusion and financial disadvantage where we can provide legal advice. The project also identified a list of matters and clients for whom urgent advice should always be provided.

Flood and Cyclone Legal Help

In 2011 a large proportion of our civil law services division was devoted to helping people recover from floods and cyclones. In response to the natural disasters experienced across the state, Legal Aid Queensland in partnership with other Queensland legal organisations, established Flood and Cyclone Legal Help to ensure people affected had access to legal information and advice.

Nicky Davies, our Family Law, Civil Justice and Advice Services director was appointed as Legal Aid Queensland’s Flood and Cyclone Legal Help director for three months to manage our involvement in flood and cyclone recovery. As well as helping people directly affected by the floods and cyclones, Legal Aid Queensland also made submissions to the Flood Commission of Inquiry on civil law matters.

Protecting vulnerable consumers

Our Consumer Protection Unit provides specialist legal advice, representation, community education and policy advice, with a focus on assisting clients who would be at risk of social exclusion. The unit advocates on behalf of vulnerable consumers with policy and law makers about issues like an interest rate cap for pay day lending, insurance policies, privacy matters and other consumer contracts.

Since January 2011 the unit has been focussing on assisting people affected by the Queensland floods and cyclones with their legal issues.

Anti-discrimination advice

Our Anti-Discrimination Unit continues to provide advice in all areas of anti-discrimination law including sexual harassment and complaints about race, sex, impairment and gender identity. We also provide advice to practitioners around Queensland undertaking anti-discrimination work.

Currently the majority of advices we undertake relate to discrimination in the workplace, particularly in relation to the attributes of impairment, disability and pregnancy.

Early intervention

We helped 468 clients with claims for flood and cyclone damage. We took 394 statements from clients and helped make 242 internal dispute resolution submissions to insurers.

We lodged 121 submissions with the Financial Services Ombudsman on behalf of clients not satisfied with their insurers' response.


Administrative appeals duty lawyer program

We continued to provide a duty lawyer advice service at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to assist clients considering appeals in areas such as social security law. The service helped us reach clients who may not have sought legal help, including older clients and people with a disability.

Flood and Cyclone Legal HelpLegal Aid Queensland, in partnership with other Queensland legal organisations, established Flood and Cyclone Legal Help in early 2011 in response to the floods and cyclones experienced across the state.

Our 1300 number and call centre was the first point of contact for Flood and Cyclone Legal Help and we developed a website, as a subset of our Legal Aid Queensland website, which included links to legal information resources, relevant information and websites, upcoming events, factsheets and an insurance claim guide. The website was directly linked from the Premier’s disaster assistance page.

With our partners we compiled resources kits, including 16 new or updated factsheets, for lawyers working under the Flood and Cyclone Legal Help banner. Flood and Cyclone Legal Help coordinated and supported the attendance of lawyers at recovery centres to provide legal help.

We convened community meetings in affected areas, including joint meetings with the Insurance Council of Australia and the Financial Ombudsman Service. Hundreds of people attended these community meetings.

With extra funding from the federal government and the Insurance Council of Australia we directed extra resources to our Consumer Protection Unit to help people affected by the floods and cyclones. This busy team worked long hours attending community meetings and holding advice and information clinics in affected areas.

We also established a Collaborative Insurance Law Service to help people with dispute resolution (see page 48 for more information).

We provided $250,000 directly to community legal centres to create a state-wide network of lawyers to deliver free flood and cyclone legal information and advice. Community legal centres have had lawyers on the ground in affected areas helping people impacted by the natural disasters with legal issues, predominantly insurance claims as well as tenancy agreements, employment, credit, debt, fencing, damage to motor vehicles and family law.

The funding we provided has allowed community legal centres to provide extra services and supported the coordination of the legal profession’s pro bono work. Community legal centres in Cairns, Townsville, Central Queensland, Toowoomba and south-west Brisbane benefited from the funding.

Figure 15: Early intervention services by law type in 2010-11. Total is 50,835.

CRIME – 15,255

CIVIL – 14,628

FAMILY – 20,952


Resolving family law problems through dispute resolution processes

Legal Aid Queensland is a national leader in the provision of lawyer assisted family law dispute resolution. We provide a state-wide lawyer assisted family dispute resolution program. We aim to resolve family law disputes before matters go to court, or before a final hearing is necessary if court proceedings have started.

We have dispute resolution conference organisers in Brisbane and other regional centres around the state to help families. Family law dispute resolution conferences are held at our Brisbane and regional offices to help separating couples resolve their family law issues without the need to resort to litigation. We also provide a support service to help people implement their conference agreement. An important part of our dispute resolution program is our property arbitration program.

Providing services to the farming community

Our Farm and Rural Legal Service helps farmers, rural landholders, rural land occupiers and their representatives to sort out disputes with mining, gas and other energy companies and similar activities like rail development. We also advise primary producers and primary producer-based businesses who are experiencing financial hardship about their legal position and help them negotiate with their banks and finance providers.

Collaborative Insurance Law Service

In 2011 our Consumer Protection Unit was expanded to provide legal assistance services in relation to flood insurance matters for Queenslanders affected by the floods and cyclones.

The expanded Consumer Protection Unit joined forces with Caxton Legal Service, the national Insurance Law Service and Legal Aid New South Wales to provide a collaborative insurance law service to assist clients with dispute resolution for their insurance claims following the Queensland floods and cyclones. The service aims to help people through insurers’ internal dispute resolution processes, and if appropriate through external dispute resolution with the Financial Services Ombudsman, to resolve claims without needing to go to court.

Lawyers use a person’s insurance policy, their statement, hydrology reports and damage assessments to prepare a strategy for each individual claim. Detailed submissions marshalling the facts and flagging legal arguments are sent to insurers, seeking review of refused claims.

With early legal advice and assistance, a number of insurance claim rejections have been overturned. Internal dispute resolution submissions have been made to insurers, and a number of these have been successful.

Referrals have been made to the Financial Ombudsman Service to review refusals or in relation to delay in providing a response to an insurance claim.

Lawyer assisted dispute resolution services

6,837 people took part in Legal Aid Queensland dispute resolution conferences in 2010-11.


Criminal law duty lawyer program

Legal Aid Queensland is dedicated to providing quality representation to our clients, and quality assistance to our courts. Duty lawyer services are based in Queensland’s magistrates and childrens courts and play a crucial role in our juvenile and adult justice systems. Duty lawyer services are provided by our in-house lawyers and authorised private lawyers who deliver services under roster or tender arrangements.

Legal Aid Queensland’s duty lawyer services offer free, initial legal advice and representation to people charged with criminal and some traffic offences, who are on bail or in custody in Queensland. Duty lawyers can enter guilty pleas, make bail applications or request remands for clients.

Following the introduction of the Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction Reform and Modernisation Amendment Bill 2010, Legal Aid Queensland has been actively engaged in the implementation of the Moynihan reforms to the magistrates court criminal process. As a result of these reforms we have increased our level of duty lawyer representation in the courts because of the new callovers. Legal Aid now provides duty lawyer services in all new callover courts each week, as well as in all arrest, custody, and breach courts. We have engaged in duty lawyer specific advocacy training for our officers, and have received positive feedback from courts and prosecutions in various jurisdictions since the commencement of the new magistrates court criminal process.

In line with the reforms, Legal Aid Queensland is committed to case conferencing matters with the prosecution to ensure our clients have their legal issues resolved as soon as possible. This can have significant sentencing benefits for clients and can also result in savings to the criminal justice system by avoiding unnecessary court time. It also means witnesses and victims do not have to go through the stress of attending court.

Family law duty lawyer program

Our Family Law Duty Lawyer Service provides assistance to self represented litigants in the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Magistrates Court throughout Queensland for family law matters. We provided services in Brisbane, Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Maroochydore, Toowoomba, Southport, Hervey Bay and Ipswich.

We provide information, legal advice, referrals and representation. We also help people complete forms and documents, negotiate and settle consent orders and seek adjournments. We help people complete applications for legal aid or access our review process if they have previously been unsuccessful with applications for aid.

Legal Aid Queensland family law duty lawyer services increased by 11.1% in 2010-11.

Duty lawyer services


Demand for our services is high so we use strict criteria when granting aid for legal representation. Legal Aid Queensland’s Grants division is responsible for processing applications for legal assistance and ongoing management of matters following approval. Grants decisions are made in the Brisbane office and across our regional offices.

Applications are received electronically direct from private law firms or are submitted in paper form by clients or in-house solicitors who have provided advice or duty lawyer assistance.

In determining whether to approve a grant of aid, grants officers assess requests for aid in accordance with the guidelines determined by the Legal Aid Queensland Board and apply the means and merit tests. This process looks at the financial means of the person applying and the relative merit of the case. If an application is refused, internal and external review processes are available to applicants.

Funding grants of aid for private law firms

We work with private law firms – preferred suppliers – to provide access to justice for disadvantaged Queenslanders. Preferred suppliers are private practitioners who have entered into three year service agreements with us to provide legal services. In 2010-11, we worked with approximately 400 preferred suppliers to deliver legal aid services to the Queensland community. Preferred suppliers take on work on our behalf in serious crime, general crime, juvenile justice, general family and civil law matters.

We provide grants of aid to these private law firms to take on cases on behalf of Legal Aid Queensland clients. More than 80 percent of our grants of aid are provided to private law firms, with the remainder going to our in-house practices. Funding private law firms to do legal aid work makes up more than 50 percent of Legal Aid Queensland's total expenditure.

In-house practices

Legal Aid Queensland has four Brisbane in-house practices to provide litigation services - criminal law services, family law services, civil law services and counsel. Our 13 regional offices also provide criminal, family and civil law services.

We received 35,550 applications for grants of aid in 2010-11, of which 27,186 were approved.

Working with private law firms

Legal Aid Queensland funded three private law firms, Fisher Dore Lawyers, Howden Saggers Lawyers and Peter Shields Lawyers, to represent three alleged people smugglers who identified as being younger than 18 years of age, but were being detained in an adult prison in Queensland.

The three firms worked cooperatively to obtain documentary evidence from Indonesia to support the age claims of the detained youths. A report was also obtained from Professor AIbert Aynsley-Green Kt to challenge the wrist x-ray technology that was relied upon by the Commonwealth to determine they were 18 years or older. On the basis of submissions provided by the firms, the charges were withdrawn.

Litigation services

20

Crime

Applications receivedApplications approved

Family

Appl

icat

ions

(tho

usan

ds)

Civil

5

10

15

Figure 16: Applications for grants of aid received and approved by type in 2010-11

18,8

23

15,9

25

12,0

44

7,94

7

4,68

3

3,31

4


Criminal law servicesOur in-house criminal law practice is the state’s largest criminal law defence practice, employing some of Queensland’s leading criminal defence lawyers. We represent children and financially disadvantaged adults charged with criminal offences before all courts in Queensland. From duty lawyer services to complex trials and appeal cases in the higher courts, we protect people’s rights and play an integral role in Queensland’s criminal justice system.

Serious crimeOur Serious Crime team specialises in the defence of complex criminal cases, including murder, major fraud, and drug prosecutions. Preparing defences for these matters is challenging and demanding, requiring extensive research, investigation and preparation.

In order to manage the cost of providing criminal law legal aid, especially in complex and very high-cost cases, our in-house practice took on a significant number of expensive cases during 2010-11.

The percentage of more serious crime matters taken in-house has increased steadily and represents 31 percent of in-house work. During 2010-11 these in-house serious crime matters included a large number of murder charges as well as the people smuggling cases transferred to Queensland. Legal Aid Queensland has an arrangement with the federal government to be reimbursed for the costs of all people smuggling cases.

Appeals

Our Appeals Unit represents people in the Queensland Court of Appeal and the High Court of Australia who want to appeal their cases, or whose sentences are being appealed by the Attorney-General. The unit also acts for people who want to pursue applications for pardons from the Governor. Legal Aid Queensland only funds appeals and pardon applications after applying the merit test, which involves experienced in-house or private counsel considering the applicant’s likely prospects of succeeding in their cases.

Legal Aid Queensland acknowledges the dedicated long service of Appeal Unit coordinator Tim Harland who has held this position for more than 25 years.

Assisting mental health clients

Our Mental Health Unit provides advice and representation for people charged with criminal offences who have been referred to the Mental Health Court. We are dedicated to helping Queenslanders affected by mental illness and strive to provide them with a voice in the justice system. The team works closely with our in-house counsel to conduct matters, representing the vast majority of non-privately represented clients appearing in the Mental Health Court.

We also appeared in matters before the Mental Health Review Tribunal; most involving confidentiality orders.

The specialist expertise of our Mental Health Unit and in-house counsel is widely acknowledged within the legal sector. David Thompson, managing lawyer from the Mental Health Unit, was invited to take part in a Queensland Law Society panel discussion on Mental Health Court matters at the society’s annual symposium. Fellow panel members included the Honourable Justices Ann Lyons and David Boddice (Supreme Court of Queensland), and Assisting Psychiatrists to the Mental Health Court Associate Professor Francis Varghese and Doctor Ness McVie. Mr Shepherd spoke on how to prepare a matter for referring to the Mental Health Court.


Dangerous prisoner applications

We continued to provide legal assistance in Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003 matters. Under the Act, the Attorney-General can apply to the Supreme Court for an order to detain a convicted sex offender in prison after their court ordered sentence has been completed or, alternatively, seek that such offenders be released on a supervision order. Offenders detained under the legislation must have their continuing detention order reviewed within two years of the order first having effect, and there must then be subsequent annual reviews while the order continues to have effect.

We act for people responding to dangerous prisoner applications brought by the Attorney-General, at periodic reviews of continuing detention orders, and in contravention proceedings for respondents alleged to have contravened their supervision order.

Assisting young people in the criminal justice system

Our Youth Legal Aid team provides specialist legal assistance to children and young people in the juvenile justice system.

During 2010-11 we significantly extended our service to vulnerable children in the Greater Brisbane area by assuming the duty lawyer services for the Redcliffe, Sandgate, Wynnum, Holland Park and Pine Rivers childrens courts.

We continue to work collaboratively with the Department of Communities, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service and our preferred suppliers in addressing youth remand rates, particularly for Indigenous children from rural and remote Queensland.

The Youth Legal Aid team presented information seminars to Department of Communities staff and Queensland Law Society members, contributing to their professional development and legal education training. The team also continued their advocacy role with the Youth Justice Reference Group, Queensland Law Society and other stakeholders.

Youth Bail project

Our Youth Legal Aid team is working in partnership with the Department of Communities to reduce the number of Indigenous young people on remand in custody, when the eventual court outcome for these youths would not involve detention. To address this issue Youth Legal Aid provided training to select departmental staff in Cairns and Mt Isa and worked with the department to refine internal processes. As a result, these children are now quickly identified and referred to Youth Legal Aid to prepare bail applications. This financial year the team assisted 58 children, the majority being Indigenous, in being released from custody.

During 2010-11 we ran 62 bail applications in the Childrens Court of Queensland, a significant increase compared to the 24 bail applications made in 2009-10. In 2010-11 our bail applications achieved a 95% success rate.

Frances Bain, Kate McMahon, David Law and Debbie Marinov from the Youth Legal Aid team.


Special Circumstances program

The Special Circumstances program continues to operate three days a week in the Brisbane Magistrates Court. The program is a bail and sentence-based diversionary program, designed to help adult defendants address the issues which led to their offending such as homelessness and impaired decision making as a result of drug or alcohol dependence, mental health problems, intellectual disability, and brain or neurological disorders. Defendants must meet eligibility criteria and only certain offences trigger eligibility.

The program allows participating defendants to be diverted into treatment and rehabilitation options at an appropriate stage in proceedings as a condition of their bail or sentence. We continue to work with a supportive network of agencies including MICAH, Drug Arm, Sisters Inside, Brisbane Youth Service, and the court psychologist to facilitate housing, counselling and other support for our clients.

In 2010-11 we supported the Special Circumstances program by providing two lawyers and a part-time administrative support officer to provide duty lawyer support to the court and represent most clients appearing before the court.

The supportive environment of the Special Circumstances Court continues to nurture trust and motivate clients to make the necessary changes to their lifestyle to help them break the destructive cycle of their behaviour. Change does not happen overnight and the path of rehabilitation can be difficult, however we continue to see amazing results and positive outcomes for our clients.

Addressing drug-dependency issues

Queensland’s drug courts focus on diverting drug-dependent offenders from jail by making intensive drug rehabilitation orders (IDROs) at the time of sentencing, with the aim of breaking the drug–crime cycle. Drug courts give clients facing a jail sentence for addiction-related offences the opportunity to have the term of imprisonment suspended while they complete an intensive rehabilitation program. Drug courts operate in Southport, Ipswich, Beenleigh, Townsville and Cairns.

We supply a lawyer to each court, who advocates for applicants and participates at sentencing, sanctions hearings and hearings where an IDRO termination is being sought. Our lawyers also represent participants’ legal interests as part of a multidisciplinary team while they are on a drug rehabilitation order.


Family law servicesFamily Law services continues to strive to meet the legal needs of clients, and to play a key and influential role in the family law system. Our in-house family law practice is the state’s largest family law practice, employing many highly experienced lawyers and social scientists.

Family and child protection lawyers provide quality legal services in accordance with practice and case management quality standards. They undertake some of the most difficult and demanding family law, child protection and domestic violence cases. They conduct work on behalf of parties in disputes before the Family Court, Federal Magistrates Court, childrens court and state magistrates courts and also in family dispute resolution processes such as family law conferences. Our lawyers liaise with refuges and other support services and provide legal advice to their clients.

Legal Aid Queensland provides grants of aid to help people who need representation in family law matters, such as dividing property after separation or arranging child support and care arrangements for their children. About 75 percent of people who apply for legal aid resolve their family law disputes at a conference instead of going to court.

Helping domestic violence victims

We represent parties in domestic violence matters through grants of aid to private law firms and through our in-house lawyers.

Our Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service provided information sessions to women dealing with domestic violence matters at the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

During the year, we also worked in conjunction with the Beenleigh Court Support Program to provide advice and representation to people in the Logan area who were applying for domestic violence protection orders in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court.

We continued to support the state government’s Breaking the Cycle of Domestic and Family Violence in Rockhampton Court Pilot project, which focusses on early intervention and integrated service delivery to assist people who have experienced domestic and family violence. We employ a specialist domestic violence lawyer to represent victims before the court and to help them apply for ongoing legal representation if they have associated family law and child protection matters. We also provide a duty lawyer at the court to assist people who have been charged with breaching domestic violence orders.

Social work

Our social workers play an integral role in delivering our legal services to vulnerable clients. Social workers support people through legal processes, chair family dispute resolution conferences, complete social assessment and family reports, and provide counselling services. We provide social work services from our Brisbane and Townsville offices.

Women’s Legal Aid Application Assistance Program

During Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month we launched a new program at the Brisbane Magistrates Court to help women apply for protection orders against abusive partners. The program is an extension of the existing Domestic Violence Court Assistance program, funded by the Department of Communities.

The program provides a vital service for women at a very stressful time for them and can make a significant difference in their lives.


During the year, our in-house social workers completed forensic assessment reports for independent children’s lawyers and separate representatives involved in family law and child protection matters and provided testimony before the courts.

Our social workers assisted our lawyers by providing clients with information and referrals to appropriate external organisations for help with non-legal matters such as mental health problems, substance dependencies and accommodation difficulties.

Helping people with child support issues

We provided information, referral, legal advice and representation services to clients with child support needs. We can explain how the child support formula works, how the Family Tax Benefit is affected and help negotiate child support agreements.

Children and young people

Addressing the best interests of children is key to much of the work conducted by our family and child protection lawyers. We continued to provide legal services for children and young people involved in family law and child protection matters.

Independent children’s lawyers and separate representatives provide best interests representation for children in family law matters and child protection cases, where judicial officers order that a child’s interests be separately represented.

Independent children’s lawyers and separate representatives play a unique and difficult role within the family law and child protection systems. They gather and assess independent evidence and provide measured guidance and recommendations to the courts in relation to the best interests of children and young people. The cases they work on are complex and demanding.

A significant number of appointments of independent children’s lawyers and separate representatives are made by courts exercising family law and child protection jurisdiction. Many of these matters are dealt with by specialist in-house lawyers. The in-house independent children’s lawyers and separate representatives have a great deal of experience and knowledge in relation to these cases.

In-house lawyers undertake considerable work in the Family Court of Australia’s Magellan list, which is a case management list devoted to cases where there are allegations of serious physical abuse or sexual abuse of children. Practitioners provide representation services both for parties and as independent children’s lawyers, in the Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns Registries of the Family Court.

In July and August 2010 the Brisbane Registry of the Family Court conducted a program of Magellan special sittings. The Court acknowledged the support of Legal Aid Queensland in the conduct of the sittings, in particular the role undertaken by independent children’s lawyers, both in-house and private practitioners, in preparing 36 cases listed during the period. Twenty-six cases were finalised, three judgments were reserved and one case was part heard.

Independent children’s lawyer and separate representative panel meetings and training sessions are facilitated to ensure that knowledge is shared and issues are discussed between the private practitioners on the panel and in-house specialist lawyers to ensure a consistent, quality approach to representation of children and young people.

Independent children's lawyers were appointed in 881 cases in 2010-11 – a 0.4% increase on 2009-10.


Child protection

We are the largest legal service provider in child protection matters in Queensland, providing information and advice, representation of parents, direct representation of young people, separate representation of children and young people and limited representation in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Our Youth Advocate Catherine Moynihan was successful in obtaining a Churchill Fellowship and in 2010 completed her travel and delivered her report. The fellowship took Catherine to the United Kingdom and the United States of America and what she learnt has informed her individual advocacy and Legal Aid Queensland’s systemic advocacy. She delivered presentations to the Commission for Children and Young People and the Child Guardian, the Greater Brisbane Family Law Pathways Network and our staff and preferred suppliers.

The Child Protection Unit developed and delivered two days of training for lawyers about the role of Separate Representatives. A highlight was a session presented by the Create Foundation about participation of young people in child protection matters and other issues affecting their lives.

Policy

Members of Family Law services have contributed to a number of policy submissions in relation to legislative change, policies and procedures including amendments to the state government domestic violence legislation, proposed family violence provisions in the federal family law legislation and the family law courts’ review of their Family Violence Best Practice Principles.

Networking

Family Law services participates in the work of professional organisations and specialist sections of the Queensland Law Society. This ensures that Legal Aid Queensland has a visible profile within the family law and child protection community and plays a leading role in the development of legal practices in Queensland, particularly in relation to children and young people.

Nigel Miller, Melissa Britton, Catherine Moynihan and Jen Glover from the Child Protection team.


Civil law servicesCivil Law services are recognised as leading providers of specialist civil law services to vulnerable Queenslanders. Our in-house practice specialises in criminal injuries compensation, consumer law disputes and anti-discrimination law, undertaking many complex cases in these areas, including test cases.

Consumer Protection Unit

Our Consumer Protection Unit provides specialist legal services including representation in consumer law matters. The unit spent the second half of 2010-11 focussed on assisting people affected by Queensland's floods and cyclones. You can read more about the Queensland Flood and Cyclone Legal Help response on page 47.

Victims of crime

The state government introduced a new scheme to assist victims of crime, Victim Assist Queensland, in December 2009. One of the key aspects of the scheme is that it is an administrative rather than court-based process. With the new scheme’s introduction, our role in the compensation process is being significantly reduced.

In 2010-11 we continued to represent people who are eligible for compensation under the old court-based scheme. We expect to finalise all of these matters in

the next year. The applications have been in courts across the state including Brisbane, Beenleigh, Townsville, Cairns, Maroochydore and Ipswich. In addition the unit has completed numerous final submissions in relation to direct applications to the Department of Justice for compensation for victims of crimes.

As these files are completed, the lawyers and support staff working in the Victims of Crime Compensation Unit will be diverted to assisting clients with other civil justice legal needs ensuring disadvantaged and vulnerable people continue to have access to our justice system.

Civil Law Legal Aid Scheme

The Civil Law Legal Aid Scheme offers help in a variety of civil litigation cases, with priority given to cases involving children, personal injury, and cases which, if not litigated, may result in the person losing their home or livelihood. The Civil Law Legal Aid Scheme was set up by the state government so that Queenslanders can obtain legal assistance for civil law matters to be heard in a Queensland court or a tribunal where there is the power to award costs.

The scheme is funded by the Public Trustee of Queensland and administered by Legal Aid Queensland in Brisbane. The Civil Law Legal Aid Scheme provides assistance with outlays associated with civil claims approved under the schemes' guidelines and in some circumstances contributes towards the solicitors' professional costs.

Fiona Marrinan, Damian Mohr, Lucy McKenzie, Loretta Kreet, Julia Rigby, Jacqui Cavanagh, Margie Matrisciano, James Beaumont, Jann Tubb and Paul Holmes from our expanded Consumer Protection Unit, which provides legal advice and assistance to flood and cyclone affected people.


Anti-discrimination services

The Anti-Discrimination Unit provides advice and representation in all areas of anti-discrimination law including sexual harassment and complaints about race, sex, impairment, pregnancy and gender identity. The unit also contributes to Legal Aid Queensland’s policy development, law reform initiatives and community education activities about human rights and anti-discrimination laws.

Matters in which the unit provides legal representation include:

assistance to draft complaints to the Anti-Discrimination • Commission Queensland or the Australian Human Rights Commission where the applicant is unable to do so themselves because of special circumstances, such as a disability, language barriers or being in custody advocacy at the conciliation conference in the relevant • Commission where a complaint is not settled in the Commission, • representation in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal or Federal Magistrates Court or Federal Court.

The cases we undertake generally are complex, including test cases, and to date we have been granted leave to represent our clients in each case.

Legal help for war veterans and their dependants

We receive federal funding under the War Veterans’ Legal Aid Scheme to provide assistance to veterans and their dependants to appeal Veterans Review Board decisions regarding:

war-caused disability pension entitlements or • assessment claims under Part 2 of the Veterans Entitlement Act 1986 claims under the • Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 about warlike or non-warlike service about:

accepting liability –rehabilitation programs –permanent impairment –incapacity payments for former members –special rate disability pensions –dependant benefits. –

Grants of aid provided under the War Veterans’ Legal Aid Scheme are not subject to the means test, but funding at each stage is subject to a merit test.


CounselIn 2010-11, our in-house team of barristers again showed their commitment to providing quality specialist legal advocacy services efficiently and effectively.

We appeared in higher court trials and sentencing hearings, including matters involving charges of murder and complex Commonwealth conspiracy charges. In addition to the considerable work performed in the criminal jurisdiction of the supreme, district and magistrates courts, we also appeared in all Mental Health Court sittings and in the Supreme Court’s civil jurisdiction for respondents in applications brought under the dangerous prisoners legislation and in some judicial review hearings. Counsel also provided advice and representation in family and civil law matters.

Our Townsville and Brisbane-based barristers also appeared in regional courts, including those in remote areas such as Mount Isa, the Gulf of Carpentaria, Thursday Island and Cape York Peninsula. We provided opinions about the prospects of matters succeeding on appeal so decisions could be made about granting aid, and conducted appeals against sentences and/or convictions in the Queensland Court of Appeal, including matters in which the Attorney-General had appealed against the sentence.

In 2011 Counsel welcomed John Allen to the role of Public Defender. John has practised as a barrister for the past 20 years, predominantly in criminal law, and has also appeared as counsel in commissions of inquiry.

The complexity and diversity of work undertaken by in-house Counsel places them among Queensland’s top defence lawyers, allowing them to be recognised and respected within the legal profession.

Access by dis-advantaged groups

Deputy Public Defender appointed Senior Counsel

Legal Aid Queensland Deputy Public Defender Carl Heaton has been appointed to Senior Counsel (SC), in acknowledgement of his outstanding achievements in the law.

A talented and committed barrister, Mr Heaton's appointment to Senior Counsel recognises his experience, learning, seniority and standing as an

advocate. As a barrister for more than 20 years, Carl has worked on many high-profile cases in Queensland and has always done exceptional work.

He began his career with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in 1989, working in Brisbane and offices around the state. He began

prosecuting criminal trials in 1992, mostly in the District Court, before being appointed as a Senior Crown Prosecutor in 1998.

His practice developed in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, and he regularly appeared as counsel for the Attorney-General in appeals against sentence. He became a Principal Crown Prosecutor before coming to Legal Aid Queensland on a six-month secondment in 2005 as the Deputy Public Defender. In 2007, Mr Heaton was permanently appointed as the Deputy Public Defender and it is a role he continues to this day.

Legal Aid Queensland is very fortunate to be able to draw on Mr Heaton's expertise and experience, and his appointment to Senior Counsel only further reinforces his value to our organisation.

Deputy Public Defender Carl Heaton


Multicultural activities

In 2010-11 we continued our commitment to clients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Within these communities we promoted greater awareness of our services and sought to improve their access to justice by:

responding to community education requests within the • multicultural sectordistributing translated legal information to culturally • and linguistically diverse communitiesattending the Queensland Multicultural Festival• participating in the interdepartmental committee on • multicultural affairs convened by Multicultural Affairs Queenslandsupporting the provision of free interpreter services to • clients in accordance with the government’s Language Services Policy.

We collaborated with National Legal Aid on a community legal education project to produce a DVD Getting to know the law in your new country to help newly arrived migrants and refugees to understand the Australian legal system.

We have also appointed a Community Legal Education coordinator and developed a Community Legal Education Strategy that will focus on clients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds as a priority client group.

Improving services for Indigenous clients

We are committed to providing services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Our CEO meets regularly with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (ATSILS) to discuss strategies and issues affecting service delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Strategies undertaken by Legal Aid Queensland included:providing funding to support ATSILS to provide duty • lawyer services in Cape York Peninsula and Gulf of Carpentaria communitiesfunding disbursements such as counsel for ATSILS in • criminal law and other matterspromoting our Indigenous Information Hotline, which • gives priority to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander callers so they can access legal information and advice for the cost of a local call from anywhere in Queensland providing outreach services in Aurukun, Bamaga, • Bowen, Cooktown, Hopevale, Ingham, Injinoo, Mapoon, Napranum, New Mapoon, Palm Island, Ravenshoe, Seisia, Thursday Island, Tully, Umagico, Weipa and Wujal Wujal to help ensure Indigenous clients in these areas can access free face-to-face legal advice representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander • clients who enter the Queensland Indigenous Alcohol Diversion Program — a voluntary treatment program for Indigenous people appearing in the magistrates court for alcohol related offences or the childrens court for child protection matters where alcohol misuse has contributed to the situationcoordinating regional legal assistance forums, which • include ATSILS representativeshosting a 'Member Benefit' seminar with the • Queensland Law Society and ATSILS on communication skills and cultural considerations when representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clientsmaintaining best practice guidelines for in-house and • private lawyers performing legal aid work to ensure legal services are provided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients in a culturally appropriate waypublishing legal information brochures, factsheets, • wallet cards and posters that specifically target Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Access by disadvantaged groups


Mental illness and intellectual disability in the criminal justice system

In the recent case of R v AAM; ex parte A-G (Queensland), the Court of Appeal set aside the convictions of a defendant who had a significant intellectual impairment and had pleaded guilty in the magistrates court on the basis that she was unfit to plead and did not enter the pleas in the exercise of a free choice.

The Court of Appeal identified the absence of a legislative framework for dealing with people with a mental illness or intellectual or cognitive disability charged with simple offences whose disability was so significant that they were unfit to plead or be tried.

This case highlights the difficulties the justice system has in dealing with people charged with simple offences who have an intellectual or cognitive disability of such severity that they are unfit to plead guilty or be tried or cannot be held criminally responsible for their actions.

No data is available for the number of people with an intellectual disability or cognitive impairment appearing before Queensland courts but a New South Wales study found that 23 percent of people appearing before magistrates had an intellectual disability and a further 14 percent were on the borderline of having an intellectual disability. It is also estimated that the proportion of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system is significantly higher than the proportion in the general community. To begin to address this problem, we have recently included a question about disability on our duty lawyer forms.

Where a lawyer has a real and substantial doubt about a client’s fitness to plead, the lawyer should not conduct a plea of guilty for the client. However, not all people with an intellectual or cognitive impairment or a mental illness are necessarily unfit to plead or be tried or have a defence of unsoundness of mind.

It is important to respect the right of a person with an intellectual or cognitive disability to take responsibility for themselves and be treated as a person in court, rather than a patient under care.

Following this case, Legal Aid Queensland conducted a continuing professional development intensive seminar for our duty lawyers on representing clients who have a mental illness or intellectual impairment in the magistrates court. We will continue to conduct professional development seminars on disability and mental health issues to ensure duty lawyers understand and fulfil their professional responsibilities when acting for clients with a mental illness or intellectual or cognitive disability. Our Law Week Hypothetical also examined the issues faced by people with an intellectual disability in the criminal justice system.

We are also revising our Duty Lawyer Handbook, and developing guidelines for appropriately dealing with clients who are, or may be, mentally ill or who have an intellectual or cognitive disability for incorporation into our case management standards for criminal law matters. We are working with government agencies to develop a more effective response to people with mental illness or intellectual impairment, who are charged with simple offences.


Women as a priority client group

Legal Aid Queensland treats women, especially women experiencing domestic violence as a priority client group. We support the Queensland Government strategy to reduce domestic and family violence by delivering legal information, advice and representation to disadvantaged Queenslanders experiencing domestic and family violence.

We have two specialist legal units dealing with domestic violence — Women’s Legal Aid and the Domestic Violence Unit. Women’s Legal Aid is a group of specialist female lawyers and social workers that provide services to women and policy advice on domestic violence issues.

Their mission is to increase access to improve the responsiveness of Legal Aid Queensland to meet women's needs. They work to develop and maintain effective working relationships with service providers and identify, review and respond to issues impacting on women's access to justice.

The unit acts for women with complex legal matters in the areas of family law, child protection, discrimination and crime. They also provide services to women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and women with intellectual disabilities.

Our Domestic Violence Unit specialises in delivering domestic violence services to some of our most vulnerable clients. We also have a network of family lawyers in our 13 regional offices across the state that deliver domestic violence services to their local communities.

Legal Aid Queensland’s Violence Against Women Strategy is an integrated, collaborative and consistent response to clients who have been affected by domestic violence. Under the strategy we have developed and implemented a number of practical tools for our practitioners including:

Best Practice Guidelines for Working with Clients • Affected by Domestic ViolenceBest Practice Guidelines for Working with Sexual • Assault Victimsa domestic violence risk assessment tool• an internal policy for responding to staff experiencing • domestic violence.

47.13% - INNER REGIONAL 46.38% - MAJOR CITY

43.07% - MAJOR CITY 45.13% - INNER REGIONAL

2.45% - INTERSTATE/UNASSIGNED 2% - INTERSTATE/UNASSIGNED5.4% - OUTER REGIONAL 4.5% - OUTER REGIONAL

2.45% - REMOTE & VERY REMOTE 1.99% - REMOTE & VERY REMOTE

Figure 18: Legal advices provided by locationFigure 17: Applications for grants of aid received by location

In 2010-11, 74% of the grants of aid for legal representation in domestic violence matters were issued to women.


Legal services for regional, rural and remote Queenslanders

Legal Aid Queensland supports legal services to rural, regional and remote areas of Queensland. Legal Aid Queensland has 13 regional offices with 111 staff providing services to regional Queensland, and a state-wide network of 318 regional preferred supplier private law firms.

We provide direct legal services such as grants of aid, legal advices and duty lawyer services to people in rural, regional and remote Queensland. Other services offered by Legal Aid that are available to regional Queenslanders include:

legal outreach clinics from Legal Aid offices at • Caboolture, Cairns, Toowoomba and Townsville where lawyers travel to surrounding regions or link in by video to provide legal advice services a free state-wide telephone legal help line and an • Indigenous Hotline that people can call from anywhere in Queensland for the cost of a local callaccess for preferred supplier law firms to Legal Aid • Queensland’s Continuing Professional Development program and library resourcesthirty-four community access points across Queensland • providing a range of community support services, information about Legal Aid Queensland’s services, a sample of our publications and assistance to access free telephone legal advicesupporting the Western Queensland Justice Network • to provide free legal services to people living in regional Queenslandcoordinating the work of 12 Regional Legal Assistance • Forums across the state, which help to identify emerging legal issues in their communities

providing Family Court Duty Lawyer Services in • Brisbane, Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Maroochydore, Toowoomba, Southport, Hervey Bay and Ipswichproviding criminal law duty lawyer services in regional • towns across QueenslandIn-house counsel appearing in regional courts circuits • including Mount Isa, the Gulf of Carpentaria, Thursday Island and Cape York Peninsula.

Access and equityCrime Family Civil Overall

Legal AdviceWomen 25% 66% 52% 49%Indigenous 6% 5% 5% 5%Rural and Remote 5% 7% 8% 6%NESB 9% 10% 12% 10%

Applications ReceivedWomen 20% 59% 58% 40%Indigenous 14% 7% 9% 11%Rural and Remote 9% 7% 6% 8%NESB 6% 7% 9% 7%

Applications ApprovedWomen 19% 56% 60% 37%Indigenous 15% 8% 10% 12%Rural and Remote 9% 7% 6% 8%NESB 5% 6% 7% 6%

Table 4: Advice and grants of aid for identified disadvantaged groups.

66% of all grants of aid issued in 2010-11 were to regional Queenslanders, and 86% of those grants were to private practitioners in regional areas who do legal aid work.


One of the outcomes of the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services (NPA) is increased collaboration and cooperation between legal assistance providers. Legal Aid Queensland works closely with government, other legal assistance providers and business partners such as our preferred supplier law firms.

In addition to ongoing and informal liaison, we also have a number of formal means of ensuring effective collaboration including the Queensland Legal Assistance Forum, Regional Legal Assistance Forum, a new NPA collaborative forum with government and legal assistance services providers, and the Preferred Supplier Reference Group.

During 2011, we also led the collaborative Queensland Flood and Cyclone Legal Help response. This response was an important collaborative effort during 2011. The relationships built up through the Queensland Legal Assistance Forum and Regional Legal Assistance Forums were integral to being able to deliver an effective service across Queensland.

Queensland Legal Assistance Forum

The Queensland Legal Assistance Forum was established to help member organisations address Queensland legal assistance issues by facilitating cooperative working relationships with other legal service providers in rural and regional Queensland.

Members of the forum include:Legal Aid Queensland• Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Legal Service• Queensland Law Society• Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House• Queensland Association of Independent Legal Services• Bar Association of Queensland.•

Meetings are held quarterly and provide a forum for debate and discussion on current issues and initiatives in the Australian and Queensland justice systems particularly relating to access for economically or socially disadvantaged people.

Objective: Help achieve a fair justice system by working with government and stakeholders

Queensland Legal Assistance Forum website

The Queensland Legal Assistance Forum in 2010-11 developed a website which is a “one-stop-shop” for community legal information. It contains links to all of the brochures and factsheets produced by the member organisations, community legal centres and other relevant service providers.

The website provides a comprehensive database of community legal education literature and is a useful reference tool for both service providers and people seeking information in their own right.

The value of the relationships established through QLAF and the development of the QLAF website were realised in early 2011 when Legal Aid Queensland was asked to coordinate the Queensland Flood and Cyclone Legal Help response. All the work undertaken in relation to the response was placed on the website and is now available in one area should such a response ever be needed again in the future.

With all of the relevant information available on the website, it made it easier for people to access the information they needed to help them in the aftermath of Queensland’s summer of natural disasters.

The QLAF website can be located at www.qlaf.org.au


Regional Legal Assistance Forums

There are 12 Regional Legal Assistance Forums (RLAFs) based around the state. During 2010-11, Legal Aid Queensland has continued to coordinate the work of those forums.

The purpose of the RLAFs is to encourage collaborative and cooperative working relationships between legal aid service providers in each region. By working together, service providers have been able to identify emerging legal needs in their communities, help determine which legal service is best placed to meet legal needs, and ultimately reduce service delivery gaps.

The forums have worked on initiatives to meet the needs of the community within their regions including:

monitoring cultural and linguistic diversity issues • within the region to ensure that any emerging trends are identified earlya planned approach on the development of programs • to provide community legal education working collaboratively with other service providers • to present joint community legal education sessions.

The work of the RLAFs fits in well with the focus of the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services, with its attention to increased collaboration and cooperation between legal assistance providers. It also allows for more appropriate targeting of legal assistance services to people who experience, or are at risk of experiencing, social exclusion.

Collaborative forum on National Partnership Agreement

As part of the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services, each legal aid commission was required to set up a forum to look at opportunities for improved coordination and targeting of legal services.

Legal Aid Queensland has set up the Queensland Inter-Jurisdictional Forum, which includes representatives from the federal and state governments, as well as members of the Queensland Legal Assistance Forum.

The aim of the forum is to coordinate and target services between legal assistance service providers, and link legal aid services with other service providers.

The Queensland forum meets twice a year and had its inaugural meeting in February 2011. This first meeting included a comprehensive overview of the work of the Regional Legal Assistance Forums to provide participants with information about how linking services works in regional areas.

A second meeting of the forum will take place later in 2011.


Preferred Supplier Reference Group

The Preferred Supplier Reference Group was established in 2010 to help us to better understand our preferred suppliers’ needs and concerns about legal aid matters.

Preferred suppliers are private practitioners who provide legal services on our behalf as part of a service agreement.

The reference group allows: us to keep preferred suppliers informed about relevant • changes to our businesspreferred suppliers to provide us with feedback on • systemic issues affecting them.

The group is made up of representatives from small and large firms in metropolitan and regional areas, with criminal, family and civil law expertise. Representatives from the Queensland Law Society and the Bar Association of Queensland also participate.

The group aims to meet quarterly and it met in March 2011 and October 2010.

During 2010-11, members have been updated on matters such as the Moynihan reforms, the alignment of the new National Partnership Agreement, the change in Family Court fees, the operational review of grants processes, Flood and Cyclone Legal Help, and the review of the Duty Lawyer Handbook and duty lawyer form. Feedback has been sought from the membership in relation to these matters.

Members of the group have also raised a variety of matters relating to Legal Aid Queensland, including funding for transcripts in criminal law trials, the difficulty of getting psychiatrists to do reports and Commonwealth offences being ineligible for the drug court.

Supporting community legal centres

We act as state program manager for community legal centres (CLCs), monitoring their financial reporting and strategic planning and ensuring service delivery targets are met. During 2010-11, we administered funding on behalf of the state and federal governments to 43 CLCs throughout Queensland.

In 2010-11 Queensland centres received total funding of $13,341,597. This included one-off funding provided by the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s department to 14 centres totalling $590,000. One-off funding totalling $552,600 was also provided by the state from LPITAF to 14 centres for a variety of different initiatives.

In the 2009-10 financial year, a new state salary award came into operation for community services workers in Queensland. This award was applicable to the majority of workers in Queensland community legal centres. The state government allocated funds in its budget to be used for upgrading salaries and Queensland community legal centres received a share of this funding to be implemented over a four year period.

The CLCs joined with Legal Aid Queensland, under the banner of QLAF, to provide assistance with the flood and cyclone disaster response. Legal Aid Queensland provided additional funding of $250,000 to CLCs which was allocated to centres in Cairns, Townsville, Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Inala and the Queensland Association of Independent Legal Services to assist them with their work in relation to flood and cyclone related matters.


Policy and law reform activities

This year we continued to participate in government policy and legislation development processes drawing on our extensive legal practice expertise to inform our policy contributions. Some of the policy issues we contributed to included:

the review of the • Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000the Crime and Misconduct Commission review of evade • police provisionspreliminary consultations with the Sentencing Advisory • Council in relation to its reference on the introduction of standard minimum non-parole provisionsresponding to the Penalties and Sentences (Sentencing • Advisory Council) Amendment Bill 2010development of the Indigenous Justice Strategy• participating in working groups on youth justice and • domestic and family violencestage two of the Moynihan reforms• the development of the • Forensic Disability Act 2011.

Other activities that the policy unit were involved in during the year included:

presenting to the Law Council of Australia’s Law and Bar • Associations of Asia Conference on access to justice in August 2010 in Brisbanepartnering with the Queensland Law Society and the • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services to deliver a seminar for lawyers about communicating with Indigenous clients.

The Strategic Policy Unit also developed and coordinated two policy training sessions for Legal Aid Queensland staff. This is the first policy training undertaken by Legal Aid Queensland. The training was for staff who contribute to our policy submissions about government policy and legislation development processes, including the Cabinet process, providing them with a basic understanding of the considerations required to develop quality public policy proposals.

In addition to our external policy activities, the policy unit was involved in a number of internal projects, including reviewing the fees we pay for reports to medical specialists, including psychiatrists.

Our submissions on law reform issues can be read at www.legalaid.qld.gov.au

Increasing public awareness and access to services

We worked to ensure disadvantaged Queenslanders around the state, particularly those with complex legal assistance needs, were aware of our services and knew how to access them. We increased awareness about our services by implementing public relations strategies and targeted awareness campaigns. We:

issued 30 media releases to increase awareness of • services and educate the public about their legal rights, and gave 29 media interviewsdistributed more than 172,000 publications and • information resourcespromoted our free information hotline and advice • service and other servicesparticipated in community events, including Law • Week, NAIDOC Week, International Women’s Day, Homeless Connect, the RNA Show and the Queensland Multicultural Festivalpublished our e-magazine Head Note for external • stakeholders, including service providerspresented a Hypothetical during Law Week to educate • the public about the challenges that people with an intellectual disability face in the legal system; more than 250 students, legal and government professionals, and members of the public attended the event, which saw MC Meshel Laurie lead an expert panel through a scenario that explored what happens when a person with an intellectual disability is charged with an offence.

68 | Our performanceLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011Our performanceLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Legal Aid Queensland is committed to ensuring its services are sustainable and deliver value. To achieve service sustainability, during 2010-11 we pursued a strong focus on financial management, improved business processes and practices and sought to develop and retain a skilled and motivated workforce. You can find out more about each of these areas of work in the following sections:

Financial management – see pages 20-24• Business processes and practices – see pages 36-40 • Retaining a skilled and motivated workforce – • see page 32.

Auditing service providers

We aim to provide an accessible, high-quality legal service to our clients, and provide value for money to our funding bodies. One way we do this is by auditing preferred suppliers’ files to ensure that they meet our practice and case management standards.

Our audit program also includes auditing grants files for compliance with our policies, guidelines and file management standards.

In 2010–2011, we monitored 107 law firms to ensure that they met their preferred supplier and independent children’s lawyer agreements. We also audited their compliance with our practice and case management standards.

Reviewing legal aid applications

Legal aid applicants can ask for any funding decision made about their matter to be reviewed.

Each request for review is considered by an internal review officer (IRO) who may overturn the decision made. If the IRO confirms the original funding decision, the request for review is referred to an external review officer (ERO). EROs are solicitors and barristers in private practice and are independent of Legal Aid Queensland.

An ERO may confirm the original funding decision, vary the decision, or substitute their own decision for the original decision.

Special circumstances guidelines

We continued to apply guidelines to help identify applicants who would not usually get a grant of aid because they do not meet the means test, but deserve special consideration because they experience multiple disadvantages. A senior grants officer considers all applications from people who may be eligible for aid under these guidelines.

Providing staff and service providers with quality information resources

In 2010-11, we continued to ensure staff and preferred suppliers had access to the legal knowledge they needed to do their jobs effectively. We:

further refined the design and functionality of our • intranet’s ‘Library and research’ area to improve staff access to legal and related information resourcesmaintained and continued to develop unique specialist • legal databases of comparable sentences, criminal injuries compensation verdicts, dangerous prisoners, drug court matters, domestic violence hearings, official misconduct and criminal appeals, and several popular legal current awareness tools, including Crime Online and Family Law Notesredesigned all library database web query screens • to make searching by publication date easier, and to enable limiting of searches to specific types of materialtrained Brisbane and regional in-house staff and • preferred suppliers in effectively using the range of legal information resources available to them.

Key in-house legal information resources are freely available to our law firms who do legal aid work, community legal centres and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (ATSILS). These resources allow our partners to better serve our clients and are a powerful incentive for private practitioners and firms to become or remain preferred suppliers.

Objective: Legal services are sustainable and deliver value


Reducing environmental impact

During 2010-11, we continued to improve organisational resource efficiency to help reduce our environmental impact. We reduced our annual water use by 23.8 percent and our energy use by 5.3 percent compared with the previous year.

We continued to achieve these significant savings by: maintaining a system that allows us to use water • collected by our rain water tanks in our toilets reusing water (condensation) we capture from our air-• conditioning systems to flush our toilets closely measuring, monitoring and publicising our • energy and water use reducing our use of air-conditioning systems during the • cooler monthseducating staff about ways they can help us save water • and energy participating in events like Earth Hour.•

We also worked to reduce our environmental footprint in other ways including:

using videoconferencing facilities to reduce • transport related carbon emissions, energy use and associated costs choosing more energy efficient cars when replacing • vehicles in our fleet cleaning our cars with a waterless cleaning system. •

We continued to be involved with other waste management practices, including recycling paper, cardboard, cans, glass and printer toner cartridges.

0

1000

05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11

Kilo

-lotr

es

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

Figure 20: Water consumption

07/08

Mill

ion

kWh

08/09 09/10 10/111.0

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

Figure 19: Electricity use

Name of officer/ member and position Destination Reason for travel Agency cost Contribution from other agencies or sources

Louise Martin, Director Grants Wellington, New Zealand

Attend National Legal Aid meeting

$ 1,407 $ 0

Table 5: Overseas travel

Payments to consultancies for discrete projects 2010-11Information technology $83,640

Table 6: Payments to consultancies


Impact of the 2011 natural disasters on Legal Aid Queensland

As Legal Aid Queensland began coordinating flood and cyclone legal assistance to affected Queenslanders, many of our own offices and staff were affected by the natural disasters in 2010-11.

As the floodwaters began to rise across southeast Queensland, our Brisbane, Ipswich and Inala offices closed early to ensure staff could get home safely. Rapidly rising floodwaters resulted in some staff being stranded in the Caboolture office until late evening.

Once we had ascertained that all staff from our 14 offices were safe, we implemented a business continuity process to ensure essential services continued to be delivered to our clients. Floodwaters coupled with road damage from flash flooding prevented many staff from returning to work immediately after the floods. Road and airport closures stranded a number of staff in Brisbane, Rockhampton and in Toowoomba, away from their homes.

Despite power outages, floodwaters and road closures, our offices in Ipswich, Toowoomba, Bundaberg and Mackay opened for business with a skeleton staff. When Legal Aid’s call centre in Brisbane was forced to close during the floods our Mackay office took on the role of call centre hub, providing a call centre and advice service to all call centre clients. Staff in our Ipswich office ensured clients files were moved to higher ground to prevent floodwater damage. Mindful of scheduled court appearances for our clients, our Senior Solicitor in Ipswich confirmed court sitting times and arranged for preferred suppliers not affected by the floods to appear for legally aided clients.

In the weeks following the floods, Cyclones Anthony and Yasi caused widespread damage to North Queensland. Our Townsville office sustained only minor damage however a flooded basement, power outages, and out of service lifts forced the office to close for one week. Our Rockhampton, Mackay and Cairns offices closely monitored weather reports, rain levels and official communications and were fortunate to incur no damage from the cyclones.

Despite the challenges and obstacles imposed by the natural disasters, our dedicated Legal Aid Queensland staff worked to ensure legal information and advice services were available to clients.

The Ipswich central business district underwater during the January floods.

| 71 Financial statementsLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Financial statements

72 | Financial statementsLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

for the year ended 30 June 2011

Note2011

$'0002010

$'000

Income from continuing operations

Revenue

Grants and other contributions 2 108,962 103,862

Service charges 3,066 3,789

Other revenue 1,835 1,264

Total Revenue 113,863 108,915

Gains

Reversal of impairment losses 3 - 22

Total Income from continuing operations 113,863 108,937

Expenses from continuing operations

Supplies and services 4 63,148 68,667

Employee expenses 5 36,946 35,800

Grants to legal centres 471 28

Depreciation and amortisation 6 1,576 1,478

Impairment losses 7 192 200

Other 8 1,920 1,743

Total expenses from continuing operations 104,253 107,916

Operating result from continuing operations 9,610 1,021

Other comprehensive income/ (loss)

Increase (decrease) in asset revaluation reserve 18 - -

Total other comprehensive income/ (loss) - -

Total comprehensive income/ (loss) 9,610 1,021

The accompanying notes form part of these statements.

Statement of comprehensive income


as at 30 June 2011

Note2011

$'0002010

$'000

Current assets

Cash and cash equivalents 9 26,688 20,548

Receivables 10 1,185 1,040

Other current assets 11 1,141 797

Total current assets 29,014 22,385

Non current assets

Receivables 10 729 711

Property, plant and equipment 12 19,734 20,473

Intangible assets 13 807 872

Total non current assets 21,270 22,056

Total assets 50,284 44,441

Current liabilities

Payables 14 1,299 2,443

Accrued employee benefits 15 3,021 2,650

Provision for grants of aid 16 14,684 17,229

Grants payable to community legal centres 23 141 490

Total current liabilities 19,145 22,812

Non current liabilities

Accrued employee benefits 15 930 855

Provision for grants of aid 16 4,041 4,216

Total non current liabilities 4,971 5,071

Total liabilities 24,116 27,883

Net assets 26,168 16,558

Equity

Accumulated surpluses 15,868 6,258

Asset revaluation reserve 18 10,300 10,300

Total equity 26,168 16,558


Statement of financial position



Accumulated surplusesAsset revaluation reserve (Note 18) Total

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Balance as at 1 July 6,258 5,237 10,300 10,300 16,558 15,537

Operating result from continuing operations 9,610 1,021 - - 9,610 1,021

Total other comprehensive income

Increase/(decrease) in asset Revaluation reserve

- - - - - -

Balance as at 30 June 15,868 6,258 10,300 10,300 26,168 16,558


Statement of changes in equity



Note2011

$'0002010

$'000

Cash flows from operating activities

Inflows

Grants and other contributions 108,147 102,149

Service charges 3,165 3,955

GST input tax credit received from ATO 8,203 8,513

Other 1,835 1,264

121,350 115,881

Outflows

Supplies and services (75,288) (77,572)

Employee expenses (36,406) (35,560)

Grants to legal centres (471) (28)

GST remitted to ATO (426) (372)

Other (1,786) (1,596)

(114,377) (115,128)

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 17 6,973 753

Cash flows from investing activities

Inflows

Proceeds from sale of plant and equipment 268 133

268 133

Outflows

Payments for plant and equipment (808) (1,531)

Payments for intangibles (293) -

(1,101) (1,531)

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities (833) (1,398)

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 6,140 (645)

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of financial year 20,548 21,193

Cash and cash equivalents at end of financial year 9 26,688 20,548


Statement of cash flows



Legal Aid Queensland is funded by the Queensland and Commonwealth governments through agreements, to enhance access to justice by providing legal assistance to Queensland residents who are financially disadvantaged.

1. Significant accounting policies(a) Statement of compliance

Legal Aid Queensland has prepared these financial statements in compliance with section 43 of the Financial and Performance Management Standard 2009.

These financial statements are general purpose financial statements, and have been prepared on an accrual basis in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards and Interpretations. In addition, the financial statements are prepared having regard to Treasury’s Minimum Reporting Requirements for the year ending 30 June 2011, and other authoritative pronouncements.

With respect to compliance with Australian Accounting Standards and Interpretations, Legal Aid Queensland has applied those requirements applicable to not-for-profit entities, as Legal Aid Queensland is a not-for-profit statutory body. The historical cost convention has been applied except for assets listed at valuation in Note 12.

Accounting policies

Unless otherwise stated, all accounting policies applied are consistent with those of the prior year.

Rounding and comparatives

Amounts included in the financial statements are in Australian dollars and have been rounded to the nearest $1,000 or, where that amount is $500 or less, to zero, unless disclosure of the full amount is specifically required. Sub-totals and totals may not add due to rounding, but the overall discrepancy is no greater than two.

(b) Revenue recognition

Service charges are recognised when services are delivered and invoiced. Government grants and other contributions that are non-reciprocal in nature are recognised as operating revenue in the year in which the organisation obtains control over them.

(c) Cash and cash equivalents

For the purposes of the Statement of Financial Position and the Statement of Cash Flows, cash assets include all cash and cheques receipted but not banked at 30 June. It also includes liquid investment deposits on call with Queensland Investment Corporation Cash Fund and with Queensland Treasury Corporation Cash Fund that are convertible readily to cash on hand at Legal Aid Queensland’s option and are subject to a low risk of changes in value.

(d) Receivables

Trade debtors are recognised at the nominal amounts due at the time of service delivery. Settlement due date is within 30 days from invoice date. However, they are often negotiated with each customer, having regard to the individual’s financial circumstances and the security held by Legal Aid Queensland. Ability to collect receivables is assessed periodically with allowance being made for impairment. All known bad debts were written-off as at 30 June.

Other debtors generally arise from transactions outside the usual operating activities of the organisation. No interest is charged and no security is obtained for these debts.

Notes to and forming part of the Financial Statements


(e) Acquisition of assets

Actual cost is used for the initial recording of all non-current physical and intangible asset acquisitions. Cost is determined as the value given as consideration plus costs incidental to the acquisition including architect fees, engineering design fees and other costs incurred in getting the asset ready for use.

(f) Property, plant and equipment

Items of property, plant and equipment with a cost or other value equal to or in excess of the following thresholds are recognised for financial reporting purposes in the year of acquisition:Land $1Plant and equipment $5,000Buildings $10,000

Items with a lesser value are expensed in the year of acquisition.

(g) Revaluations of non-current physical and intangible assets

Land and buildings are measured at fair value in accordance with AASB 116 Property, Plant and Equipment and Queensland Treasury’s Non-Current Asset Policies for the Queensland Public Sector.

All other non-current assets, principally plant and equipment and intangibles are measured at cost. The carrying amounts for plant and equipment at cost should not materially differ from their fair value.

Non-current physical assets measured at fair value are comprehensively revalued at least once every five years with interim valuations being performed on an annual basis using an appropriate index, where there has been a material change in the index. Independent revaluation of the building is undertaken on the basis of ongoing owner occupancy.

Any revaluation increment arising on the revaluation of an asset is credited to the asset revaluation reserve of the appropriate class, except to the extent it reverses a revaluation decrement for the class previously recognised as an expense. A decrease in the carrying amount on revaluation is charged as an expense, to the extent it exceeds the balance, if any, in the revaluation reserve relating to that class. On revaluation, accumulated depreciation is restated proportionately with the change in the carrying amount of the asset and any change in the estimate of remaining useful life.

Separately identified components of assets are measured on the same basis as the assets to which they relate.

(h) Intangibles

Intangible assets with a cost or other value greater than $100,000 are recognised in the financial statements, with items of lesser value being expensed. Each intangible asset is amortised over its estimated useful life to Legal Aid Queensland, less any anticipated residual value.

It has been determined that there is not an active market for any of the organisation's intangible assets. As such, the assets are recognised and carried at cost less accumulated amortisation and accumulated impairment losses.

Purchased software

Costs associated with the purchase of computer software have been capitalised and are amortised on a straight-line basis over the period of expected benefit to Legal Aid Queensland.


(i) Amortisation and depreciation of intangibles, property, plant and equipment

Land is not depreciated as it has an unlimited useful life.

Depreciation on the office building, plant and equipment, and amortisation on leasehold improvements is calculated on a straight-line basis to uniformly allocate the net cost or revaluation amount of each asset, less its estimated residual value, progressively during its estimated useful life at Legal Aid Queensland.

Assets under construction (work-in-progress) are not depreciated until they reach service delivery capacity.

Where assets have separately identifiable components that are subject to regular replacement, these components are assigned useful lives distinct from the asset to which they relate and are depreciated accordingly.

Any expenditure that increases the originally assessed capacity or service potential of an asset is capitalised and the new depreciable amount is depreciated over the asset’s remaining useful life.

Improvements to leasehold property are amortised progressively over their estimated useful life to Legal Aid Queensland or the unexpired period of the lease, whichever is the shorter. The unexpired period of a lease includes any option period where exercise of the option is probable.

For each class of asset the following useful life parameters and rates were applied in depreciation and/or amortisation calculations:

Asset class 2011 2010

Building at fair value 50 years 2% 50 years 2%

Plant and equipment: – Computer equipment and copiers – Motor vehicles – Other equipment

3-9 years2-3 years

2-15 years

11.1-33.3%33.3 -50%6.7-50%

3-9 years2-3 years

2-15 years

11.1-33.3%33.3 – 50%

6.7-50%

Intangibles: – Internal use software 3-15 years 6.7-33.3% 3-15 years 6.7-33.3%

(j) Impairment of non-current assets

All non-current physical and intangible assets are assessed for indicators of impairment on an annual basis. If an indicator of possible impairment exists, the organisation determines the asset's recoverable amount. Any amount by which the asset's carrying amount exceeds the recoverable amount is recorded as an impairment loss.

The asset's recoverable amount is determined as the higher of the asset's fair value less costs to sell and depreciated replacement cost.

An impairment loss is recognised immediately in the Statement of Comprehensive Income, unless the asset is carried at a revalued amount. When the asset is measured at a revalued amount, the impairment loss is offset against the asset revaluation reserve of the relevant class to the extent available.

Where an impairment loss subsequently reverses, the carrying amount of the asset is increased to the revised estimate of its recoverable amount, but so that the increased carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined had no impairment loss been recognised for the asset in prior years. A reversal of an impairment loss is recognised as income, unless the asset is carried at a revalued amount, in which case the reversal of the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation increase. Refer also Note 1(g).


(k) Operating leases

Operating lease payments are representative of the pattern of benefits derived from the leased assets and are expensed in the periods in which they are incurred.

(l) Payables

Amounts payable for supplies received are accrued whether or not the respective invoices have been received at reporting date. Creditor bills are generally unsecured, not subject to interest charges and are settled within thirty days of invoice receipt.

(m) Financial Instruments

Recognition

Financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised in the Statement of Financial Position when the organisation becomes party to the contractual provisions of the financial instrument.

Classification

Financial instruments are classified and measured as follows:- Cash and cash equivalents – held at fair value through profit and loss- Receivables – held at amortised cost- Payables – held at amortised cost

Legal Aid Queensland does not enter into transactions for speculative purposes, nor for hedging. Apart from cash and cash equivalents, the organisation holds no financial assets classified at fair value through profit and loss.

All other disclosures relating to the measurement basis and financial risk management of financial instruments held by the organisation are included in Note 22.

(n) Provision for grants of aid

Provisions are recorded when the authority has a present obligation, either legal or constructive as a result of a past event. They are recognised at the amount expected at reporting date for which the obligation will be settled in a future period. Where the settlement of the obligation is expected after 12 or more months, the obligation is discounted to the present value using an appropriate discount rate.

Provision is made for the supply of legal services. Expenditure accrues as the provision increases, when applications for legal services are approved. The provision decreases as practitioners’ tax invoices are rendered for services provided. The provision for grants of aid represents anticipated payments, net of cost of recoveries, on current legal matters assigned to private legal practices. Monthly adjustments to the provision are based on historical grant utilisation data.

(o) Employee benefits

Wages, salaries, recreation leave and sick leave

Wages, salaries and recreation leave due but unpaid at reporting date are recognised in the Statement of Financial Position at the remuneration rates expected to apply at the time of settlement. Payroll tax and workers’ compensation insurance are a consequence of employing employees, but are not counted in an employee’s total remuneration package. They are not employee benefits and are recognised separately as employee related expenses. Employer superannuation contributions and long service levies are regarded as employee benefits.

For unpaid entitlements expected to be paid within 12 months, the liabilities are recognised at their undiscounted values. For those entitlements not expected to be paid within 12 months, the liabilities are recognised at their present value, calculated using yields on Fixed Rate Commonwealth Government bonds of similar maturity.


Prior history indicates that on average, sick leave taken each reporting period is less than the entitlement accrued. This is expected to continue in future periods. Accordingly, it is unlikely that existing accumulated entitlements will be used by employees and no liability for unused sick leave entitlements is recognised.

As sick leave is non-vesting, an expense is recognised for this leave as it is taken.

Long service leave

Under the Queensland Government’s long service leave scheme, a levy is made on Legal Aid Queensland to cover this cost. Levies are expensed in the period in which they are paid or payable. Amounts paid to employees for long service leave are claimed from the scheme as and when leave is taken.

No provision for long service leave is recognised in the financial statements because the liability is held on a whole-of-Government basis and reported in the financial report prepared pursuant to AASB 1049 Whole of Government and General Government Sector Financial Reporting.

Superannuation

Employer superannuation contributions are paid to QSuper, the superannuation plan for Queensland Government employees, at rates determined by the State Actuary. Contributions are expensed in the period in which they are paid or payable. The organisation's obligation is limited to its contribution to QSuper.

No liability is recognised for accruing superannuation benefits in these financial statements because the liability is held on a whole-of-Government basis and reported in the financial report prepared pursuant to AASB 1049 Whole of Government and General Government Sector Financial Reporting.

Key executive management personnel and remuneration

Key executive management personnel and remuneration disclosures are made in accordance with the section 5 Addendum (issued in May 2011) to the Financial Reporting Requirements for Queensland Government Agencies issued by Queensland Treasury. Refer to Note 20 for the disclosures on key executive management personnel and remuneration.

(p) Trust transactions and balances

Trust monies represent amounts obtained by Legal Aid Queensland and held on behalf of clients until the finalisation of a legal matter. As Legal Aid Queensland acts only in a custodial role in respect of these transactions and balances, they are not recognised in the financial statements, but are disclosed in Note 23.

(q) Taxation

The activities of Legal Aid Queensland are exempt from Commonwealth taxation except for Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT). Input tax credits receivable and GST payable from/to the Australian Taxation Office are recognised and accrued (refer Note 10).

(r) Issuance of financial statements

The financial statements are authorised for issue by the board chair and chief finance officer at the date of signing the Management Certificate.


(s) Judgements

The preparation of financial statements necessarily requires the determination and use of certain critical accounting estimates, assumptions and management judgements that have that potential to cause a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year. Such estimates, judgements and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised and in future periods as relevant.

Estimates and assumptions that have a potential significant effect are outlined in the following financial statement notes:Valuation of Property, Plant and Equipment – Note 12Provisions – Note 16

(t) New and revised accounting standards

The organisation is not permitted to early adopt a new accounting standard ahead of the specified commencement date unless approval is obtained from the Treasury Department. Consequently, Legal Aid Queensland has not applied any Australian accounting standards and interpretations that have been issued but are not yet effective. The organisation will apply these standards and interpretations in accordance with their respective commencement dates.

At the date of authorisation of the financial report, the only significant impacts of new or amended Australian accounting standards with future commencement dates are as set out below.

AASB 9 Financial Instruments and AASB 2009-11 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards arising from AASB 9 (AASB 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 101, 102, 108, 112, 118, 121, 127, 128, 131, 132, 136, 139, 1023 & 1038 and Interpretations 10 & 12) become effective from reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013. The main impacts of these standards are that they will change the requirements for the classification, measurement and disclosures associated with financial assets. Under the new requirements, financial assets will be more simply classified according to whether they are measured at either amortised cost or fair value. Pursuant to AASB 9, financial assets can only be measured at amortised cost if two conditions are met. One of these conditions is that the asset must be held within a business model whose objective is to hold assets in order to collect contractual cash flows. The other condition is that the contractual terms of the asset give rise on specified dates to cash flows that are solely payments of principal and interest on the principal amount outstanding.

On initial application of AASB9, Legal Aid Queensland will need to reassess the measurement of its financial assets against the new classification and measurement requirements, based on the facts and circumstances that exist at that date. Assuming no change in the types of transactions the organisation enters into, it is not expected that any of the organisation’s financial assets will meet the criteria in AASB 9 to be measured at fair value through profit or loss. Therefore, as from the 2013-14 financial statements, all of the organisation’s financial assets will be required to be classified as amortised cost (consistent with current classification presently used).

AASB 1053 Application of Tiers of Australian Accounting Standards and AASB 2010-2 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards arising from Reduced Disclosure Requirements (AASB 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 101, 102, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112, 116, 117, 119, 121, 123, 124, 127, 128, 131,, 133, 134, 136, 137, 138, 140, 141, 1050 & 1052 and Interpretations 2, 4, 5, 15, 17, 127, 129 & 1052) apply to reporting periods beginning on or after 1 July 2013. AASB 1053 establishes a differential reporting framework for those entities that prepare general purpose financial statements, consisting of two tiers of reporting requirements – Australian Accounting Standards (commonly referred to as “tier 1”), and Australian Accounting Standards – Reduced Disclosure Requirements (commonly referred to as “tier 2”).

Tier 1 requirements comprise the full range of AASB recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure requirements that are currently applicable to reporting entities in Australia. The only difference between the tier 1 and tier 2 requirements is that tier 2 requires fewer disclosures than tier 1. AASB 2010-2 sets out the details of which disclosures in standards and interpretations are not required under tier 2 reporting.

Pursuant to AASB 1053, public sector entities like Legal Aid Queensland may adopt tier 2 requirements for its general purpose financial statements. However, AASB 1053 acknowledges the power of a regulator to require application of the tier 1 requirements. In the case of Legal Aid Queensland, the Treasury Department is the regulator. Treasury Department has advised that its policy decision is to require all agencies to adopt tier 1 reporting requirements. In compliance with Treasury’s policy which prohibits the early adoption of new or revise accounting standards unless Treasury approval is granted, LAQ has not early adopted AASB 1053.

All other Australian accounting standards and interpretations with future commencement dates are either not applicable to Legal Aid Queensland, or have no material impact on the organisation.


(u) Change in accounting policy

In prior years, the payment Legal Aid Queensland received to be on-passed to community legal centres was accounted for as revenue when it was received and expensed when paid to the legal centres and the balance shown as a liability at year end if payment had not been made prior to 30 June. In accordance with AASB 1004 Contributions, the payment is now recognised as an increase in liability when it is received and a reduction in liability when it is paid as Legal Aid Queensland has no right to benefit in any way from these funds. In order to provide meaningful comparatives the Statement of Comprehensive Income has been amended by reducing Grants and other contributions revenue, and Grants to legal centres by $12,274,294. The reduction in revenue has also been reflected in the comparatives of Note 2 as follows:

2010 Restated $’000

Adjustment $’000

2010 per published annual report

$’000

Revenue

Grants and other contributions Commonwealth government grants

Legal services 36,963 36,963

Community legal centres 100 (4,975) 5,075

Other projects 1,781 1,781

38,844 (4,975) 43,819

State government appropriations


Community legal centres - (1,722) 1,722

Other projects 918 918

27,131 (1,722) 28,853

Other contributions

Department of Justice and Attorney- General grant 37,887 (5,577) 43,464

Total grants and other contributions 103,862 (12,274) 116,136

Expense

Grants to legal centres 28 (12,274) 12,302

Total grants to legal centres 28 (12,274) 12,302

Operating result from continuing operations 1,021 - 1,021


2. Grants and other contributions

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Commonwealth government grants


Community legal centres^ 102 100

Other projects 1,114 1,781

41,233 38,844

State government appropriations


Community legal centres^ - -

Other projects 662 918

38,476 27,131

Other contributions

Department of Justice and Attorney-General grant* 29,003 37,887

Insurance Council of Australia grant# 250 -

29,253 37,887

Total grants and other contributions 108,962 103,862

^ The current year figure represents funding for the Community Legal Centre program manager. As set out in note 1(u), the funding from State and Commonwealth which are on passed to Community Legal Centres are no longer recognised as revenue consistent with the accounting standards.

* Department of Justice and Attorney-General grant:Distributions to Legal Aid Queensland can only be made from the Legal Practitioner Interest on Trust Accounts Fund established under that Legal Profession Act 2004, with the authority of the Minister upon the recommendation of the Chief Executive.

# Included in revenue from grants for 2011 is $250,000 from the Insurance Council of Australia. The money is for Legal Aid Queensland to provide appropriate assistance to policyholders affected by the flooding in Queensland.

3. Reversal of impairment losses

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Plant and equipment - 22

Buildings - -

- 22

Refer to Note 12 for details on the reversal of impairment losses.


4. Supplies and services

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Outsourced services

Legal representation 54,311 59,985

Other 1,959 1,657

56,270 61,642

Corporate overheads

Communications and transport 1,220 1,441

Information management 1,543 1,510

Office premises and requisites 2,166 2,037

Other 1,949 2,037

6,878 7,025

Total 63,148 68,667

5. Employee Expenses

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Employee benefits

Wages and salaries 30,716 29,848

Superannuation 3,649 3,506

Long service leave levy 628 513

Other employee benefits - 67

Employee related expenses

Payroll tax 1,811 1,792

Work cover insurance 142 74

Total 36,946 35,800

The number of employees including both full-time and part-time employees measured on a full-time equivalent basis is:

2011 2010

Number of employees 440 437


6. Depreciation and amortisation

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Depreciation and amortisation were incurred in respect of:

Buildings 209 192

Plant and equipment 1,008 927

Internal use software 359 359

1,576 1,478

7. Impairment losses

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Impairment losses on trade receivables 192 200

192 200

8. Other expenses

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Insurance premiums - Professional 52 50

Insurance premiums - Other* 75 72

External audit services ** 84 86

Operating leases rentals 1,649 1,476

Loss on asset disposals 60 59

1,920 1,743

* The Under Treasurer's approval has been obtained for entering into insurance contracts.

** Total external audit fees relating to the 2010-11 financial year are estimated to be $74,400 (2010: $96,986). The difference between the expense amount and estimated amount is due to under provision in prior year. There are no non-audit services included in this amount.


9. Cash and cash equivalents

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Imprest accounts 5 5

Cash at bank and on hand 81 93

Queensland Investment Corporation Cash Fund 20,481 19,272

Queensland Treasury Corporation Cash Fund 6,121 1,178

26,688 20,548

Cash deposited with the Queensland Treasury Corporation earned interest at rates between 5.0% and 6.3% (2010: 3.1% to 8.0%). Interest earned on cash held with the Commonwealth Bank earned between 4.4% and 4.6% (2010: 3.1% and 4.4%).

10. Receivables

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Current assets

Trade debtors 554 460

GST receivable 668 641

GST payable (37) (61)

631 580

Total 1,185 1,040

Non-current assets

Trade debtors 1,001 911

Less: Allowance for impairment (272) (200)

729 711

Movements in the allowance for impairment

Balance at the beginning of the year 200 199

Amounts written off during the year (121) (199)

Increase/ decrease in allowance recognised in operating result 193 200

Balance at the end of the year 272 200

Of the client service fees imposed on persons who are beneficiaries of legal aid, $337,994 (2010: $320,793) is secured by mortgages representing charges over real property. Secured amounts are realised upon sale of the respective real properties.


11. Other current assets

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Prepayments: Salaries and wages 260 353

Prepayments: Other 415 444

Grants receivable 466 -

1,141 797

12. Property, plant and equipment

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Land

At indexed valuation 11,600 11,600

Building

At cost 422 422

At indexed valuation 8,387 8,387

8,809 8,809

Less accumulated depreciation (2,751) (2,541)

Less accumulated impairment losses (1,038) (1,038)

5,020 5,230

Plant and equipment

At cost 8,451 8,150

Less accumulated depreciation (5,062) (4,179)

Less accumulated impairment losses (328) (328)

3,061 3,643

Work in progress 53 -

Total at cost 19,734 20,473

Land and building were last comprehensively revalued as at 30 June 2009 by the Department of Environment and Resource Management (State Valuation Services) using 'fair value' principles, based on current market values. The values for these asset classes have since been indexed annually to ensure such values materially reflect fair value at each reporting date. The land valuation index was obtained from State Valuation Services while the building index was obtained from The Economic Statistics Section, Office of Economic and Statistical Research (OESR) website. In respect of these asset classes, the cost of items acquired during the financial year has been judged by management to materially represent their fair value at the end of the reporting period.

Plant and equipment is valued at cost in accordance with Queensland Treasury's Non-Current Asset Accounting Policies for the Queensland Public Sector.


Property, plant and equipment reconciliation

Land Building Plant and equipment Work in progress Total

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Carrying amount at 1 July 11,600 11,600 5,230 5,000 3,642 3,629 - - 20,472 20,229

Acquisitions - - - 422 754 1,111 53 - 807 1,533

Disposals - - - - (452) (170) - - (452) (170)

Transfers between classes - - - - - - - - - -

Work-in-Progress expensed - - - - - - - - - -

Depreciation - - (210) (192) (883) (927) - - (1,093) (1,119)

Revaluation increments (Note 18) - - - - - - - - - -

Revaluation decrements (Note 18) - - - - - - - - - -

Impairment losses reversed in operating surplus/(deficit)* - - - - - - - - - -

Impairment losses recognised in operating surplus/(deficit)* - - - - - - - - - -

Carrying amount at 30 June 11,600 11,600 5,020 5,230 3,061 3,643 53 - 19,734 20,473

* Impairment losses and reversals of impairment losses are shown as a separate line item in the Statement of Comprehensive Income.

Legal Aid Queensland has plant and equipment with an original cost of $946,151 and a written down value of zero still being used in the provision of services. 38 percent of these assets with a cost value of $357,451 are expected to be written off and replaced in 2011-12.

It also has plant and equipment with an original cost of $1,703,432 and a written down value of $940 still being used in the provision of services. 24 percent of these assets with a cost value of $408,432 are expected to be written off and replaced in 2011-12.


13. Intangible assets

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Software purchased:

At cost 3,376 3,083

Less: Accumulated amortisation (2,569) (2,211)

807 872

Intangibles reconciliation

Carrying amount at 1 July 872 1,231

Acquisitions 293 -

Amortisation (358) (359)

Carrying amount at 30 June 807 872

Amortisation of intangibles is included in the line item "Depreciation and Amortisation" in the Statement of Comprehensive Income.

All intangible assets of the agency have finite useful lives and are amortised on a straight line basis. Refer to Note 1(i).

No intangible assets have been classified as held for sale or form part of a disposal group held for sale.

Legal Aid Queensland has intangibles with an original cost of $619,674 and a written down value of $24 still being used in the provision of services.

14. Payables

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Trade creditors 1,299 2,443


15. Accrued employee benefits

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Current

Annual recreation leave 2,649 2,514

Long service leave levy payable 180 136

Wages outstanding 192 -

3,021 2,650

Non-Current

Annual recreation leave 930 855

930 855

The discount rates used to calculate the present value of non-current annual leave is 4.7% (2010: 4.4%).

16. Provision for grants of aid

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Current liabilities

Grants of aid outstanding 14,684 17,229

Non-current liabilities

Grants of aid outstanding 4,041 4,216

Movements in provision

Grants of aid outstanding

Balance at 1 July 21,445 21,041

Additional provision recognised 65,643 67,123

Discount on estimated utilisation of grants of aid (4,366) (5,198)

Discount on estimated cancellation of grants of aid (6,445) (6,909)

Discount on present value (519) (484)

Reduction in provision as a result of payments (57,033) (54,128)

Balance at 30 June 18,725 21,445

Discount relating to estimated utilisation of grants of aid is based on prior year history of actual payments to preferred suppliers compared to the maximum grant of aid approved.

Discount relating to cancellation of grants of aid is based on prior year history of actual grants of aid cancelled, taking into account the age of the grant of aid before being cancelled. Refer to Note 1(n) for further explanation of the accounting policy for the provision for grants of aid.

The discount rates used to calculate the present value of non-current provision is 4.76% (2010: 4.75%).


17. Reconciliation of operating surplus (deficit) to net cash from operating activities

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Cash from operating activities

Operating surplus (deficit) 9,610 1,021

Depreciation and amortisation 1,576 1,456

Net loss/(gain) on non-current asset disposals 60 59

Impairment losses - -

Changes in assets and liabilities

(Increase)/decrease in output revenue receivable (578) (29)

(Increase)/decrease in GST input tax credits receivable (27) 159

(Increase)/decrease in long service leave advances receivable 94 162

(Increase)/decrease in prepayments other 29 137

Increase/(decrease) in provision for grants of aid (2,720) 405

Increase/(decrease) in payables (1,144) (2,226)

Increase/(decrease) in accrued employee benefits 446 75

Increase/(decrease) in other current liabilities (349) (490)

Increase/(decrease) in GST payable (24) 24

Net cash from operating activities 6,973 753

18. Asset revaluation reserves by class

2011 2010

Land $'000

Total $'000

Land $'000

Total $'000

Balance 1 July 10,300 10,300 10,300 -

Revaluation increments - - - -

Revaluation decrements - - - -

Balance 30 June 10,300 10,300 10,300 -

The asset revaluation reserves represent the net effect of upwards and downwards revaluations of assets to fair value.

19. Contingent liabilitiesThere were no known contingent liabilities of a material nature at 30 June 2011.


20. Key executive management personnel and remuneration(a) Key executive management personnel

The following details for key executive management personnel include those positions that had authority and responsibility for planning, directing and controlling the activities of the organisation during 2010-11. Further information on these positions can be found in the body of the Annual Report under the section relating to Executive Management.

Position ResponsibilitiesCurrent Incumbents*

Contract classification and appointment authority

Date appointed to position (Date resigned from position)

Chief executive officer

Lead the functions and strategic direction of Legal Aid Queensland to achieve efficiency, sustainability and the delivery of high quality legal services.

SES4.1 16 November 2009

Deputy chief executive officer

Manage Legal Aid Queensland’s day to day operations including state-wide regional legal services to achieve Legal Aid Queensland’s strategic and operational objectives.

SES3.2 29 March 2010

Public Defender Counsel

Manage Counsel to achieve Legal Aid Queensland’s strategic and operational objectives, and particularly to deliver the highest quality of legal assistance services to clients.

SES2.5 19 January 2011

Director Family Law, Civil Justice and Advice Services

Lead and manage the Family Law, Civil Justice and Advice Services areas to deliver high quality legal assistance services to clients.

SES2.5 11 March 2010

Director Criminal Law Services

Lead and manage the Criminal Law Services division to achieve Legal Aid Queensland’s strategic and operational objectives, and particularly to deliver high quality legal assistance services to clients.

SES2.3Acting since 29 June

2010, appointed from 29 November 2010

Director Corporate Services

Lead and manage a significant range of corporate services and direct service delivery functions, including finance, facilities, human resources, right to information and privacy, information technology, library, business analysis, compliance and review, records management, corporate legal services, statewide legal information call centre and preferred supplier strategy.


Director Grants Lead and manage a significant range of functions associated with managing external and inhouse legal service procurement.


Director Strategic Policy and Communications

Lead and manage strategic policy, law reform, media and communications, community legal education and special projects.

SO1.2 9 November 2009

* The classification of the current incumbents is as at 30 June 2011. During the year, there may be other personnel who have acted in the positions above.


(b) Remuneration

Remuneration policy for the agency's key executive management personnel is set by the Queensland Public Service Commission as provided for under the Public Service Act 2008. The remuneration and other terms of employment for the key executive management personnel are specified in employment contracts. The contracts provide for the provision of performance-related cash bonuses and other benefits including motor vehicles.

For the 2010-11 year, remuneration of key executive management personnel increased by 2.5% in accordance with government policy.

Remuneration packages for key executive management personnel comprise the following components:

Short term employee benefits which include: -Base - consisting of base salary, allowances and leave entitlements paid and provided for the entire year or for that part of • the year during which the employee occupied the specified position. Amounts disclosed equal the amount expensed in the Statement of Comprehensive Income.Non-monetary benefits - consisting of provision of vehicles together with fringe benefits tax applicable to the benefit.•

Long term employee benefits include long service leave accrued. -Post employment benefits include superannuation contributions. -Redundancy payments are not provided for within individual contracts of employment. Contracts of employment provide only for -notice periods or payment in lieu of notice on termination, regardless of the reason for termination.

Total fixed remuneration is calculated on a 'total cost' basis and includes the base and non-monetary benefits, long term employee benefits and post employment benefits.

1 July 2010 - 30 June 2011

PositionShort term

employee benefitsLong term

employee benefitsPost

employee benefitsTotal

remuneration

Base $'000

Non-monetary Benefits

$'000 $'000 $'000 $'000

Chief executive officer 178 27 4 23 232

Deputy chief executive officer 153 27 3 20 203

Public Defender Counsel 146 26 3 19 193

Director Family Law, Civil Justice and Advice Services 145 26 3 19 193

Director Criminal Law Services 133 26 2 17 178

Director Corporate Services 138 26 3 18 185

Director Grants 128 26 2 16 172

Director Strategic Policy and Communications 91 - 2 11 104

Total Remuneration 1,112 184 22 143 1,460


21. Commitments for expenditure(a) Capital commitments

Capital expenditure commitment for technology refurbishments and buildings inclusive of anticipated GST, contracted for at reporting date but not recognised in the accounts is payable as follows:

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Payment due within one year 386 -

(b) Operating lease commitments

Commitments under operating leases at reporting date are inclusive of anticipated GST and are payable as follows:

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

- not later than 1 year 1,961 1,767

- later than 1 year but not later than 5 years 5,095 3,985

- later than 5 years 495 589

Total 7,551 6,341

Operating leases are entered into as a means of acquiring access to office accommodation. Lease payments are generally fixed, but with inflation escalation clauses on which rental commitments are determined.

No purchase options exist in relation to operating leases and no operating leases contain restrictions on financing or other leasing activities.

(c) Grants commitments

Grants commitments inclusive of anticipated GST, committed to provide at reporting date, but not recognised in the accounts are payable as follows:

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

- not later than 1 year 115 181

- later than 1 year but not later than 5 years 50 148

Total 165 329


22. Financial instruments(a) Categorisation of financial instruments

Legal Aid Queensland has the following categories of financial assets and financial liabilities:

CategoryNote

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Financial assets



Total 28,602 22,299

Financial liabilities

Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost: Payables 14 1,299 2,443

(b) Financial risk management

Legal Aid Queensland's operational activities are not exposed to substantial financial risk. The investment of cash is exposed to a degree of interest rate risk and market risk.

As suggested by the Audit Risk and Compliance Committee, the board reviews risk and return of cash investments. Financial risk management is currently undertaken by the Finance and Facilities team, with guidance from Queensland Treasury Corporation and Queensland Investment Corporation.

(c) Credit risk exposure

Credit risk exposure refers to the situation where the agency may incur financial loss as a result of another party to a financial instrument failing to discharge their obligation.

The maximum exposure to credit risk at balance date in relation to each class of recognised financial assets is the carrying amount of those assets inclusive of any provisions for impairment.

The following table represents Legal Aid Queensland's maximum exposure to credit risk based on contractual amounts net of any allowances:

Maximum exposure to credit risk

CategoryNote

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Financial assets



Total 28,602 22,299

Collateral in the form of mortgages representing charges over real property are held by Legal Aid Queensland. No credit enhancements relate to the financial assets held by the agency.


No significant concentration of credit risks have been identified, as exposure is spread over a large number of counterparties and customers. Exposure to credit risk is monitored on a regular basis. The method for calculating any provisional impairment for risk is based on past experience and current and expected changes in economic conditions.

The recognised impairment loss is $191,622 for the current year, a decrease of $8,822 from 2010. All figures for credit risk referred to do not take into account the value of any collateral or other security.

No financial assets and financial liabilities have been offset and presented net in the Statement of Financial Position.

No financial asssets have had their terms renegotiated so as to prevent them from being past due or impaired, and are stated at the carrying amounts as indicated.

Aging of past due but not impaired as well as impaired financial assets are disclosed in the following tables:

2011 financial assets past due but not impaired

Maturity date:

Overdue

Not overdue $'000

Less than 1 year $'000

1-2 years $'000

2-3 years $'000

More than 3 years $'000

Total Financial assets $'000

Financial assets

Receivables 966 418 245 48 237 1,914

2010 financial assets past due but not impaired

Maturity date:

Overdue

Not overdue $'000


1-2 years $'000

2-3 years $'000



Financial assets

Receivables 830 444 235 19 223 1,751

2011 impaired financial assets

Maturity date:

Overdue

Not overdue $'000


1-2 years $'000

2-3 years $'000



Financial assets

Receivables 1 15 50 179 27 272


2010 impaired financial assets

Maturity date:

Overdue

Not overdue $'000


1-2 years $'000

2-3 years $'000



Financial Assets

Receivables 6 24 88 52 30 200

The interest earned by the impaired financial assets was $15,540 (2010: $9,961).

(d) Liquidity risk

Liquidity risk refers to the situation where the agency may encounter difficulty in meeting obligations associated with financial liabilities that are settled by delivering cash or another financial asset.

There is a surplus of $9,869,000 in current assets to meet the obligations of current liabilites. Accordingly the liquidity risk is considered to be low.

(e) Market risk

Legal Aid Queensland does not trade in foreign currency and is not materially exposed to commodity price changes. It is exposed to interest rate risk through its cash deposited in interest bearing accounts, but it does not undertake any hedging in relation to the risk.

Interest rate sensitivity analysis

The following interest rate sensitivity analysis is based on a report similar to that which would be provided to management, depicting the outcome to statement of comprehensive income if interest rates would change by +/-1% from the year-end rates applicable to the agency's financial assets and liabilities. With all other variables held constant, the agency would have a surplus and equity increase/(decrease) of $267,000 (2010: $205,000). This is attributable to the agency's exposure to variable interest rates on its deposit with Queensland Investment Corporation and Queensland Treasury Corporation.

Financial instruments Carrying amount $'000

2011 interest rate risk

-1% +1%

Profit Equity Profit Equity

Cash 26,688 (267) (267) 267 267

Financial instruments Carrying amount $'000

2010 interest rate risk

-1% +1%

Profit Equity Profit Equity

Cash 20,548 (205) (205) 205 205

Fair value

The fair value of trade receivables and payables is assumed to approximate the value of the original transaction, less any allowance for impairment.


23. Monies held in trustLegal Aid Queensland received monies from clients and held them upon trust until the finalisation of their legal matters. The monies are held in a separate bank account in accordance with Section 45 of the Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997.

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Summary of cash flows

Balance at 1 July 597 551

Receipts 3,266 5,197

Payments (3,413) (5,150)

Balance at 30 June 450 598

Grants payable to community legal centres

As disclosed in note 1(u), during the year Legal Aid Queensland received monies from both state and federal government that are on passed to the community legal centres. As the organisation performs only a custodial role in respect of these transactions and balances, they are not recognised in the statement of comprehensive income but are disclosed in these notes for the information of users. The balance as at 30 June represents the grants payable to community legal centres and the portion of Emergency Grants Fund which was unspent during the year and to be carried forward. The Emergency Grants Fund is distributed from the Legal Practitioner Interest on Trust Accounts Fund and is to be used for agreed purposes for the community legal centres.

2011 $'000

2010 $'000

Balance at 1 July 490 16

Receipts 12,582 12,764

Payments (12,931) (12,290)

Balance at 30 June 141 490

Excluded in the receipts and payments above is funding to Western Queensland Justice Network which is a 100 percent owned community legal centre by Legal Aid Queensland. A special purpose report is prepared for Western Queensland Justice Network and the equity of $173,474 in its book is the responsibility of Legal Aid Queensland.


24. Remuneration of board membersRemuneration received, or due and receivable by board members from Legal Aid Queensland in connection with the management of the organisation. Remuneration includes sitting fees, contributions to members’ superannuation and other benefits received by board members.

The number of responsible persons whose remuneration from Legal Aid Queensland was within the following specified bands were:

2011 2010

$0 to $5,000 6 1

$5,001 to $10,000 2 2

$10,001 to $15,000 - 1

$15,001 to $20,000 - 1


Certificate of Legal Aid Queensland

CERTIFICATE OF LEGAL AID QUEENSLAND

These general purpose financial statements have been prepared pursuant to section 62(1) of the Financial Accountability Act 2009 (the Act), relevant sections of the Financial and Performance Management Standard 2009 and other prescribed requirements. In accordance with section 62(1)(b) of the Act we certify that in our opinion:

(a) the prescribed requirements for establishing and keeping the accounts have been complied with in all material respects; and

(b) the statements have been drawn up to present a true and fair view, in accordance with prescribed accounting standards, of the transactions of Legal Aid Queensland for the year ended 30 June 2011 and of the financial position of Legal Aid Queensland at the end of that year.

M. McKee CPA R. Hunter Chief finance officer Board chair

12 August 2011 12 August 2011


To the Board of Legal Aid Queensland

Independent auditor's report

Report on the financial report

I have audited the accompanying financial report of Legal Aid Queensland, which comprises the statement of financial position as at 30 June 2011, the statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity and statement of cash flows for the year then ended, notes comprising a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information, and certificates given by the Chairperson.

The board’s responsibility for the financial report

The board is responsible for the preparation of the financial report that gives a true and fair view in accordance with prescribed accounting requirements identified in the Financial Accountability Act 2009 and the Financial and Performance Management Standard 2009, including compliance with Australian Accounting Standards. The board’s responsibility also includes such internal control as the board determines is necessary to enable the preparation of the financial report that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s responsibility

My responsibility is to express an opinion on the financial report based on the audit. The audit was conducted in accordance with the Auditor-General of Queensland Auditing Standards, which incorporate the Australian Auditing Standards. Those standards require compliance with relevant ethical requirements relating to audit engagements and that the audit is planned and performed to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial report is free from material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial report. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial report, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation of the financial report that gives a true and fair view in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control, other than in expressing an opinion on compliance with prescribed requirements. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by the board, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial report including any mandatory financial reporting requirements approved by the Treasurer for application in Queensland.

I believe that the audit evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for my audit opinion.

Independence

The Auditor-General Act 2009 promotes the independence of the Auditor-General and all authorised auditors. The Auditor-General is the auditor of all Queensland public sector entities and can only be removed by Parliament.

The Auditor-General may conduct an audit in any way considered appropriate and is not subject to direction by any person about the way in which audit powers are to be exercised. The Auditor-General has for the purposes of conducting an audit, access to all documents and property and can report to Parliament matters which in the Auditor-General’s opinion are significant.

Auditor’s opinion

In accordance with s.40 of the Auditor-General Act 2009 –

(a) I have received all the information and explanations which I have required; and

(d) in my opinion —

(i) the prescribed requirements in relation to the establishment and keeping of accounts have been complied with in all material respects; and

(ii) the financial report presents a true and fair view, in accordance with the prescribed accounting standards, of the transactions of Legal Aid Queensland for the financial year 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 and of the financial position as at the end of that year.

Liam MurphyPartner(Delegate of the Auditor-General of Queensland)

Dated, Brisbane, 12 August 2011

102 | Acronyms and abbreviationsLegal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011

Acronyms and abbreviations

ATSILS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service

CAP Community access point

CEO Chief executive officer

CLC Community legal centre

CPD Continuing professional development

eDRMS Electronic document and records management system

EEO Equal employment opportunity

ERO External review officer

FACT First Advice Contact Team

FTE Full-time equivalent

GMSM Grants Management System Modernisation

GST Goods and Services Tax

IDRO Intensive drug rehabilitation order

IRO Internal review officer

IT Information technology

LAQ Legal Aid Queensland

LPITAF Legal Practitioner Interest on Trust Accounts Fund

NESB Non-English-speaking background

NPA National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services

QCAT Queensland Civil Administration Tribunal

QLAF Queensland Legal Assistance Forum

QPILCH Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House

RLAF Regional Legal Assistance Forum

SC Senior Counsel

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AL REPORT 2010–11

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ANNUAL REPORT 2010–11

ANNU A L REPORT 1300 65 11 88 · 2011. 9. 26. · LEGA L AID QUEENS L AND ANNU A L REPORT...

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