Data Standards Manual Workshop (Not CLASS!) Carly Hanson Friday 9 March 2018

Context and aims National Legal Assistance Data Standards Manual (DSM) Achieve clarity and consistency across CLCs with data definitions Discuss aspects of the DSM that require further clarification to fit with your business processes DSM Workshop | 2

Today’s workshop Hear from you about opportunities for improvement re: Information & referral services Legal tasks Representation services – court / tribunal & other rep Duty lawyer services Non-legal support services Others? CLCQ to pull together feedback from Qld and work with NACLC and other states to re-draft / supplement the DSM Qld DSM working group? DSM Workshop | 3

Information – Definition & examples Provision of information to a client in response to an enquiry about: The law, legal systems and processes Legal and other support services to assist in the resolution of legal and related problems The information provided is of general application Involves direct communication and/or provision of material Does not include admin tasks such as booking appointments Example: Providing a web link via phone with tenancy information & sending follow up email with the link = 1 information service DSM Workshop | 4

Referral – Definition & examples Simple referral: Where a centre determines that a client can be assisted by another individual or organisation and provides the client with contact details to that service – then up to the client to make contact, eg: Referral to financial counselling service, which is co-located with the CLC = 1 simple referral Facilitated referral: Where a client is directly assisted to make contact with another individual or organisation eg: Making an appointment on behalf of the client Contacting the other service to check the client’s eligibility & availability of service within the appropriate timeframes Attending the other service with the client providing background information or a professional assessment relevant to the provision of the target service (with the client’s approval) DSM Workshop | 5

Information & Referral – Concerns & solutions Examples – what kinds of additional examples would be helpful? Simple vs facilitated referrals Conflict checking concerns Information vs referral No shows / cancellations Time taken – does this have an impact? Is this an issue? Counting rules / data entry DSM Workshop | 6

Legal task – Definition & example Completion of a discrete piece of legal work to assist a client to resolve a problem or a particular stage of a problem eg: Preparation / assistance with drafting documents (eg a will) Writing a letter to another party Advocating for a client without taking ongoing carriage of the matter (eg a phone call) Example: Client receives 2 x legal advice, after second legal advice, CLC writes a letter on client’s behalf = 1 x legal task DSM Workshop | 7

Legal task – Concerns & solutions Overlap with legal advice, duty lawyer, and other representation – threshold questions (time & complexity) When does it turn into an ongoing other representation service? Eg writing a letter on CLC letterhead vs ‘ghost written letter’? Multiple advices & tasks for the same client – missing files, efficiency issues, inconsistencies, not meeting representation service targets Recording a service as a legal task may not be reflective of the work that has been done / time spent eg: Preparation of lengthy court documents Counting rules: 2 tasks (letter and phone call) counted as 1 task? Legal tasks subsumed by duty lawyer services DSM Workshop | 8

Representation services – Dispute resolution Taking carriage of a matter in an ongoing, representative capacity 1. Dispute resolution service Legal representation of a client in a facilitated resolution (FRP) or ADR Does not include court/tribunal based ADR Assistance to self-rep parties preparing to attend FRP should be categorised as legal task or duty lawyer Examples: 2 examples relating to the same family law matter Second example adds an additional tenancy legal advice DSM Workshop | 9

Representation services – Court / tribunal 2. Court / tribunal service Ongoing matter before a court, tribunal or inquiry, where a CLC provides legal representation to a client, and takes carriage of a matter in an ongoing, representative capacity (subsumes any court/tribunal based ADR) Does not include duty lawyer or self-rep clients Counting rules: Criminal matters: multiple charges that can be finalised in the same court proceedings are counted as 1 service Appeals count as a new service Examples: Criminal matter with multiple charges counted as 1 x court / tribunal service Tenancy matter, 1 x legal advice given by legal aid, then legal aid represents her in a tribunal hearing, which counts as 1 x court / tribunal service DSM Workshop | 10

Representation services – Other rep 3. Other representation services Any matter where the CLC: takes carriage of a matter in an ongoing, representative capacity, but due to the nature of the matter, it does not proceed to court / tribunal / inquiry OR is not required to appear before a court / tribunal / inquiry Does not include assistance to self-rep clients where the CLC does not take carriage of a matter in an ongoing, representative capacity (instead counted as legal task, legal advice or duty lawyer service) Example: Tenancy dispute, CLC provides letters to landlord and assistance provided in an ongoing capacity DSM Workshop | 11

Representation services – Concerns & solutions How do we best capture assisting self-represented clients we work with in an ongoing capacity? Other representation services – wider definition may be helpful Additional examples – eg CLC assisting a self-represented client through a court process (eg giving advice, drafting documents), but where the CLC is not on the record (but is still providing ongoing assistance) Overlap with duty lawyer and legal task Old minor casework category – how is this work fitting into the new categories? Concerns about not meeting representation service targets What about ‘ghost written letters’ – are they legal task or other rep? What else are CLCs putting in the other representation services category? DSM Workshop | 12

Duty lawyer services – Definition & examples Legal services provided by a duty lawyer to a client at a court / tribunal Activity types (select the primary type of work which best reflects the substance of the work done – see Table 13): Criminal matters: advice only / minor appearance, adjournment, uncontested bail application, mention / contested application / plea & submissions: plea of guilty is entered & sentence submissions are made Civil and family matters: advice only / minor appearance: adjournment or procedural orders only / legal assistance: advice & drafting court documents, and/or negotiating with the other party on behalf of the client, may include appearance for adjournment / appearance: submissions made, including interim applications & court based conferences Examples: 3 examples provided re drink driving – note counting rule issues DSM Workshop | 13

Duty lawyer services – Concerns & solutions Counting rules: Do the counting rules accurately reflect the work that is involved? Often more than a simple advice or appearance 1 duty lawyer service can involve many hours drafting letters, giving advice and completing follow-up tasks All work is subsumed into the duty lawyer service – would it be better if these tasks could be counted separately? Clarity regarding whether multiple problem types can be listed as service characteristics related to the same duty lawyer service Clarity regarding whether tasks, advice, information, referrals will be subsumed by the duty lawyer service DSM Workshop | 14

Non-legal support services – Definition & examples Provided by an appropriately qualified or experienced person (either through an internal or external appointment to a client in response to the request for assistance to resolve specific, non-legal problems Includes: general counselling financial counselling trauma-informed counselling Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community liaison, and mental health assessments and support Can be either discrete (once only) or ongoing services (see Table 21) DSM Workshop | 15

Non-legal support services – Examples, concerns & solutions Counting rules: Where non-legal support is provided in the course of providing another service, it is not subsumed by the other service Examples: 3 examples provided: 2 x ongoing trauma counselling; general counselling and financial counselling Social work – not expressly covered, although example 2 alludes to a social worker providing trauma counselling Any other workers / types of work that should be listed? What about a series of discrete non-legal support services? Not anticipated by the DSM DSM Workshop | 16

5. Any other burning issues? DSM Workshop | 17

Where to from here? Qld DSM working group: Next steps: 1-2 Principal / senior solicitors 1-2 Admin / officer managers who use CLASS CLCQ representative Next steps: CLCQ will collate the notes from today and distribute to the working group Working group will meet to discuss & review draft resources Once finalised, CLCQ will discuss with NACLC & other state peaks, and then work with AGD Get in touch with any further ideas: sdo@communitylegalqld.org.au DSM Workshop | 18

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