1. Preparing clients for court
Laura Rouse
Principal Lawyer
Legal Aid QLD

2. Is there a duty lawyer service?
There may or may or may not be a duty lawyer service available
There is no duty lawyer service for summary trials, full hand ups, lengthy pleas or traffic court.
In regional courts, duty lawyers may only be available on certain days.
In Brisbane, duty lawyers are only available in certain courts.

3. Referring to Duty Lawyer
You can send the duty lawyer a memo indicating that you have seen the client and they will be attending.
Unless you are prepared to go on record as acting, the client must attend court.
The client must attend for any notice to appear or mention appearance required.
The duty lawyer client may be waiting anywhere from one hour to all day.

4. The duty lawyer may or may not be able to finalise the matter that day.
It is not possible to brief a duty lawyer.
A duty lawyer will have to take their own instructions.

5. Preparing documents and Evidence
You can assist the clients to obtain references or letters of support from agencies they are linked in to.
It is of great benefit to alert the duty lawyer to any diagnosed condition and treatment regime including – treatment authorities (formerly ITOs), Public Guardian Orders, Public Trust, medications.
Evidence for defence could include prescriptions, receipts and bank records for case conferencing.

6. Managing expectations
Unless you have the QP9s, criminal history and have a working knowledge of the current penalties, it is better to give limited advice on penalty.
It is useful for the client to understand how long it may be before their matter will be finalised. Factors include election, mandatory indictment, number of charges, whether there is dispute.