Get legal advice

Legal Aid WA offers legal advice and assistance on many different criminal, family and civil law issues. How we can help you depends on the type of legal problem, your personal situation, and our resources.

Appointments are for personal and confidential advice. If your appointment is at one of our offices, please bring identification and any relevant paperwork with you. If you have a telephone appointment, we will tell you how to send us copies of your paperwork in advance. If possible, try to get someone else to look after your children during the appointment.

We do not deal with every legal problem.

Get legal advice about your legal problem

We offer appointments for legal advice on a wide range of matters, including:

criminal and traffic offences in the Magistrates Court and Children’s Court (if referred by a duty lawyer)
separation and divorce, child support, recovery orders, parenting plans and orders, protection and care applications
family violence and restraining orders
consumer rights, debts, insurance claims, mortgage stress, motor vehicle property damage, compensation for victims of crime
unpaid court fines and infringements, and Work & Development Permits
elder abuse, including concerns about misuse of powers of attorney
applications for Extraordinary Driver's Licences and removing driver's licence disqualifications
guardianship and administration matters in the State Administrative Tribunal
cases in the Federal Court or Federal Circuit Court if you are not represented
some appeals and reviews in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, including NDIS appeals.

After we have more information about your situation and legal problem, we can let you know if you should apply to get a lawyer to run your case.

What if my issue is not mentioned in the list?

We try our best to help with as many issues as possible, so not everything we do has been included in the list. If your legal problem is not mentioned, you should call the Infoline or contact your nearest Legal Aid WA office to see if we can help.

We do not give advice or legal assistance about:

Building disputes
Contract, debt or tenancy disputes if it relates to a business you run or own
Conveyancing and property transactions
Defamation
Intellectual property
Legal costs
Neighbour disputes about dividing fences, dogs, trees or nuisance
Personal injury claims from a motor vehicle accident
Professional negligence
Prosecutions that are not started by the police, Director of Public Prosecutions, or Department of Justice - Corrective Services (except offences under the Animal Welfare Act, Dog Act or Public Transport Authority Act)
Residential tenancy
Strata titles
Taxation and prosecutions for unpaid taxes
Drafting wills
Inheritance including probate and letters of administration
Workers’ compensation.

Information about some of these topics and where you can get help is in Find legal answers.

Get help

To ask about having an appointment for legal advice, call the Infoline or contact your nearest Legal Aid WA office. Let us know if you would like an interpreter. For some legal problems, you might need to have a referral from one of our other services before you can make an appointment for legal advice.

If your local office does not offer advice on a particular topic, you might be able to get help from our Perth office by phone or video link.

Depending on your situation, you might also be able to get help at court from our duty lawyers.

Reviewed: 27 April 2018