Non-Panel Practitioner Requests
If you are assigned a grant of aid and are unavailable for a court appearance, it is possible for you to instruct another lawyer to appear. You must follow the provisions in the Private Practitioner Manual about briefing an agent.
If you are unavailable to personally attend court in an assigned matter and have made all reasonable attempts to brief another panel practitioner, and the appearance does not fall under one of the exceptions outlined in the Private Practitioner Manual 21.4.1.1, you can seek prior approval from Legal Aid WA to brief a non-panel practitioner to appear.
Legal Aid WA will generally require that the non-panel practitioner has the minimum post-admission experience applicable to members of the relevant panel.
A request for approval must be made using the Non-Panel Practitioner Request form and be submitted as soon as possible.
