Legal Aid Western Australia currently only has 15 private lawyers available to deliver Independent Children’s Lawyer services across the state to supplement the work of the Legal Aid WA Independent Children’s Lawyers. This means that it can take up to 3 months for an ICL to be allocated for a child.
Growing numbers of private lawyers are unable to take on this role because the payments they receive are too far below market rates and the total amount received does not cover the increasingly complex work required to support children.
Alongside this, whilst it is early days in monitoring the implementation of the changes to the Family Law Act which commenced in May 2024, Legal Aid Commissions are already seeing an increased demand for Independent Children’s Lawyers. In NSW, early estimates indicate an increase of almost 50%.
The limited availability combined with increased demand from changes to the Family Law Act means that the ICL Program is reaching crisis point.
“National Legal Aid welcomes the changes to the Family Law Act that promote the voice of the child in parenting proceedings and embed the critical role of Independent Children’s Lawyers within the family law system.
We also welcome the recent Federal Government announcement of $3.9 billion over 5 years for legal assistance.” said Katherine McKernan, Executive Director, National Legal Aid.
“We are awaiting the outcome of the allocation of this funding and are hopeful that this will allow a modest increase to the number of grants available for Independent Children’s Lawyers. However, we anticipate that this funding will not go far enough and won’t allow for Legal Aid Commissions to also increase the current fees paid to private lawyers to undertake this critical work” said Katherine McKernan, Executive Director of National Legal Aid.
“We are calling on the Federal Government to urgently assess the growing demand for ICLs and their essential role and look at options to help ensure that we are able to meet demand.
National Legal Aid is also calling for an urgent funding injection of $40 million per year to increase access to the Independent Childrens Lawyer Program. If this funding is not received, then Legal Aid Commissions may have to take steps to further restrict the criteria for the allocation of an ICL, which may mean that at risk children will miss out.”
Legal Aid plays a critical role through its Independent Children’s Lawyer’s Program in promoting and representing the best interests of the child in family law proceedings, delivering over 6,800 grants of aid per year nationally. Over 80% of all family law proceedings include a risk of domestic and family violence. Independent Children’s Lawyers are a critical support to help ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and that their needs are met.
Practice Director at Platinum Legal in WA Ann Korzeniecka has been doing legal aid work for almost two decades, running family law matters related to separation and parenting and assisting children as an Independent Children’s Lawyer.
She gets paid $171 an hour for legal aid work but can earn three times as much in private practice. She spends half of her time doing legal aid work because of her passion for providing access to justice for the vulnerable and disadvantaged, especially children.
“I do the work because it’s important, not because of the money. When you represent the interests of children, who need a voice, you are required to obtain information from various sources, and you have to try to collaborate with parents and interested parties who have different views and perspectives. You need to put the time in.
“Legal aid clients often require more assistance for a multitude of reasons and more compassion and that time is not always funded.”
“It would be much easier not to do legal aid work and to only take private work because financially it is a better option. I can make more money in less hours doing private work. But then who would do this work? It’s so important, someone needs to do it.”
Ms Korzeniecka said higher pay would ease the pressure and encourage more lawyers to do legal aid work, which would help reduce the workload of the existing private lawyers used.
Despite the challenges associated with the role, Ms Korzeniecka says legal aid work is her most rewarding because of the difference she makes in the lives of her clients: “I don’t think I’d be the practitioner I am today were it not for legal aid work.”
Media contact | Katherine McKernan | contact number 0425 288 446