Pro Bono Referral Application Process

Application Process
Law Access acts as an intermediary between applicants and the legal profession by administering a referral scheme for people seeking legal assistance in issues of public or private law.

To apply you must submit a formal application to Law Access before they can consider your case. This application must be completed in full and signed by a Justice of the Peace/Commissioner for Declarations.

These applications are assessed on a merit and means basis (see Eligibility Criteria) in order to determine whether a matter is appropriate for referral.


How do I Apply?
In the first instance, please contact our Pro Bono Coordinator either by phone on (08) 9322 7877 or email info@lawsocietywa.asn.au. If appropriate, we will then arrange to send you out an application form for you to complete and return to us for assessment.


Assessment of Applications
The Law Society's Access to Justice Committee conducts the assessments. The Access to Justice Committee utilises an assessment panel of legal practitioners, comprising individual volunteer assessors, to assess applications.


Referral of Successfully-Approved Matters
If an application is assessed as suitable for pro bono referral, Law Access will seek to refer the matter to legal practitioners who may be willing to accept the legal matter on a pro bono basis.

Please note that whilst Law Access will do its best to locate a legal practitioner willing to take the matter on, we can’t guarantee that the matter will be taken up on a pro bono basis. It is important that you continue to seek alternative sources of legal representation, even if you have submitted an application for a pro bono referral.


Decisions by the Access to Justice Committee
All decisions to consider and refuse/approve applications for pro bono referral are at the complete discretion of the assessing Access to Justice Committee member, and are final.


Legal Advice Referral Register
The Law Society also maintains a register of private legal practices and their areas of practice to facilitate easy referral of members of the public to law firms that can assist them. We do not provide recommendations. All entries are randomly selected from our database. To access this service, call (08) 9322 7877.