Appeals and Complaints

Appeals from Refusals of Aid

Where an application for legal assistance is refused or granted subject to conditions, the applicant may, within fourteen 14 days after receiving notification appeal against the decision. Not every decision made by Legal Services has a right of appeal. You can appeal our decision to refuse, change, terminate, apply conditions to your grant of aid, or our decision that you must pay a contribution to the cost of your case. 

Where a request to appeal a decision is received, an internal review of the original decision will be completed (this is called a reconsideration). If Legal Services say their original decision was correct, the appeal will be referred to the Legal Services Appeals Panel for external review.

The Legal Services Appeals Panel will decide your appeal. The Panel is separate from Legal Services and their decision is final.
Your appeal must be in writing and set out the reasons why you want our decision to be changed. Find further information about regarding the procedure to submit an appeal in our appeals information sheet.

Aid to other parties

A party who alleges that another party is ineligible for legal aid funding may write to us providing such information as they consider relevant and we will look into the matter. Please direct this correspondence to the Client Relations Coordinator by email to clientrelations@lsc.sa.gov.au. We will acknowledge receipt of your letter. However, due to the confidentiality provisions, we are not at liberty to provide you with any confirmation or otherwise of the matters alleged or the outcome of any investigations. We cannot disclose any information about another person’s situation.

Complaints

If anyone has a complaint about the Commission, they can contact the Client Relations Coordinator on (08) 8111 5555 or by email to clientrelations@lsc.sa.gov.au

The Client Relations Coordinator can also provide assistance in lodging appeals against refusals of aid and help to identify other sources of assistance.