Duty lawyer accreditation
Duty lawyer accreditation is open to experienced practitioners who hold a current practicing certificate from the Queensland Law Society or Bar Association of Queensland.
An experienced practitioner, is a practitioner who has a minimum of six (6) months post admission experience in general criminal law.
Practitioners wishing to attain accreditation will need to undertake the following:
View the duty lawyer video/DVD.
Become familiar with the duty lawyer handbook, published by Legal Aid Queensland.
Attend two sessions in an adult Magistrates Court with an accredited duty lawyer, as an observer. And one further attendance as the duty lawyer, under supervision of an accredited duty lawyer, and/or
Attend two sessions in a Children's Court with an accredited Children’s Court Duty Lawyer, as an observer. And one further attendance as the duty lawyer under supervision of an accredited Children's Court duty lawyer.
Provide declarations specifying the required attendances, from both applicant and accredited duty lawyer/s with whom Court was attended.
Legal Aid Queensland will only approve accreditation when satisfied that the above criteria has been met and the applicant has sufficient experience to provide a 'stand alone' duty lawyer service in the appropriate court. Practitioners will therefore need to provide details of relevant criminal law experience ie number of guilty pleas, bail applications, summary trials etc which they have appeared in.
Practitioners who are not currently on the duty lawyer roster and wish to seek exemption from the new accreditation process, should write to the Coordinator, Duty Lawyer Services at LAQ detailing their relevant experience as grounds for exemption. Exemption will only be considered if a practitioner's situation/location is such that attendance to the accreditation process is impractical and the practitioner has sufficient criminal law experience.
This accreditation scheme commenced with effect on 2 February 2005 and supersedes previous schemes. Practitioners who participated in the duty lawyer scheme continuously up to 1 January 1991 and subsequent to that date are 'deemed' to be accredited. Any practitioner intending to become involved in the tendering process need only state those facts in their tender documentation.
