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What Help is Available

If you are an unrepresented litigant, help is available. Court staff can help by providing general information about the court and about the rules and procedures that are part of the court process, although they may not know the answers to all questions. Questions can be answered best if accurate, clear and current information is given. Most importantly, court staff – whether legally trained or not – are not permitted to give legal advice.

 

CAN DO	CANNOT DO
Can give information about the availability of legal services and about agencies in the community which may be able to assist with legal advice	Cannot give legal advice Cannot recommend a certain lawyer or barrister to act on anyone's behalf Cannot guarantee that a particular agency will be able to give anyone legal assistance
Can say what documents may need to be prepared and filed with the court Can also check that documents have been signed and/or witnessed by an authorised person	Cannot tell anyone what words to use in court documents or how much information to include in those documents
Can briefly explain and answer questions about how the court works	Cannot say whether or not a case should be brought to court Cannot tell what the decision of the court will be or give an opinion about what it might be
Can give general information about court rules, procedures and practices Can refer anyone to the court rules, other legislation and legal research tools	Cannot tell anyone what to say in court
Can usually give information about when documents need to be returned to the court or when the next hearing date is Can tell anyone how to obtain copies of orders made by Judges or Masters	Cannot change an order once it has been made by the court. If anyone wants to request a change to any order that has been made by the court, then it will have to be made on an application to the court
May be able to give an estimate of how long it will be before the matter is likely to come to trial	Cannot allow anyone to talk directly with the Judge or Master, except at the trial or at any other hearing before the Judge or Master