About National Legal Aid
What is National Legal Aid?
There are eight independent Legal Aid Commissions, one in each of the States and Territories.
The Directors of the commissions combine at a national level to form National Legal Aid (NLA) and one of their number is, on an annual rotation basis, elected as Chair. The current chair of NLA is Mr Alan Kirkland, Chief Executive Officer of Legal Aid New South Wales.
The Commissions are funded from 3 sources:
- Commonwealth Government ($179 million);
- State and Territory Governments ($192 million); and
- Interest, contributions and fees ($145 million)
(These figures are from 2007/2008 income)
They provide services to over 0.75 million Australians a year including:
- Number of people advised 2007-2008 year 257,297;
- Total number of duty lawyer services, including family law duty lawyer services, for the 2007-2008 year 380,404; and
- Total number of people represented in courts/tribunals 2007-2008 year 201,203
Download the National Legal Aid Strategic Plan 2008-2009
Download the National Legal Aid Strategic Plan 2006-2007 [77 KB]
Contact Details
Legal Aid Directors' Secretariat
Executive Officer: Louise Smith
Postal address: GPO Box 1422
Hobart TAS 7001
Telephone: (03) 6236 3813
Facsimile: (03) 6236 3811
Mobile: 0419 350 065
