Working with your Lawyer

Below are some tips to help you understand how the UMSU Legal Service operates. 

How we operate:

We work on a self-empowerment model of service delivery.

This means that for most enquiries we will provide once-off legal advice, information and referrals to help you take action to resolve the legal problem yourself.

Level of service:

The level of service we can provide will depend on a range of factors as assessed by us, including:

  • whether the legal matter is within our scope;
  • the complexity of the legal matter;
  • whether the other party in any legal dispute has legal representation;
  • any matters which may affect your ability to self-advocate;
  • the availability of other specialised services relevant to the legal matter;
  • whether the legal matter is systemic in nature;
  • our current resources and capacity constraints; and
  • whether there is any conflict of interest or other ethical issue.

The appropriate level of service will be assessed by us at the beginning of the legal matter and on an ongoing basis. We generally have three levels of service:

  1. Once-off legal advice/information and referrals by email or phone/video call (this is the default level of service which we provide in most legal matters).
  2. If your legal matter is more complex, we may be able to provide a maximum of two follow up emails or phone/video calls.
  3. If your legal matter requires further assistance, we will re-assess according to the factors outlined above and will let you know whether the UMSU Legal Service is able to provide ongoing assistance. This could include ongoing advice, drafting documents, negotiating on your behalf, or representing you at a court/tribunal. The UMSU Legal Service is only able to provide this level of service in a very small number of cases. If we have assessed that your matter requires this level of service and we are unable to provide this, we will refer you to an appropriate external service.

Our service limits are in place to ensure that the UMSU Legal Service can allocate resources fairly across a large volume of enquiries. Requests from us for further documents/information will not be counted towards the service limits.

Method of contact:

We provide legal help mainly by email, phone and video calls. We will determine the appropriate method of contact after reviewing your enquiry. In-person appointments are only available where we have determined this is appropriate with regard to special circumstances applicable to you, and where we have the capacity to accommodate these.

If there is a reason why you require a particular method of contact, please let us know and we will try our best to accommodate you. If we are unable to accommodate your preferred method of contact, we will provide a referral to an appropriate external service for assistance.

Contacting us:

Before submitting our contact form, please:

  • write down the details of the legal problem: what happened, when it happened, and who was there;

  • gather together any documents that may be relevant to your legal matter;

and include these in your form submission. 

 

Further information:

UMSU Legal Service Charter | pdf (178 kb)

 

If you are a current University of Melbourne student who needs legal help, please contact the UMSU Legal Service here.

Last updated: 3 April 2024