- Published:
- Wednesday 21 October 2026 at 3:43 pm
Engaging with the legal system is incredibly difficult for many of our clients who have complex legal and social needs. Integrated legal assistance is designed to enable clients to participate in decisions that affect them, understand their rights and navigate legal processes.
Integrated services help address social issues which may be causing or exacerbating their legal problems such as mental health, addiction, housing and family violence. Allied professionals in these non-legal services work collaboratively with lawyers to address client needs more holistically.
We currently operate five non-legal services alongside our core legal services. These services help resolve issues early and practically, reducing the need for legal intervention and preventing matters from escalating unnecessarily. Expert allied professionals play a crucial role in helping clients build trust and confidence and connect with the legal and social services they need.
‘Our non-legal services complement the work of our lawyers,' said our General Counsel Sarah Nieuwenhuysen. 'They use an efficient and evidence-based approach that benefits our clients enormously and also help lower demand on courts and other public services.'
Our non-legal services
Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)
'90% of IMHA consumers felt listened to, respected and supported to communicate with their treating team' – IMHA review June 2026
IMHA provides statewide non-legal mental health advocacy for people at risk of or who are receiving compulsory mental health treatment. Staff with expertise in social work, psychology and mental health nursing provide representational advocacy, referrals information , emotional support, coaching for self-advocacy, and help navigating the legal system.
Independent Family Advocacy and Support (IFAS)
'It’s a service that should be available for everyone because your brain goes to mush. You’re emotional. It’s terrifying to think that the worst thing that could happen. And to have somebody who was really supporting you in that, it’s a service that is fantastic.' – An IFAS client.
IFAS provides non-legal advocacy and support to parents and primary carers who are involved in the child protection system at the early stages, before court involvement. Staff with expertise in social work and lived experience of the system provide representational advocacy, referrals, system navigation, information and emotional support.
Remand Support Service (RSS)
'Remand Support Service freed up mental space for me to deal with the legal issues, knowing somebody was there to deal with the social issues ... I can spend more time looking at some of the submissions I could make." – Victoria Legal Aid duty lawyer.
RSS provides trauma-informed emotional, practical and holistic non-legal support for people on first remand at the Bail and Remand Court (BaRC) to address their immediate non-legal needs and help them engage with the legal process. Our remand support practitioners have experience in social work, allied health, Alcohol and Other Drugs, and justice.
Aboriginal community engagement officer (ACEO) program
'I think if I hadn’t been given that chance, I would be in jail as the VLA lawyer and ACEO supported me throughout and kept me calm and then I could talk properly on the day.' – ACEO program client.
ACEOs provide culturally safe guidance, assistance and advocacy to First Peoples clients across Victoria. ACEOs are community engagement professionals with extensive cultural knowledge.
Family Advocacy and Support Services (FASS)
'FASS provide an important multi-disciplinary service including mental health and emotional supporting during court proceedings. They regularly assist litigants in distress and greatly assist the court to run matters smoothly' – Judge Alexandra Harland, 21 May 2025
FASS provides at-court service for families affected by family violence and who are involved in family law proceedings in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. FASS staff are experienced family violence support and mental health support workers employed by partner organisations.
Navigating legal privilege in designing non-legal services
When seeking legal advice, what a client tells their lawyer is protected from disclosure under the rules of legal privilege unless the client decides they want it disclosed. Legal privilege is critical because it allows for free and frank communication between a lawyer and their client. However, it is unclear whether legal privilege extends to communications to allied professionals working closely with lawyers.
Based on our practice experience, we support the VLRC’s exploration of legal privilege reform including broader protection for client communications in integrated legal assistance settings where this would allow for safe, effective and holistic service delivery.
Our submission details the clear benefits of providing our non-legal services andhow we manage risks to legal privilege.
Our non-legal services operate as separate programs within VLA, each with their own management structure and record keeping. We rely on our established information barrier system and client information is only shared with client consent between legal and non-legal services. This design has allowed us to protect legal privilege.
As a larger organisation, Victoria Legal Aid can more readily establish non-legal services that operate separately. We recognise this approach is not feasible for many community legal centres where an integrated service may be one allied professional working alongside a legal team. In these circumstances, we support reform that would provide greater certainty and capacity to more deeply embed non-legal and legal professionals in the one service without jeopardising privilege.
Key recommendations to the inquiry
Based on our practice experience, we recommend the inquiry ensures the following when developing new privilege options:
- direct involvement of people with lived experience of legal and social support services to ensure any reform intended to improve access to justice reflects the needs of the people who use these services
- work in partnership with allied professionals practicing across diverse legal assistance sector settings and mindful of different ways of working, including reporting or other professional and ethical obligations.
Reform options should:
- support client-centred practice
- be responsive to the operating context of individual services rather than set model expectations
- not impact on how legal privilege currently operates at common law and legislatively in Victoria
- support flexibility and clarity for service providers.
More information
Read our submission to the inquiry.
Follow the progress of the Victoria Law Reform Commission's inquiry.
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