Part 4 - Legal Aid Queensland

Our head office is in Brisbane. To meet the needs of
Queenslanders living in rural and regional areas, we offer
our full range of legal aid services from 13 regional offices:
Southport, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Woodridge, Inala,
Caboolture, Maroochydore, Bundaberg, Rockhampton,
Mackay, Mount Isa, Townsville and Cairns. Our regional
office staff work with a network of community access
points which act as information outposts and referral
points in communities. We also coordinate regional legal
assistance forums around the state to identify emerging
legal needs and help determine which service is best
placed to meet needs.
We provide free legal information, advice and duty
lawyer services to all Queenslanders, and legal
education to the community.
Marie Breen and Marcia Sullivan from the Western Queensland
Justice Network with Tisara Gunasekera and Jaz Ribar from
Legal Aid's Mt Isa office.
While our advice services are not formally means and
merit tested, we do seek to focus them on people most
at risk of social exclusion.
We purchase litigation and dispute resolution services
from our in-house legal teams and preferred supplier law
firms around the state to maximise legal services available
to disadvantaged Queenslanders. Staff assess individual
legal aid applications by applying a means and merit test
and manage the funding arrangements for cases where aid
is approved.
We also work with the state and federal governments to
advocate for law reform, and policy and system changes
that improve outcomes for our clients and enhance the
justice system’s efficiency.
28 | About us
Legal Aid Queensland Annual Report 2010 - 2011