Delivering professional, and community responsive

Legal services

Working with community, government and non government stakeholders.

to enhance service delivery

Criminal, Family and Civil Law.

ThroughCare, Community Legal Education,

Coronial & Public Sector Monitoring & 24/7 assistance at police stations.

Indigenous Legal Assistance

Our legal assistance services provided in criminal, civil and family law matters involve:

Advice Matters – Legal advice or information that is not provided as part of Duty or Casework Matters. This includes the provision of a free-call telephone advice service, referrals, preliminary assistance in the writing of short letters and the completion of forms;
Duty Matters – Attendance at court and receipt of initial instructions by a lawyer. This includes all mentions, pleas, applications including for bail, or adjournments performed on a duty lawyer basis, or where the matter is completed on the same day; and
Casework Matters – Ongoing legal services in relation to a particular legal problem, such as conducting a defended hearing. It is not necessary that the matter involve litigation. Casework Matters may also include the provision of detailed legal advice or the negotiation of a claim for or against the client.

ATSILS also provides 24 hour legal representation and advice on criminal matters for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Criminal Law

CRIMINAL LAW

We are one of Queensland’s largest criminal law practices, with 25 offices spread across the State. Our Criminal Law Practice employs highly experienced legal practitioners who represent both adult and juvenile clients across all of the various court jurisdictions (Magistrates Court through to the Supreme Court). Services range from straight forward duty lawyer sentencing matters in the Magistrates Court to complex trials in the Supreme Court.

Please note: Eligibility for casework legal assistance is dependent on a “means test” and a “merit test”.

Civil Law

CIVIL LAW

Our Civil Law Practice provides a highly diverse range of services – with many regional variations (for example, depending upon what other specialist service providers might also be available in the region in question). Indeed, the range of services is so wide, that we would encourage potential clients to contact their local office of our Organisation to discuss their options with our staff. Assistance can vary from “simple” legal advice through to minor assistances (such as filling in forms or drafting letters) to casework assistance (such as helping draft wills or legal representation at contested hearings).

Please note: Eligibility for casework legal assistance is dependent on a “means test” and a “merit test”.

Family Law

FAMILY LAW

Our Family Law Practice provides specialist family law services in the areas of child protection, domestic violence and general family law matters. Where possible, we seek to encourage resolution of most family law disputes by agreement between the parties – but will represent clients on contested hearings where such becomes necessary. Much of our work is dedicated to ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanded children are not taken away from their parents in those situations where we believe that such is unjustified or not in the interests of the child.

Please note: Eligibility for casework legal assistance is dependent on a “means test” and a “merit test”.

Means Test

With limited resources available and to ensure we direct our services towards applicants in the greatest need of assistance, all applications for Indigenous legal services involving casework are subject to means and merit tests. Depending upon the results of these tests, applicants will fall into one of three categories:

Applicants eligible to receive free legal assistance.
Applicants eligible to receive legal assistance subject to payment of contributions (on a sliding scale) towards the cost of assistance.
Applicants not eligible to receive legal aid assistance

An applicant automatically satisfies the means test if one of the following applies:

They are under the age of 18.
Their main source of income comes from CDEP participant wages or Centrelink benefits.
Their gross personal income is less than $52,000 per annum.

Note: Means testing only applies to Representation Services.

News and Events

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag raising – QEII Courts of Law Complex in BrisbaneFebruary 9, 2023 - 3:49 pm
This week our Principal Legal Officer, Greg Shadbolt attended a ceremony to mark the raising of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags outside the QEII Courts of Law Complex in Brisbane. The event was held on 09/02/2023 and presided over by Her Honour, Chief Justice Helen Bowskill. The raising of the Aboriginal flag and […]
Farewell to long serving CSO – Trevor DraperFebruary 3, 2023 - 3:16 pm
Farewell Trevor The ATSILS Family farewelled Court Support Officer Trevor Draper on 3/2/2023. Trevor is moving on to his next adventure after almost 24 years with the organisation. Trevor worked in both our Toowoomba and Maroochydore offices and truly epitomised ATSILS values in his approach to working with colleagues and clients. As a Court Support […]

ATSILS on Twitter

Debbie Kilroy #FreeHer

@DebKilroy

Queensland’s new crackdown on youth offenders will be “felt for generations,” experts warn

@AnnastaciaMP government has failed Qld. Has failed young Aboriginal children today & for generations to come #qldpol twitter.com/Allhandz…

11:12 pm · March 16, 2023 ·

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Kevin Yow Yeh

@kevinyowyeh

‘Most children imprisoned in the Queensland youth justice system are on remand.’ theguardian.com/aust…

11:07 pm · March 16, 2023 ·

Retweeted by ATSILS

SNAICC

@SNAICC

13 years old and left locked in isolation for days.
Our children don't belong in jail, let alone be kept alone in a cell for weeks at a time.
The Queensland youth justice system is crumbling, yet they want to put more children in detention.
#RaiseTheAge
bit.ly/3mX58JA

11:07 pm · March 16, 2023 ·

Retweeted by ATSILS

ATSILS

@atsils

“Tough on Crime” measures are counter-productive to addressing offending.

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children who are among the most vulnerable in our community will be disproportionately affected and cop the brunt of this.

#qldpol #HumanRights twitter.com/edengill…

11:05 pm · March 16, 2023

Australian Human Rights Commission

@AusHumanRights

"This is the first time that First Nations women from right across Australia will come together in such large numbers to determine how we can take control of our future and deliver safety, justice and prosperity for our families and communities," Commissioner @June_Oscar said. pic.twitter.com/55xC…

7:36 am · March 16, 2023 ·

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