Ask a Victorian institution for records of complaints, staff and care
MaintainedLast reviewed
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the institutions and years the lawyer has named, draft a request for complaint files, personnel records of the person named, and placement or enrolment records, for those years only. Do not describe the abuse.
- What the lawyer must review
- The lawyer settles the letter before it is sent. Ask only for the categories approved.
- Do not read the guiding principles as a promise of access to records.
- Do not describe the abuse in the letter.
- Keep the file in the firm's system. ASCR r 9 and APP 11 apply.
Rules that apply
The document starts from the task name. Change it if this piece of work is different.
The work product
Forum. Victoria. A letter to an institution. It is not a filed document unless the lawyer later makes it one.
Produce. A record request limited to the institutions, people and years the lawyer has named.
Have ready. The institutions the lawyer has named; The years; The categories of documents the lawyer has approved.
Example of the limit. Illustrative example: The lawyer has named one school and the years 1988 to 1992. The draft asks for complaint files and enrolment records for those years. It does not say what the client says happened.
Stop and hand it back when
- The draft narrates the abuse.
- The draft asks for another child's records without the lawyer adding that category.
Sources for this task were checked on 2026-10-23.
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | From the institutions and years the lawyer has named, draft a request for complaint files, personnel records of the person named, and placement or enrolment records, for those years only. Do not describe the abuse. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- The Wrongs Act table of provisions that was opened contains no compulsory pre-court notice of claim. This letter is not a notice under another Act unless the lawyer says so.
- The Common Guiding Principles do not promise access to records. They do say departments should develop pastoral letters that acknowledge claims.
- The letter names institutions, people and years. It does not narrate the abuse, and it does not ask for another child's records unless the lawyer has added that category.
- The principles are not binding and are stated for State institutions.
Sources
- Victorian Common Guiding Principles for child sexual abuse civil claims · 2026-10-23
- Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic), table of provisions · 2026-10-23
- Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules 2015 (NSW) r 9.1 · 2026-10-23
Do not treat this letter as a step that the opened Wrongs Act table requires.
If this is used in a Supreme Court document, the Court's news page on Practice Note SC Gen 25 says court users are responsible for the content whether or not they used AI.