Form · Legal Aid & Community Legal Practice
Client consent and authority to obtain information from a third party (Centrelink, a bank, a landlord or an agency)
Signed authority letting a legal service request and receive a client's information from a named organisation for a stated purpose and period, with withdrawal rights and safety instructions, plus notes on when the organisation's own form is needed.
- Kind
- Form. A form to complete, or a guide to completing an official one.
- Where it applies
- Australia
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 3 authorities it cites, for Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when the service needs records the client cannot easily get, for example income and debt records for a legal aid means test, bank statements for a financial abuse matter, or a rental ledger for a tribunal claim. Check first whether the organisation insists on its own form, as Centrelink does for nominee arrangements.
Used for these tasks
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may fill the authority from the intake record and draft the covering request; the lawyer confirms the client understood and agreed to each organisation and type of information listed.
AI may
- Fill the client details, organisation details and the information requested from the intake record
- Draft the short covering letter to the organisation quoting the authority
- List which organisations named are likely to require their own form, for the lawyer to check
AI must not
- Must not widen the information requested or the period beyond what the client agreed to
- Must not include the client's residential address or contact details where the client has asked for them to be withheld
- Must not send the authority to any organisation the client did not name
The lawyer checks
- The client was told in plain language, with an interpreter if needed, what will be requested, from whom, why and for how long, and that they can withdraw
- The client has capacity to give the authority, and no one else was present who might have pressured them
- Each organisation's own requirements are met (for Centrelink, the SS313 form or an online nominee arrangement)
- The expiry date is recorded and the authority is not used after it
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Legal Aid & Community Legal Practice
- Application for legal aid (Legal Aid NSW): guide to helping a client apply
- Plain-language letter of advice after a one-off advice appointment
- Limited-scope (unbundled) retainer letter in plain language
- Community legal centre intake, safety and conflict-check form
- Warm referral to another service, with the client's consent to share information
- End-of-service (file closing) letter in plain language
- Appeal to the Legal Aid Review Panel against a refusal or termination of legal aid (NSW)
- Sign-off checklist for AI-assisted self-help factsheets and kits
- Client notice and choice: AI-assisted notes, summaries and translation (plain language)
All precedents for Legal Aid & Community Legal Practice · Tasks and AI use in this area