Checklist · Legal Aid & Community Legal Practice
Checklist: code a service to the National Legal Assistance Data Standards before reporting
Close-of-file check that a legal assistance service is coded to the service types and hearing types in the National Legal Assistance Data Standards Manual, version 3.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- Australia, Commonwealth, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory
- AI use
- Green The tool writes the first draft inside a template you have already tested. You check it. Without that test, first drafting starts at Yellow.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the 2 authorities it cites, for 10 jurisdictions.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use before a community legal centre or legal aid body reports services under the national data standards. It codes the service. It does not describe the client's case.
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 suggest a service type from the centre's closed-file codes, using the manual's list. A person checks a sample before the report is sent.
AI may
- Match a closed file's existing activity code to the service-type names published by CLCs Australia
- Flag a duty-lawyer or dispute-resolution file that has been given a hearing type other than no hearing or not applicable
- Count files with a blank service type or a blank hearing type
AI must not
- Must not invent a service type that is not in the manual
- Must not put the client's story, name or unique facts into the reporting fields
- Must not treat a state legal aid grant stage as if it were a national service type
The lawyer checks
- The manual used is version 3, effective 1 July 2021, or a later version if the department has replaced it
- Community education resources and community education activities are not coded as one service
- Duty lawyer and dispute resolution use the hearing-type value the manual requires for those services
- A sample of coded files has been checked against the file before the extract is reported
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 available after you log in. It is free. When you log 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
- Merit and means assessment table for a grant of legal aid (NSW)
- Plain-language letter of advice after a one-off advice appointment
- Client consent and authority to obtain information from a third party (Centrelink, a bank, a landlord or an agency)
- Extension request: work already done and the further work sought (Legal Aid NSW)
- Limited-scope (unbundled) retainer letter in plain language
- Community legal centre intake, safety and conflict-check form
- Duty lawyer brief and appearance note (NSW Local Court criminal list)
- 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