Letter · Legal Aid & Community Legal Practice
Plain-language letter of advice after a one-off advice appointment
Short letter confirming the advice given at a single appointment (community legal centre, legal aid advice or duty service): the facts relied on, the advice, the options, the key dates, what the client must do and that the service has ended.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- 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 after a one-off advice session where the service will not act further, so the client has the advice in writing and the file records what was and was not done. Send it within a few days of the appointment, to a contact address the client has confirmed is safe.
How AI may be used
AI may turn the lawyer's advice notes into the plain-language letter; the lawyer checks that every statement of advice, every date and every option matches what was actually advised.
AI may
- Rewrite the lawyer's file note of the advice into short plain-language sentences at the reading level the centre has set
- Pull the deadlines mentioned in the file note into the key dates table
- Produce a translated draft for a qualified translator or interpreter to check, where the client needs one
AI must not
- Must not add advice, options or legal rules that are not in the lawyer's file note
- Must not calculate or state a limitation period or tribunal deadline that the lawyer has not confirmed
- Must not include the client's address, or any safety-sensitive detail, in a letter going to an address the client has not confirmed is safe
The lawyer checks
- The facts in "What you told us" are the facts the advice relied on, and the letter says advice may differ if the facts are different
- Every deadline in the key dates table is right for the forum and the client's situation
- The letter says clearly that the service is not acting further, and what the client must now do themselves
- Contact method and address are safe for the client
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
- Client consent and authority to obtain information from a third party (Centrelink, a bank, a landlord or an agency)
- 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