Letter · Legal Aid & Community Legal Practice
Warm referral to another service, with the client's consent to share information
Consent record and referral letter for passing a client to another legal, financial counselling or support service: what the client agreed to share, the issue, deadlines, what has been done, safe contact details and interpreter needs.
- 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 2 authorities it cites, for Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when the service cannot help (conflict, capacity, eligibility or expertise) or another service is better placed, and the client wants a "warm" referral rather than just a phone number. Do not send any information until the consent section is completed with the client.
How AI may be used
AI may draft the referral summary from the intake and file notes within what the client agreed to share; a lawyer checks the consent, the summary and the deadlines before it is sent.
AI may
- Summarise the issue and the steps taken from the file notes, limited to the categories ticked in the consent record
- List deadlines and documents attached from the file for the lawyer to confirm
- Suggest services matching the issue and location from the centre's own referral directory
AI must not
- Must not include information in a category the client did not agree to share, including health, criminal history or immigration status
- Must not include the other party's details beyond what the receiving service needs to check conflicts
- Must not state that the receiving service will act for the client
The lawyer checks
- The client agreed to the referral and to each category of information shared, and the consent is recorded
- The receiving service is suitable, open to this client and has been told about any urgent deadline
- Safe contact details and interpreter needs are correct
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.
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