Checklist · Personal Injury & Compensation
First interview guide for a First Nations client
A lawyer's guide for a first interview with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander client, using the New South Wales Law Society guide and Legal Aid Queensland's practice points. It is not a cultural assessment.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 23 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 23 October 2026 against the 2 authorities it cites, for Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when preparing or conducting a first interview with a client who identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Do not use it to decide identity, and do not read it out as a script.
Used for these tasks
- Plan a culturally safe first contact with a First Nations client
- Record the first interview in a sourced file note
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
The tool may turn this guide into a conference plan from facts the client has already given, and it must not decide that the client is or is not a First Nations person or invent a cultural protocol.
AI may
- Remind the lawyer to explain confidentiality, instructions and plain English
- Leave room for an interpreter, a support person, and a longer contact plan
- Record a sorry-business or cultural commitment the client chooses to mention, without asking for ceremony detail
AI must not
- Must not require proof of identity by language, appearance or customary practice
- Must not ask for the content of men's or women's business
- Must not press for the name of a deceased person
- Must not treat a yes answer, silence, or lack of eye contact as agreement
- Must not write this guide up as a witness statement
The lawyer checks
- The client was asked how they want to be described. Identity is not filled in by the tool
- An interpreter is arranged if the client wants one, including for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language. In New South Wales the Law Society guide says a Local Aboriginal Land Council is a place to start that enquiry
- The client had a chance to speak without family or a support person taking over, unless the client wanted that person to help
- Court dates and medical appointments are checked against any cultural commitment the client has mentioned
- The notes stay in the firm's system. They are not sent to a scheme or an insurer with the interview
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
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The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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