M1 - Learner Manual

Advocacy skills may involve speaking, acting or writing on behalf of an individual (or group) who has limited ability to exercise his/her rights. They include in court and outside of court advocacy skills.

To advocate effectively you need to have skills that help you to carry out a basic assessment of your client’s needs and whether they require special assistance.  Once you have done this you can analyse what law applies to their case and then move on to making a plan about how to best advocate on their behalf.

This initial assessment as to whether or not a person requires special assistance involves three steps:

1. Making an initial, preliminary assessment looking for warning signs using basic questioning and observation of the client. 
2. If doubts arise, seeking a clinical consultation or formal evaluation of the client’s capacity.
3. Making a judgment about their needs and take proper action to provide assistance.

It is important to recognise clients’ needs in order to represent and assist them in making informed decisions. Understanding the nature of the person’s vulnerability and their special assistance they require is essential to ensuring: 

effective representation of that person; 

the court is aware of the nature of their needs and level of vulnerability; 

ensuring the client understands court proceedings which is essential to obtaining proper access to justice and protect their rights; 

appropriate referrals are made to ensure they receive appropriate assistance  

In some cases those identified needs are quite simple like the need to make a phone call to a family or to have access to proper clothing in custody however, they are essential for a person who is in custody. Sometimes clients are on medications and they need access to their medicine or they suffer physical disability and need proper instruments. 

On the other hand, some clients have more complicated needs in particular if their mental capacity is in doubt and they are not able to indicate what they want to achieve. There are some general warning signs that point to the need for further investigation but they are not exhaustive and should not be used as grounds for a definite diagnosis.^[1] These include:

• A client demonstrates difficulty with recall or has memory loss
• A client has ongoing difficulty with communications
• A client demonstrates a lack of mental flexibility
• A client is disoriented
• A client is in hospital or a residential aged care facility when instructions are taken
• A client is accompanied by many other friends, family or carers to interviews with the solicitor but is not given the chance to speak for themselves
• A client shows a limited ability to interact with the solicitor
• A client shows a limited ability to repeat advice to the solicitor and ask key questions about the issues

If you recognise any of these factors are present then this will help to inform you about how you can best communicate with the client, who you may need to refer them to and exactly how to develop an advocacy plan that will best meet their needs. 

There are a number of other techniques that advocates can use to provide a comfortable environment for clients. This will help to maximise their ability to understand the discussion and to accommodate any disabilities or impairments they may have. These include giving clients more time to read documents, putting a client at ease and providing aids where the client has hearing or vision impairments, support persons or interpreter.