M1 - Learner Manual

Once you have met your client and identified their needs you will need to think about the best advocacy strategy or plan you can put in place to assist your client. As already mentioned, you may need to draw on resources from both inside and outside your office. In many situations you will find that there are many relevant stakeholders, organisations or individuals who may end up playing an important part you achieving your advocacy goals. 

You may need to convene a staff meeting to brainstorm what the best way is to approach the case. By doing this you can discuss ideas, the law and your client’s instructions with your colleagues. They may have some suggestions or experiences that can help you with our case and / or you may decide to collaborate and work together on a case. 

You may need to contact support services, institutions, family or the employer of your client. They may have important information that could help your client. They may be able to give evidence in a court case or prepare a support letter. A support letter may be helpful in a court case but it may also be an essential part of a negotiation process. Remember you must make sure you have asked your client for permission before you contact anyone on their behalf. It is best to get written permission. Usually your employer will have some pro forma consent documents ready for your client to sign. It is a good idea to have this at hand and get them signed at your first client interview. It is also important to be clear about the scope of the authority your client has given you. For example, they may give you permission to contact their employer but they may not want you to disclose any material detail about their case. You must ensure you comply with all your ethical duties at all times, especially relating to maintaining client confidentiality. 

Your client’s legal issue will play a big part in shaping the kind of advocacy plan that is appropriate. 

For example:-

• If your client is on remand waiting for a trial in their District Court you would expect that a key part of your advocacy plan will relate to the running of the trial. It may be that you need an interpreter to do your job properly. You would need to be open to negotiating with the Police and / or DPP. Some custodial issues may also arise that require your attention. 

• If your client has drug and alcohol addiction issues and some other legal issues you would expect to refer them to some support services as part of your advocacy plan. In many cases you may not be able to get reliable instructions until the person gets some help and is sober. 

• If your client is a victim of domestic violence you would expect to provide them with legal advice around obtaining an AVO. You may refer them to the police and specialist Domestic Violence or Counselling Services. You may write a letter to these support services providing them with important background material and a case history.

• If your client is a concerned grandmother of a five year old who is state care you would expect to provide her with some general advice. You would need to get information from her about which departmental office is involved and you would need to locate the caseworker to get some of the preliminary information to start making an advocacy plan.

• If your client comes to because they feel they have been discriminated in the workplace based on their disability you would expect to give them some general legal advice about their options. You may end up referring them to the Australian Human Rights Commission. 

As you can see, in each of these cases a slightly different approach is required. The common theme is that issues are often complex and require a multi-faceted approach to be effectively resolved. You will need to engage with different government personnel, organisations and individuals. In some cases, a client’s family may be heavily involved. 

Legal problems generally take some time to resolve, sometimes months and years. For this reason it is really important to maintain good communication with your client and provide them with updates about the progress of your advocacy initiatives and their case. This can be done verbally (documented with a file note) or via letter. A mixture of both forms of communication may be appropriate in some cases. There will be some clients who have literacy issues, so you will need to ensure you keep this in mind and preference verbal communication.