Cases Covered by the Legal Aid Board

Information

The Legal Aid Board tends to provide legal aid and legal advice in the following areas mainly;

• judicial separation;
• divorce;
• maintenance;
• domestic violence;
• custody of and access to children;
• problems relating to hire-purchase agreements;
• contract disputes.

The Board provides legal aid or advice to a complainant in certain criminal cases involving prosecution for a range of sexual offences, including rape, aggravated sexual assault and incest. It also provides legal advice in relation to criminal matters to alleged victims of human trafficking.

The Board can give legal advice in most areas. It is prohibited from providing legal aid in the following categories of cases:

1. defamation claims (i.e., where a person's reputation has been damaged as a result of libel or slander)
2. land disputes (i.e., disputes concerning rights and interests in or over land)
3. civil matters covered by the small claims procedure
4. licensing (publicans' licenses)
5. conveyancing (i.e., the legal transfer of a property from one party to another)
6. election petitions
7. claims made in a representative, fiduciary or official capacity
8. claims brought by a person on behalf of a group of persons to establish a precedent on a particular point of law ("test cases")
9. any other group or representative action ("class actions")

Category (7) refers to a situation where a person is bringing a case on behalf of someone else or in an official capacity.