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Working with a lawyer

A lawyer’s role is to listen to your story, give you legal advice and help you understand your options moving forward.

They will give you all the information you need to decide for yourself the best choice for you.

Seeing a lawyer does not mean you have to take legal action, but it is the starting point if that is what you decide to do.

1. Arranging to speak with a KWILS lawyer

When you first call or visit to ask KWILS for help, you will speak to a person in our office who will ask you some basic questions about you and your legal problem.

If KWILS is the right service to help you, we will make an appointment. This can be at our office, or a place you choose where you feel safe and comfortable.

You can talk to KWILS with an interpreter, so you can tell us your story in the language that you feel most comfortable with.

You can make an appointment here, come to the KWILS office, call us on 1800 620 108, or email us on info@kwils.com.au.

2. How to prepare for appointment

The idea of meeting with a lawyer can be stressful or scary, but it does not need to be — we are here to help solve problems, not create them.

You might like to spend some time thinking about the situation you want to bring to us before you arrive.

You could write some notes, including dates and specific incidents.

If you are worried that you might forget something when you are talking to us, writing down your thoughts and dates before you come can help.

Write a list of questions that you have about your legal problem, the law, or the legal process.

If you think of more questions after the appointment, you can always call back to ask them.

3. What to bring to appointment

It is helpful to bring any papers you have that are relevant to the legal problem to your appointment.

Papers that might be helpful include:

Letters (for example, from Territory Families, Territory Housing, or Centrelink)
Bills (for example, from Telstra or Jacana)
Fines
Contracts
Court Orders (for example, Domestic Violence Orders)
Other Court Papers (for example, from the Family Law Court)
Text messages, or social media messages, sent to you from another person
Photos

4. What to expect

At the first appointment, we will complete the client intake process. This means either a KWILS support officer or lawyer will sit down with you and ask information about personal circumstances and contact details.

The client intake process will be done before any legal advice is given.

You might need to sign an Authority to Obtain Information and Release Information, and a Client Agreement.

Next, the lawyer will ask you to tell your story. The lawyer will ask you to tell your story in as much detail as possible, and they will ask questions about all the extra things they need to know.

It is important that you include only true things, and as much information as possible, so the lawyer can give the best and most correct advice.

If our staff are worried about your safety, they will talk to you about doing a risk assessment and safety planning.

5. Confidentiality

Lawyers are allowed to keep almost all information clients tell them secret.

However, like all adults in the Northern Territory, KWILS staff have to mandatory report domestic violence to the police, or mandatory report to Territory Families if a child has been harmed or is at risk of being harmed.

Wherever possible, KWILS will discuss making the report prior to making it.

We will also consider everyone’s safety, and how and when is the best time to make a report.

Click here for further information on mandatory reporting.

6. KWILS are here to help

Never be afraid to ask for help. It is important that you understand your options and your lawyer’s legal advice.

We try our best to explain legal processes and the law in the best way for you, but we understand that it can still be confusing.

There are lots of services that it can help to talk to about any worries and sadness you might have.

Find support services here