Legal Aid Queensland (LAQ) has advised that, effective from Monday 1 August 2022, fees paid to solicitors and barristers representing financially disadvantaged clients in most state law matters have increased.
All hourly rates for solicitors in these state law matters will be paid at $140 an hour, which aligns with the current child protection and Commonwealth family law hourly rate for solicitors. Fixed fees or event fees (conferences, mentions, preparation, etc.) have also increased for most state law matters. Disbursements for items such as reports, giving evidence, service, travel and accommodation have also increased and apply across state and Commonwealth matters.
Professional fees for psychiatrists who provide reports and give evidence have increased in-line with rates paid by some other government agencies.
The increased fees cannot be applied retrospectively so any grants that have already issued will be paid at the rate that applied when the grant was issued.
Full details of the increases have been published in the Grants Handbook – Scale of Fees, updated from Monday 1 August 2022.
LAQ acknowledges the vital role lawyers in private practice play in the delivery of legal services to financially disadvantaged people across Queensland and is committed to increasing fees paid to providers when financially possible to do so.
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