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The Grants Program has conducted three themed funding rounds that have concentrated support around a particular important legal issue. This has proved a successful strategy contributing to long term systemic and policy changes.
This 2024 report explores the legal issues associated with Victoria’s housing crisis, and recommends that the VLSB+C prioritises a new grant round focused on housing justice.
This priority-funding theme of our grants program responded to rising rates of women’s incarceration in Victoria. Over five years, we provided $5 million to seven innovative projects.
Health Justice Partnerships (or HJPs) integrate legal assistance as an integral element of the health care team. They require the development of a sophisticated partnership between the legal and health professions and their organisations to jointly address the health and social circumstances which often manifest in the form of legal needs.
In 2014, HJPs were a new way of delivering legal services and we made it a priority to fund more of these projects; allocating $2.6 million across 12 new HJP projects.
Since 2011, a total of 16 projects have shared in over $3 million of funding to address violence against women. The work that was funded has had collective impact on influencing policy and practice around this important theme.
Links to more reports on the important work by our grantees over the years.
Learn about the Grants Program and how it’s influencing policy and reform and changing lives through this 11 page report.
The Public Purpose Fund (PPF) is a Victorian statutory fund established by the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (Vic). Its primary function is to help meet the costs of regulating the legal profession in Victoria, while also providing funding for several other purposes that benefit the general public and consumers of legal services in particular, such as legal aid and community legal services.
The Victorian Legal Services Board (the Board) is responsible for the administration of the PPF.
The primary purpose of the PPF is to generate sufficient income to help pay for the regulation of the legal profession as well as to provide an ongoing stream of funding support for a range of other legal bodies and programs. The legislation specifies the different bodies and activities that may receive funds from the PPF, which is discussed in more detail on this webpage. All funding allocations are included in an annual budget approved by the Victorian Attorney-General. Details of the amounts allocated each year are listed in the Board’s annual reports.
Lawyers and approved barristers’ clerks hold money in trust on behalf of their clients. The funds held in trust generate interest which is paid into the PPF. This provides one major income stream of the PPF. A proportion of the funds in trust accounts may also be invested by the Board to provide additional income. Other sources of income are the annual fees paid by lawyers for their practising certificates, and any fines imposed on lawyers following disciplinary action taken against them in the courts.
A diagram of how the money is received by the PPF and spent from the PPF’s different accounts is at the bottom of the page.
The cyclical nature of the financial markets affects the financial returns available for the PPF’s beneficiaries each year. The variations may result in smaller amounts being available in some years for new allocations or to maintain existing allocations.
There are three main themes that guide the allocations made from the PPF:
This group of allocations captures the costs of regulating the legal profession in Victoria. It includes the costs of:
The Board and Commissioner’s costs include the costs of any regulatory activities undertaken by the Law Institute of Victoria and the Victorian Bar under delegation from the Board or Commissioner.
Our Access to justice (A2J) funding aims to boost services for those who can’t afford legal advice and representation, and to develop more effective ways to help those who are especially disadvantaged or marginalised. Read the Access to Justice Policy Statement.
The statutory funding objectives that fall within the A2J category are:
The largest single annual allocation from the PPF is made to Victoria Legal Aid. This funding is a significant contribution to the annual costs of delivering legal aid to the Victorian community.
Other allocations that support A2J objectives are made under the Board’s Grants Strategy, which focuses on three goals:
We are committed to improving access to justice for Victorians through targeted funding that helps meet these goals.
The Grants Strategy is organised around two funding streams:
Many of the recipients of discretionary grants are community legal centres. Programs that receive funding are carefully monitored and their outcomes evaluated to ensure the grant recipients have met their stated objectives.
For more information, see our Grants program page.
The Board is also empowered to support wider improvements in the justice system’s operation. The statutory funding objectives that fall within the system improvement category are:
The Board uses these funding powers to support organisations and activities that improve the justice system’s capability, such as by maintaining professional standards, developing new laws and policies, improving data, information and knowledge about the justice system, or developing innovative solutions to new and existing challenges.
The Board focuses on the parts of the justice system for which the Victorian Attorney-General is responsible. The Attorney-General has ministerial responsibility for human rights, the courts, the regulation of lawyers, legal assistance for those who are unable to afford their own legal representation, and a wide range of civil and criminal justice laws, including police investigative powers and sentencing law.
The Board makes decisions about allocations from the PPF on the basis that they must be within the limits of the Victorian legislation and must align with the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner’s (VLSB+C) vision, goals and strategies. These are found in policies and plans such as its Corporate Plan, Grants Strategy, Access to Justice policy and relevant financial and risk management frameworks.
The amount of funding in any year is dependent on the amount available in the PPF for allocation. All allocations are subject to approval by the Victorian Attorney-General.
The Board’s priorities are:
The Board gives additional weighting to proposals from First Nations organisations in recognition of the role that the justice system played in the dispossession of First Nations people, the damage subsequently inflicted on their communities, and the over-representation of First Nations people in the justice system.
Allocations are prioritised for organisations and activities within the Attorney-General’s portfolio, although collaboration with bodies outside the portfolio is possible. The Board also takes into account other sources of funding that might be available to an applicant body.
Applications for grants funding are considered under our Grants Strategy.
Allocations from the PPF are subject to the Board’s monitoring and evaluation requirements to ensure that the anticipated benefits of the funding are being delivered.
Read our frequently asked questions about the external examination process.
Law practices and approved barristers’ clerks who operate trust accounts are required to keep trust records. These records must be examined by an external examiner (EE) each trust examination year. The trust examination year runs from 1 April – 31 March.
For the purposes of the examination, a law practice or approved clerk must provide the EE with their accounting or other records relating to the affairs of the practice or approved barristers' clerk, as well as any other information the EE reasonably requires. Penalties apply for failing to comply with these requirements.
EEs must provide end of trust year documentation to the Board by 31 May each year.
EEs, law practices and approved barristers' clerks will be contacted directly to inform them of the end of trust examination year requirements. The trust examination year requirements via LSB Online open in early April.
The Board has produced several resources to assist External Examiners when completing an external examination.
Visit the Resources for External Examiners page for frequently asked questions, and our Canaries in the Coal Mine video presentation providing guidance for completing external examinations.
Law practices and approved barristers' clerks who cease to be authorised to receive trust money must also have their trust records examined by an EE for any part of the trust examination year in which they were authorised to receive trust money. Law practices or approved barristers' clerks must also lodge examination reports for each trust examination year and any remaining period during which they continue to hold trust money. These reports must be lodged with the Board within 60 days after the end of the relevant examination period (See Rule 68(4) of the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015).
The Act imposes heavy penalties for failing to comply with this requirement.
There are several trust accounting software packages available on the market. Before purchasing one of them, make sure it has the capacity to comply with the law.
A list of trust accounting software packages that have been examined and certified by the Trust Accounts Department of the NSW Law Society can be found on their website.
All parts of the annual trust examination reporting is conducted via LSB Online. Parts A and B are completed by the law practice. The External Examiner can then submit their report. If you are having any difficulties in submitting any part of the annual reporting, please contact edp@lsbc.vic.gov.au.