Legal Services Board

Working with a lawyer

Registration

To check if your lawyer is entitled to engage in legal practice, see the Register of legal practitioners.

Who is on the Register of legal practitioners?

All legal practitioners are on the Register if they hold a current Victorian practising certificate. In most circumstances, practitioners must hold a practising certificate from Victoria or interstate to be authorised to practise in Victoria.

What if my lawyer is not on the Register?

There may be more than one explanation:

  1. You may have your lawyer’s name incorrect or your lawyer may be known by a different name. Ask for or search by the lawyer’s full name. Ensure you have the correct spelling.
  2. Alternatively, your lawyer may not appear on the Register because they do not hold a current Victorian practising certificate. In this case they may still be entitled to practise if they hold a practising certificate from interstate. This might be the case if your lawyer resides or practises primarily interstate, or has recently moved from interstate. Generally, you can check a similar register in the practitioner’s home jurisdiction to try to find them. You can find the interstate regulators on the Links page.

    The Board is currently participating in a national project to create a national register of all practitioners authorised to engage in legal practice anywhere in Australia.

There are some limited instances in which a person can engage in legal practice without a practising certificate. See further information about these instances.

In most other cases, if the practitioner does not hold a current practising certificate, they are not entitled to engage in legal practice in Victoria. If you suspect this is the case:

Costs

The Legal Services Commissioner can receive complaints regarding legal costs not exceeding $25,000. The Commissioner distributes two information sheets to consumers about their rights in relation to legal costs. Visit the Legal Services Commissioner website for further information.

Complaints

All other complaints about the conduct of a legal practitioner or the provision of legal services should be made to the Legal Services Commissioner.