What 'Legal Services' Actually Means, and How a Person Applies for Them

Court fees, process fees and the costs of the proceeding. A legal aid recipient does not pay them.

Copies of documents, including certified copies of orders and judgments, and the preparation of paper books and printing where an appellate court requires them.

Drafting. Preparation of the plaint, written statement, petition, appeal, and the other pleadings the case needs.

Translation. In a country with this many languages, a translated document is a real service and is treated as one.

Advice, under the second limb, whether or not any proceeding follows.

Legal aid does not mean the Authority pays the other side if the aided party loses, and it does not indemnify against an adverse order for costs. Be careful not to overstate what is on offer.

The word "competent", and why it is in the regulations' title

The long title of the Act promises free and competent legal services, and NALSA named its 2010 regulations after both words. That is a deliberate answer to the oldest criticism of legal aid anywhere: that a free lawyer is a bad lawyer.

The machinery for it is in regulation 8 and regulation 10.

Empanelment is selective. Panel lawyers are chosen with regard to their standing at the Bar, and the regulations provide for panels with the experience the work needs.

Monitoring and Mentoring Committees, defined in regulation 2(1)(ea) and set up under regulation 10, exist to watch the quality of the work rather than only the fact that a lawyer was assigned. A senior lawyer mentors, and the Committee monitors.

The design point is worth stating in an answer: the Act's promise is not a lawyer, it is a competent lawyer, and the regulations exist because those are not the same thing.

How a person applies

This is the part MU's clinical paper is most likely to test, because it is what a student on a legal aid clinic actually has to know. It is regulations 3 to 7.

The front office. Regulation 4 requires every Legal Services Institution to have a front office, a room where legal services are made available, manned by a Retainer Lawyer on rotation and one or more para-legal volunteers during office hours. Since the 2019 amendment the front offices are to act as one stop centres for legal aid seekers, for aid, advice and information about their cases. A proviso lets a person with a Master's degree in Social Work, or a diploma or Master's in psychiatry or psychology, be called to the front office when necessary.

The application. Regulation 3(1) says an application may be presented preferably in Form I, in the local language or in English, and regulation 3(2) lets the applicant attach a summary of grievances on a separate sheet. Then come four sub-regulations that between them remove almost every obstacle:

• 3(3): an application not in Form I may still be entertained if it reasonably explains the facts.
• 3(4): if the applicant is illiterate or unable to apply on his or her own, the institution shall make arrangements to help fill in the form and note down the grievances.
• 3(5): oral requests may be entertained in the same way as a written application.
• 3(6): an applicant advised by para-legal volunteers, legal aid clubs, legal aid clinics or voluntary social service institutions shall also be considered.
• 3(7): requests by e-mail or an interactive online facility may be considered, after verifying the applicant's identity and that the grievance is genuinely his own.

Read those together and the intention is unmistakable: the form must never be the reason a person does not get help.

Proof of entitlement. Regulation 5: a self-certificate, with self-attested copies of any relevant documents or certificates, shall ordinarily be sufficient to show that the applicant falls within section 12. Section 13(2) of the Act separately makes an affidavit as to income sufficient unless the Authority has reason to disbelieve it.

The consequence of lying. Regulation 6: the applicant must be informed that if services are obtained by furnishing incorrect or false information, or fraudulently, the services will be stopped forthwith and the expenses incurred will be recoverable from him.

Scrutiny. Regulation 7(1): the application is scrutinised by the Member-Secretary or Secretary, or an officer deputed by him, for the applicant's eligibility and for the existence of a prima facie case. Two provisos matter:

• A defendant in a civil case, and an accused or convict in a criminal case, is deemed to have a prima facie case to defend or to appeal against conviction and sentence.
• Where there is difficulty in deciding whether there is a prima facie case to prosecute, the Member-Secretary or Secretary may seek the opinion of a panel lawyer of more than seven years' standing at the Bar.

A worked example

Shakuntala, aged sixty-one, comes to the front office of the District Legal Services Authority. She cannot read. Her son has stopped paying her anything and has moved into the room she owns. She has no documents with her at all and no idea what she wants, except help.

Step one, the front office. Regulation 4 means somebody is there: a retainer lawyer on rotation and a para-legal volunteer.

Step two, the application. She cannot fill in Form I. Regulation 3(4) obliges the institution to help her fill it in and note down her grievances, and regulation 3(5) means an oral request would have been enough anyway.

Step three, entitlement. She is a woman, so section 12(c) covers her outright. No income question arises, and regulation 5 makes her self-certificate ordinarily sufficient.

Step four, prima facie case. The Member-Secretary or Secretary scrutinises the application under regulation 7. She would be the applicant in any proceeding, so the deeming proviso does not apply, but a claim for maintenance from a son and a claim to possession of her own room are both plainly arguable. If it were doubtful, an opinion could be taken from a panel lawyer of over seven years' standing.

Step five, what she gets. A panel lawyer, the drafting of the application, the court fee, copies, and translation if the documents are in a language she does not use. And, under limb two of section 2(1)(c), she gets advice: her lawyer may tell her that a proceeding under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 will be faster than a civil suit, which is exactly the sort of thing she could not have known.

What beginners get wrong

Legal service is not only representation in court. Advice on any legal matter is expressly included by section 2(1)(c), and it is available without any case.

The Act does not list what is provided. Section 2(1)(c) defines the phrase; the content comes from NALSA's 2010 Regulations and from the schemes framed under section 4(b).

A defective application is not a ground for refusal. Regulations 3(3) to 3(7) cover applications not in the prescribed form, illiterate applicants, oral requests, referrals from clinics and volunteers, and e-mail.

"Free" does not mean the Authority indemnifies the aided party against everything. It means the applicant does not pay for the lawyer and the costs of running the case.

Quick revision

• Section 2(1)(c): legal service includes rendering any service in the conduct of any case or proceeding before any court, authority or tribunal, and the giving of advice on any legal matter.
• The content of the service comes from the NALSA (Free and Competent Legal Services) Regulations 2010, made under section 29 and amended in 2019.
• What is provided: a panel lawyer or retainer lawyer, court and process fees, drafting, copies and paper books, translation, and advice.
• Regulation 4: every Legal Services Institution has a front office, staffed by a retainer lawyer on rotation and para-legal volunteers, acting as a one stop centre.
• Regulation 3: Form I preferred, but a non-standard application, an illiterate applicant, an oral request, a referral from a clinic or volunteer, and an e-mail request are all to be entertained.
• Regulation 5: a self-certificate ordinarily suffices as proof of entitlement. Regulation 6: false information means services stopped and costs recovered.
• Regulation 7: scrutiny by the Member-Secretary or Secretary; a defendant, accused or convict is deemed to have a prima facie case; a doubtful case may be referred for the opinion of a panel lawyer of over seven years' standing.
• Competence is guarded by empanelment under regulation 8 and by Monitoring and Mentoring Committees under regulation 10.

Test yourself

1. Does a person have to be involved in a case to receive legal service under the Act? No. Section 2(1)(c) includes the giving of advice on any legal matter as legal service, so a person entitled under section 12 may seek advice with no proceeding in existence or contemplation.

2. An applicant arrives with no form, no documents and cannot write. Can he be turned away? No. Regulation 3(4) requires the institution to help him fill in the form and record his grievances, regulation 3(5) permits an oral request, and regulation 5 makes a self-certificate ordinarily sufficient proof of entitlement.

3. What is a Retainer Lawyer, and where is the term defined? A panel lawyer designated as the Retainer Lawyer under regulation 8(9) of the NALSA (Free and Competent Legal Services) Regulations 2010, defined in regulation 2(1)(fa). Under regulation 4 a retainer lawyer mans the front office on a rotational basis.

4. Who scrutinises an application, and what can be done if it is unclear whether a prima facie case exists? The Member-Secretary or Secretary of the institution, or an officer deputed by him, under regulation 7(1). Where it is difficult to decide, he may seek the opinion of a panel lawyer of more than seven years' standing at the Bar.

5. What does the word "competent" in the Act's long title add, and how is it enforced? It promises more than the assignment of any lawyer. It is given effect by the selective empanelment of panel lawyers under regulation 8 and by the Monitoring and Mentoring Committees constituted under regulation 10, whose function is to watch the quality of the work done.