Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) Where a legal aid
authority decides that legal aid should be provided to a person under this
Act —
(a) the
nature and extent of the legal aid to be provided shall also be decided by the
legal aid authority; and
(b) the
legal aid authority may, having regard to the matters mentioned in
section 37(3), decide that the legal aid shall be provided free of charge
or that it shall be provided subject to such conditions as the legal aid
authority considers appropriate and, without limiting the generality of the
foregoing, may be provided subject to all or any of the following conditions,
that is to say —
(i)
a condition that, on demand by the Commission, the
assisted person shall pay to the Commission, or arrange for the Commission to
be paid, the whole or any part of the cost of providing the legal aid;
(ii)
a condition that, on demand by the Commission, the
assisted person shall make or arrange a payment or payments to the Commission
in respect of any out-of-pocket expenses incurred, or to be incurred, in
providing the legal aid;
(iii)
a condition that, on demand by the Commission, the
assisted person shall grant and execute a mortgage, bill of sale, debenture,
charge or other security over land or other property to secure the payment of
the whole or any part of the cost of providing the legal aid;
(iv)
without limiting subparagraph (iii), a condition
that the payment of the whole or any part of the cost of providing the legal
aid is to be secured by a charge on land registered under section 44A;
(v)
a condition that if the assisted person receives an
amount under the judgment or verdict in proceedings arising out of a matter in
respect of which the legal aid is provided or as a result of a settlement or
compromise of such proceedings, the assisted person shall, on demand by the
Commission, pay to the Commission an amount determined by the Director.
(1a) A condition of
the kind mentioned in subsection (1)(b)(v) may be imposed and enforced
notwithstanding Part 10 Division 6 of the
Legal Profession Act 2008 .
(2) A decision to
provide legal aid to a person under this Act may be varied at any time so as
to —
(a)
terminate the provision of that legal aid;
(b)
alter the nature or extent of that legal aid;
(c)
impose a condition mentioned in subsection (1)(b) on the provision of
that legal aid or vary such a condition previously imposed on the provision of
that legal aid,
and may be so
varied —
(d) in a
case when the decision was made by a legal aid committee (or by a review
committee on the review of a decision of a legal aid
committee) — by a legal aid committee;
(e) in a
case where the decision was made by an officer of the Commission (or by a
review committee on the review of a decision of an officer of the
Commission) —by the Director or by a member of the staff authorised
by the Director to vary such decisions;
(f) in a
case where the decision was made under
section 49A(2) — by the legal aid authority which made
the original decision in the matter reviewed; or
(g) in
any case — by the Commission.
(3) Without limiting
the rights of the Commission under a security referred to in
subsection (1)(b)(iii), if a person who is or has been an assisted person
has not paid an amount payable by way of a payment under
subsection (1)(b)(i) or (ii), the amount is recoverable by the Commission
by action in a court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due and payable to
the Commission.
(4) A certificate of
the Director that an amount is due and payable by way of a payment under
subsection (1)(b)(i) or (ii) is prima facie evidence that the
amount stated in the certificate is due and payable to the Commission.
(5) Any amount paid or
recovered under this section shall be credited to the Fund.
[Section 39 amended by No. 60 of 1977
s. 20; No. 126 of 1982 s. 11; No. 90 of 1986 s. 14;
No. 73 of 1992 s. 8; No. 49 of 1996 s. 64; No. 65 of
2003 s. 47(5); No. 21 of 2008 s. 674(20).]