Legal advice
TEWLS is able to provide free one-off legal advice to all women and persons identifying as women in the Greater Darwin region. Appointments for legal advice are confidential, except where mandatory reporting is required under NT law.
TEWLS is unable to provide legal advice by email or via one of our social media channels.
TEWLS offers appointments for legal advice in most areas of civil, family and migration law. To check whether TEWLS is able to give you legal advice, please see Areas of Law.
TEWLS is able to provide legal advice as follows:
- In person – TEWLS can give legal advice at our Darwin office or at one of our Clinic Locations;
- By phone – If you are unable to attend our office or one of our clinic locations, we are able to provide legal advice over the phone; or
- By Teams or Skype – If you are unable to attend our office or one of our clinic locations, but would prefer to speak “face-to-face” with one of our lawyers, we are able to provide legal advice via Teams or Skype.
TEWLS is able to arrange interpreters free of charge, including Auslan interpreters. If you require the assistance of an interpreter for your appointment, please let us know at the time of making your appointment.
To make an appointment for legal advice, please Contact Us or you can request for a TEWLS staff member to contact you by completing the Make An Appointment form.
Preparing for your appointment for legal advice
To make an appointment with TEWLS, you will need to provide your name and the full name of the person who is on the other side of your legal matter – this is usually the person or organisation/company/Government Department with whom you’re having problems . TEWLS needs to obtain this information so that we can conduct a “conflict check”, where we confirm that there are no conflicts of interest that would mean that we’re not able to give you legal advice.
When you are preparing for your appointment, you should:
- Collate any paperwork that relates to your legal matter; and/or
- Write down any questions that you would like the ask the lawyer.
If you are not sure what you should bring to your appointment, please ask TEWLS staff at the time that your appointment is made.
Legal representation
TEWLS provides casework and legal representation services on a case-by-case basis. This means that TEWLS represents clients as required, including at Court or within a mediation setting.
As a small team, we are able to provide legal representation only in circumstances of hardship or where there is a barrier to accessing justice. The assessment of these circumstances is at the discretion of TEWLS and can include circumstances such as health and disability barriers, domestic, family and sexual violence, cultural and/or linguistic barriers, financial hardship, and homelessness, as well as TEWLS’ capacity to assist at that time.
If we are not able to provide you with legal representation, we will be able to provide you with appropriate referrals for other legal and non-legal services, including private legal practitioners, in your local area.
