Line 4 of 5 · Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner
Legal advice in Victoria: where a business coach must stop
In Victoria it is a criminal offence to engage in legal practice without being qualified, or to claim falsely that you are qualified, and the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner (VLSB+C) lists drafting a contract, or advising on its terms, among the activities that could be considered unqualified legal practice when done by someone without a current practising certificate. Some Australian laws let people who aren’t lawyers, such as registered conveyancers and accountants, give limited legal services. Someone may still be engaging in unqualified legal practice when the help is free, given only once, accurate, or comes with a warning that they aren’t qualified.
General information about Victoria’s rules, not legal advice. The official place to check is the VLSB+C, linked at the foot of this page.
Not qualified
VLSB+C: may not engage in legal practice
- A person without a current Australian practising certificate, even one with a law degree or formal legal training
- A business that isn’t a registered law practice in any state or territory
Qualified
VLSB+C: may engage in legal practice
- An Australian legal practitioner: a person holding a current practising certificate from any state or territory
- A registered legal practice
From the VLSB+C’s page on unqualified legal practice, in plain words.
What unqualified legal practice can look like
The VLSB+C lists common activities that could be considered unqualified legal practice when done by a person who doesn’t hold a current practising certificate. Summarised, they are:
- giving legal advice, spoken or written, about another person’s legal affairs
- preparing documents for a court or tribunal, such as applications, forms and submissions
- preparing, or advising on, documents for a transaction that may never reach court, such as drafting a contract, a will or a settlement agreement, or advising on its terms
- writing legal documents that suggest the writer is legally representing someone
- “ghost drafting”: writing a legal document or letter for another person, which goes out in that person’s name
- appearing for someone as their legal representative in a court or tribunal.
An illustration, written for this guide
A client asks their coach to go through a supplier’s contract and say which clauses to push back on, then to write the letter to the supplier that the client will sign. Set against the VLSB+C’s list, the first request sits close to advising on the terms of a contract, and the second sits close to its description of ghost drafting: writing a document for someone else that goes out in their name. Talking through what the client wants from the supplier relationship is a different conversation from either.
Free, once, accurate, or with a warning
The VLSB+C adds that it may still be unqualified legal practice even if the person:
- doesn’t charge for it
- does it only once
- gives advice that is right, or a document that is well drafted
- says they aren’t qualified.
So a coach offering a “quick look” at a contract as a free extra, with a disclaimer that they aren’t a lawyer, is not outside the activities the regulator describes for that reason alone.
Titles, and what a business says about itself
A separate offence covers advertising, representing, stating or implying an ability to provide legal services without being qualified. Six titles are protected, and a non-lawyer can’t use any of them for themselves or their business, whether spoken, in print or online: lawyer, solicitor, legal practitioner, barrister, attorney and counsel. Avoiding those words doesn’t settle it, because other words or actions that imply someone can provide legal services can also be an offence.
The same applies to a business. If a company director advertises that the company can provide legal services when it isn’t a law practice, the director may be committing an offence. Some laws let people who aren’t legal practitioners provide limited legal services, and the VLSB+C names registered conveyancers, accountants, migration agents, and trade marks or patent attorneys among them; even they can’t advertise themselves as legal practitioners without a current practising certificate.
Penalties, and the harm the rule is for
- Engaging in unqualified legal practice: a maximum of up to two years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
- Representing an entitlement to practise while unqualified: a maximum penalty of a fine.
- How it is enforced: the VLSB+C can prosecute in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, which decides the penalty, and a finding of guilt could see a conviction recorded. It can also seek an injunction in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
The regulator’s reason is the client. In the most serious cases, people who act on unqualified advice may break the law without knowing it, or even lose access to real legal remedies for a loss they have suffered, and they aren’t covered by professional indemnity insurance or the VLSB+C’s compensation scheme if things go wrong.
Checking a lawyer, and what a report leads to
The VLSB+C’s Register of Lawyers shows whether a person holds a current Australian practising certificate and whether a business is a registered law practice, with the practitioner’s location of practice and certificate type. A practitioner who is practising for a time in another state or territory may appear on that place’s register instead, and the name on a practising certificate can differ from the name someone goes by.
Reports of unqualified legal practice go to the VLSB+C. It starts with an early assessment, which is not a formal investigation, and aims to resolve enquiries within 6 to 12 months, longer if it goes to court. The law doesn’t give it power to make someone repay money. When it decides what to do, it weighs how risky the conduct is, whether consumers were harmed, and how serious it is or how often it has happened.
A coach’s marketing can cross a line too, quite apart from what is said in a session: the guide on claims about results covers what the consumer law asks of it, and the tax advice guide shows the same kind of line drawn for tax.