Before your appointment

To make an appointment, you will need to provide your name and the full name of the person who is on the other side of your legal matter. We cannot give you legal advice without it. This is in order for us to check for a potential conflict of interest. If your dispute is with a company or institution, we need that name and the name of an individual if you have been dealing with a specific person over an extended period of time.

What to bring to your appointment:

  • any paperwork you have related to your legal matter
  • a list of questions which you would like the lawyer to answer.

Conflict of interest – when we can’t help

We cannot provide legal or social work assistance in any of our programs if we identify that we have a ‘conflict of interest’.

A conflict of interest may arise in many different ways. It most commonly occurs when Caxton is already assisting the ‘other party’. For more information about how a conflict of interest arises and what it means for you, please read our Conflict of Interest – explained.

We will let you know if we cannot assist you at our centre. We will provide the details of another centre who may be able to assist you. We will not be able to give you the details of the conflict of interest. We will give you legal information that may help you to solve the legal problem yourself. We will recommend other legal or social support services who may be able to provide you with the help you need. You might like to look at one of our referral lists.

Information barrier for confidential client information

Caxton Legal Centre’s information barrier (or firewall) is an arrangement we have made to store confidential information we hold about a potential client or previous client in a way that will prevent a potential conflict of interest arising. 

For more information about how we protect your confidential information, please refer to our confidential client information factsheet

During your appointment

At your appointment, a qualified lawyer will give legal advice, assist you to understand your options and provide a written copy of the advice. Our Social Work Service and an interpreter service are available. Law students may also assist.

Referrals may be provided to Legal Aid Queensland, private solicitors and other appropriate agencies.

Appointments are brief in order to assist as many people as possible.

Caxton is committed to providing quality service. If you have a complaint about the quality or manner of our service, or if you are unhappy in some other way, please get in touch.

Read our policies on Access to confidential information and Privacy.