Private law firms play an important role in assisting those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to access the family law and criminal justice systems, by undertaking work for free or at a reduced rate under programs such as the Law Society's Pro Bono Scheme and Legal Aid case assignments.

While lawyers employed by the Legal Aid Commission regularly represent clients in all levels of the criminal court hierarchy, the Commission also assigns legally aided clients to private lawyers in certain situations.

In those circumstances, the Commission pays private lawyers a reduced rate to undertake the work.

Several private lawyers also undertake 'Legal Aid duty work' in the criminal courts, often representing large numbers of clients who are attending their first court dates, for a set daily fee.

Many of those clients will formally apply for legal aid grants and be refused, and for many firms, this duty work represents a rich source of income – as defendants who are ultimately refused legal aid grants will often pay the firms the represent them privately.

Legal Aid funding crisis

But it's important to recognise that the funds available to the Legal Aid Commission are extremely limited.

In fact, it has been reported that due to funding shortfalls for public legal services, at least 45,000 people per year are left to represent themselves in court after being unable to secure legal help from community legal centres, pro bono avenues and legal aid grants.

Your right to know

The Legal Aid Commission is funded by you, the taxpayer, and you have a right to know where your hard-earned dollars are going.

The distribution of Legal Aid funds is outlined in the Commission's annual reports, which provide detailed breakdowns of both revenue and expenditure.

Here are the private law firms in our state which, according to the Commission, have earned the most money from Legal Aid in recent years.

2017 to 2018

Private law firm expenditure

Based on payments made for case and duty services during 2017–2018

Top 20 earning firms

Firm Name Case payments $ Number of case files on which payments made Duty payments $ Number of duty services provided Total amount paid* $
1 MALLINSON RAKE LAWYERS PTY LIMITED $898,407 203 $888,835
2 ROSS HILL & ASSOCIATES SOLICITORS $869,531 109 $862,874
3 GEORGE STEN & CO SOLICITORS $663,415 87 $842,357
4 NYMAN GIBSON MIRALIS (SYDNEY) $642,647 85 $697,520
5 O'BRIEN SOLICITORS $662,391 212 $54,000 442 $691,044
6 OXFORD LAWYERS PTY LTD $627,100 137 $666,428
7 ZAHR & ZAHR LAWYERS $623,514 43 $620,623
8 MATOUK JOYNER LAWYERS $542,791 65 $617,048
9 RAMSLAND LAIDLER $501,401 181 $34,163 339 $614,685
10 TIM MARA SOLICITOR WITH RAFTON FAMILY LAWYERS PARRAMATTA $577,285 339 $31,250 113 $613,465
11 SCOTT MACKENZIE LAWYERS $575,686 212 $42,584 450 $582,111
12 ARCHBOLD LEGAL SOLUTIONS $572,951 123 $581,748
13 BANNISTERS LAWYERS $543,845 113 $572,808
14 BLAIR CRIMINAL LAWYERS PTY LIMITED $562,962 155 $558,224
15 GREGORY J GOOLD $420,998 19 $552,270
16 DOUGLASS & FORD CRIMINAL LAW $513,435 245 $70,525 506 $527,558
17 RICE MORE & GIBSON $480,707 143 $15,775 70 $526,935
18 KATSOOLIS & CO $487,797 54 $526,815
19 VOROS LAWYERS $476,913 126 $34,713 247 $522,699
20 MORRISONS LAW GROUP $367,086 191 $13,925 139 $514,283

2016 to 2017

Expenditure across the private law firms which received the highest aggregate payments for legal aid services 2016–2017

Firm Name Case payments $ Number of case files on which payments made Duty payments $ Number of duty services provided Total amount paid* $
1 BANNISTERS LAWYERS $898,407 124 $898,407
2 ARCHBOLD LEGAL SOLUTIONS $869,531 85 $869,531
3 TIM MARA SOLICITOR WITH RAFTON FAMILY LAWYERS PARRAMATTA $663,415 363 $23,375 84 $686,790
4 O'BRIEN SOLICITORS $642,647 142 $31,475 266 $674,122
5 MATOUK JOYNER LAWYERS $662,391 70 $662,391
6 JEFFREYS LAWYERS $627,100 39 $627,100
7 BLAIR CRIMINAL LAWYERS PTY LIMITED $623,514 119 $623,514
8 SCOTT MURRELL LAWYERS $542,791 161 $43,278 397 $586,069
9 HAMMOND SOLICITORS $501,401 130 $79,425 656 $580,826
10 GEORGE STEN & CO SOLICITORS $577,285 94 $577,285
11 OXFORD LAWYERS PTY LTD $575,686 103 $575,686
12 MARK RUMORE $572,951 $572,951 $975 $975 $573,926
13 GRAEME MORRISON $543,845 207 $20,100 213 $563,945
14 NYMAN GIBSON MIRALIS (SYDNEY) $562,962 92 $562,962
15 RYAN & PAYTEN CRIMINAL LAW SPECIALISTS $420,998 102 $101,000 728 $521,998
16 ZAHR & ZAHR LAWYERS $513,435 44 $513,435
17 RAMSLAND LAIDLER $480,707 166 $31,288 $31,288 $511,994
18 KIDMAN LEGAL $487,797 1 $487,797
19 MARK WHELAN LAWYER PTY LIMITED $476,913 167 $5,038 11 $481,950
20 O'BRIEN WINTER PARTNERS PTY LTD $367,086 228 $111,463 1,170 $478,549

2015 to 2016

Expenditure across the private law firms which received the highest aggregate payments for legal aid services 2015–2016.

Firm Name Case payments $ Number of case files on which payments made Number of case files on which payments made Number of duty services provided Total amount paid $
1 Archbold Legal Solutions $1,050,660 72 $1,050,660
2 Bannisters Lawyers $980,647 95 $980,647
3 Hadden Kemp Solicitors Pty Ltd $856,024 475 475 608 $945,255
4 George Sten & Co Solicitors $801,112 74 $801,112
5 Blair Criminal Lawyers Pty Limited $744,765 174 $744,765
6 Scott Murrell Lawyers $669,550 224 $48,158 475 $717,708
7 Tim Mara Solicitor with Rafton Family Lawyers Parramatta $684,839 349 $20,688 72 $705,527
8 Matouk Joyner Lawyers $638,887 71 $638,887
9 Blue Water Legal $608,459 173 $29,288 242 $637,747
10 Sydney Criminal & Traffic Lawyers $599,721 62 $1,275 16 $600,996
11 Zahr & Zahr Lawyers $600,313 37 $600,313
12 O'Brien Winter Partners Pty Ltd $461,315 261 $135,638 1,219 $596,952
13 Oxford Lawyers Pty Ltd $580,921 120 $580,921
14 Sydney Criminal Lawyers $550,445 71 $300 1 $550,745
15 Hallak Lawyers $550,274 30 $550,274
16 O'Brien Solicitors $501,445 130 $47,550 467 $548,995
17 Verekers Wollongong Lawyers $500,340 184 $4,800 21 $505,140
18 Ramsland Graham Solicitors $473,243 108 $28,913 344 $502,155
19 Phillip Ryan $405,712 105 $86,088 765 $491,799
20 Randall Legal $473,808 111 $17,625 224 $491,433

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.