Welcome to LawMail

What is LawMail?

LawMail is an email service you can use if you have a legal question. All questions will be sent to the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre where a lawyer will reply to your message.

Who can use LawMail?

LawMail is for children and young people under 18 years old.

How do I use LawMail?

Just fill in your details and your legal question on the next page. Make sure you provide us with your email address so that we can reply to your questions!

Do I have to pay any money?

No. This is a free service.

When will I get a reply?

Lawyers at the Centre will reply to your message as quickly as possible, usually within 6 days.

Can I use LawMail for help with school assignments or projects?

Unfortunately, due to limited resources, we can't help with school projects or research. The Lawstuff site has many research links sorted into alphabetical categories. Just go to the Getting Help section and browse through the Research Links listed there.

Will you tell anyone about what I write, like the police or my parents?

No.
When you talk to a lawyer asking for advice, the lawyer must keep your information secret. We are not allowed to tell anyone (not even your parents or school or friends) that you have written to us or what your question is. There are some exceptional cases where the law requires us to pass on information. We have to tell the police if you convince us that a serious crime is going to be committed and someone is going to be hurt.

We can also tell people if you want us to. For example, if we are asking the government to change the law, we can tell them about why the law is not working very well for young people like you. If we use your story, we will not use your name or contact details. We will also change or remove any information that might identify you. For example, if you live in a small community, we will not include the name of the community or anything that would identify you.

We send statistics to the Attorney-General who helps to fund the centre. This does not include any personal details about you or about your question – it is only so they know how much work is done through the Lawmail system.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION BEFORE YOU ASK YOUR QUESTION SEND US A LAWMAIL (WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS) OR CALL US (DURING OFFICE HOURS) ON 02 9385 9588.

If you have a legal question, please fill out this form with details of your problem and we will get back to you.

IMPORTANT! Please remember to include an email address when you send your question! Otherwise we have no way of sending an answer back to you.

! Send A Lawmail

All the information that you provide to us will be kept strictly confidential. We will not share your personal information with anyone. We will need to know some things about you in order to answer your question properly. Please fill out the details below.

!What is your name? 
It helps us to refer to you by a name, but you may use a different name or nickname if you like.

Date Of Birth: 
Knowing your birthday will enable us to answer your legal question properly since the answer to your legal question may be different depending on your age.

Your gender: 
This information is useful to us in understanding problems young people face. For example, that girls are bullied as much as boys.

Which state/territory do you live in? 

What suburb do you live in? 

What's your postcode? 
This will help us to provide you with a more accurate response since each state and territory has its own set of laws. By providing us with your suburb and postcode, we’ll be able to provide you with details of legal services in your area that could be of assistance to you or you may be interested in contacting.

Are you an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person?
No Yes

This information helps us tell you about your rights as an ATSI young person. We also gather information about the number of ATSI young people we help and the questions they have so that the government can improve its services to ATSI people


! We will respond by email!
Please put your details in the space provided.

What is your email address?
  
We need your email address so we can send you the answer to your question. Otherwise we have no way of sending your answer back to you!

! What is your legal question?