I think you stumble across them. LOL

Where are you? I know a good solicitor who does Legal Aid (if you need Legal Aid).

The downfall with Legal Aid is that they base their decision on the ability of the case being won. If they think the case will be successful - aid will be granted. If they think there isn't won't they will deny aid.

If a solicitor is the one who applies for Legal Aid on a parent's behalf, they have to show that the case can be won. If there are any new assessment reports those have to be included with the application - but negative assessment reports can harm an application.

You do have the right to appeal, but having the hearing 2 days after finding out you had been denied would have made an appeal next to impossible I expect.

I have had my share of solicitors who suck. The first solicitor we ever had cost us $400 and his best advice was to agree to the order they wanted and go from there... We were not prepared to do that. We never used him again.

The next solicitor we had tried to excuse herself from the case 3 times because DoCS frustrated her so much. But she stuck with us.

But things then went pear shaped after a few months and the solicitor of one of my brothers stepped up to the plate without even being asked. I was looking at facing a charge of perverting the course of justice - so he took over control of the Family Law side of the case and kicked butt from there on.

I managed to surround myself with legal reps that DoCS in my area know and do not like at all. It was a complete fluke.