Legal query form

We recommend writing and saving your query in a word document before you fill in this online form. There are character limits in place within the form.

Before completing the form please note the following:

1. We can only advise artists and arts organisations on arts-related matters. You can read our eligibility guidelines here.
2. Arts Law is an independent, non-profit organisation with limited resources. You can read our estimated times for service delivery here.
3. Many questions can be answered by reading our free online legal resources. Please browse through our information sheets and frequently asked questions before submitting a request for advice.
4. Arts Law cannot provide advice on foreign law or on how a foreign court will interpret a contract governed by the law of a foreign jurisdiction. If a document review is requested for the purpose of reviewing an agreement which contains a clause stating that the governing law is that of another jurisdiction, Arts Law will recommend that the governing law be changed to Australian law and its advice as to the meaning and effect of the agreement will proceed on that basis of an Australian law interpretation. If the agreement has already been signed or the draft cannot be changed, the caller must understand that Arts Law cannot advise on the position under the foreign law and that the caller would need to seek advice from lawyers in the relevant foreign jurisdiction. However, where requested, Arts Law can provide advice  on how the contract would be interpreted under Australian law – generally a ‘plain English‘ explanation. While you cannot assume that the same interpretation would be applied by a foreign court, this often provides a useful guide and can assist clients in a general understanding of  their position and in developing strategies for further negotiations.
5. Before receiving advice, arts organisations and individuals who do not meet our means test are asked to subscribe to Arts Law and pay the subscription fee. The Subscription fees are $200 for individuals, $280 for bands and $400 for Arts Organisations. This subscription then entitles the subscriber to one Document Review sessions (DRS) and five Telephone Legal Advice (TLA) sessions in the twelve month subscription period. Click here for more information.
6. Arts Law does not have the capacity to review too many documents or a document which is too large. This situation may arise, for example, where an author requires the review of their manuscript for defamation issues. We cannot review the entire manuscript but only specific extracts, upon the understanding that this is not a complete review of all the relevant material and that our advice will be limited to the specific extracts.
7. You can read through our Charter of Service which includes our feedback and complaints policy here.

Please Note: Fields marked with an asterisk * are required

What happens next?

You will receive a confirmation email letting you know that we have received your query. If you do not receive this within 24 hours please contact us on [email protected] so we can help you as soon as possible.

An Arts Law staff member will contact you to further discuss your query. We aim to respond within 3 working days, although in periods of high demand it may take up to 10 working days. If eligible, we will then arrange a legal advice session with a solicitor.

Once a staff member/volunteer has contacted you the turnaround time to receive advice from a lawyer for Telephone Legal Advice is approx. 10-15 working days. For a query that involves a Document Review, the turnaround time is approx. 20 working days from the point when both document/s AND subscription has been received and confirmed. If your matter is urgent, please ensure the final question on the query form is filled out and contains both a description and date of your deadline.

Please do not phone us about the same matter within this period. Requests for legal advice are answered in the order that they are first received; priority is not given to messages left on our telephone system.

Please note, the advice will be provided to you verbally and due to limited resources we are unable to provide you with a written record of the advice. To make the most of your advice session, we suggest taking notes during the advice session.

Privacy notice

Arts Law respects your rights to privacy and confidentiality. All information you provide to Arts Law will be kept confidential unless you give us permission to disclose information about you to a third party or we have a legal obligation to do so.