Our Legal Advice Service has now closed for 2018 and will re-open on Monday 14 January 2019. We apologise for any inconvenience. If you have already lodged a query, we are dealing with all queries in the order we received them.

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 $160 for individuals, $230 for bands and $320 for Arts Organisations. This subscription then entitles the subscriber to two (2) Document Review sessions (DRS) and five (5) 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.