Fijians can now access free legal advice and apply for free legal aid services from anywhere in Fiji after the Fijian Legal Aid Commission launched the online digital portal: get.legalaid.org.fj today.
The commission is however still accepting applications manually until the 1st of January next year.
From 1st January next year, the commission will officially launch the online application portal and if it receives application then the commission’s staff will enter it into the online system.
The fully automated and online system allows Fijians to connect with Legal Aid Commission Fiji and access free legal aid services provided by the Commission.
Commission Director Shahin Ali says one of their main goals as per their 3-year strategic plan is to increase accessibility to their services and leveraging available technology is an important part of this exercise.
Ali says their new online system will enable hundreds of Fijians who are online to apply directly for free legal aid services such as legal representation in family, civil and criminal matters, drafting of wills, and obtain legal advice.
The new system, designed by strategic communications firm from Fiji, Vatis, sees the beginning of a new era of access to justice and announces the Commission’s entrance into Digital Transformation.
Ali adds in their bid to increase access to justice, they now have 19 offices around Fiji which have removed the need for Fijians to travel to Suva in order to get assistance.
Some of the features of get.legalaid.org.fj are automatically determining based on responses which staff member to send particular applications to, generates a PDF version of the application for ease of use and paperless filing, maintains a full audit trail tracking responses from members of the public to Legal Aid Officers, adapts to all devices including phones and tablets, 256-bit end to end encryption for security, the application backs up a copy of itself every 24 hours.
