The Accessible Justice Project – Respectful Contact Policy

We value all interactions with our clients and encourage our clients to be involved and proactive in
resolving their legal disputes. We appreciate that many of our clients come to us when they are in
difficult situations or experiencing high levels of stress, anxiety or frustration. Despite the difficult
situations our clients may be in, we ask all our clients to treat our staff with respect and that they
act reasonably and responsibly.

This policy is not intended to reduce our clients’ entitlement to speak with us about their matters,
but rather to make it clear that we will not tolerate unreasonable client conduct, including
unreasonable behaviour and unreasonable demands.

Unreasonable behaviour

Unreasonable behaviour is behaviour that may impact the health, safety and security of our staff,
other clients or the client themselves. Some examples include:

• Acts of agression, harassment, intimidation or physical violence, or threats of physical
  violence.
• Verbal abuse or statements that are offensive, rude, derogatory, defamatory or
  discriminatory on the grounds of race, religion, sexuality or gender either in person, in direct
  correspondence or online.
• Rude, confronting or threatening correspondence.
• Threats of harm to self or third parties.
• Stalking, either in person or online.
• Persistent questioning about a staff member’s personal life.
• Contacting staff outside of work, including via social media platforms.
• Audio or video recording meetings or phone calls without the prior consent of all staff or
  third parties involved.
  
  

Unreasonable demands

Unreasonable demands are demands made by a client that have a disproportionate and
unreasonable impact on our staff, services, time and/or resources. Some examples of
unreasonable demands include:

• Making continued, unwarranted or unrelenting communication with our staff by way of
  phone calls, attendances at our offices without an appointment, letters, emails (including
  cc’d correspondence) or text messages after being asked not to do so.
• Emotional manipulation with the intention to guilt trip, intimidate, harass or shame.
• Providing or insisting on instructions to pursue outcomes that are not possible or
  appropriate in the particular circumstances of the matter.
• Demanding assistance when the nature of assistance within the timeframe is unreasonable
  in the circumstances, or when it has been conveyed that the assistance is not warranted.

The Accessible Justice Project Limited has a zero tolerance policy towards instances of harm,
abuse or threats directed at our staff, regardless of a client’s stress, anxiety or frustration.
Any conduct of this nature will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis taking into consideration
relevant legal obligations regarding work, health and safety. We reserve our rights to terminate our
engagement with clients whose conduct is unreasonable, including ending a phone call or meeting
with those clients.
If you have any questions regarding this policy, please do not hesitate to contact us at
contact@accessiblejustice.org.au or on 08 8115 4270.