1300 663 464

Monday to Friday
9.30am – 4.30pm

Telephone Interpreting Service: 131 450

Administration: (02) 9212 4216

Fax: (02) 9212 4711

Postal Address:

PO Box 538, Surry Hills NSW 2010

About Us

The Insurance Law Service is a free legal service available to anyone in Australia who would like advice on insurance law or in resolving a dispute with an insurer. We aim to assist as much of the community as possible but will not provide advice or assistance to insurers or businesses.

The Insurance Law Service is set up to act as a point of first contact for the general public to get advice as to their rights and legal remedies when they are dealing with insurers or find themselves in an insurance dispute. The Insurance Law Service is also able, in certain circumstances, to to provide legal assistance in either an ongoing Insurance Dispute Resolution Scheme or a relevant Court Proceeding.

The Insurance Law Service is committed to providing high quality legal education and information to both practitioners and the general public. We are able to provide legal information sessions to groups or communities. The Insurance Law Service is also actively involved in Insurance Policy and Law Reform. We encourage feedback from the public as to issues they are experiencing with either individual insurers or insurance law in general.

Legal Advice

We provide free telephone legal advice to anyone in Australia on insurance law matters or disputes involving insurers. We cannot provide advice to insurers or businesses.

Legal advice is available by calling 1300 663 464 and speaking to one of our solicitors over the phone. Interpreters are available by calling 131 450. For the hearing or speech impaired, we recommend the National Relay Service which is a service provided by the Australian Communication Exchange (TTY) 133 677 (SRS) 1300 555 727.

If you or your client are having difficulty contacting our advice service because of a disability or problems using an interpreter service, please let us know on our administration line (02) 9212 4216.

We are a very small service for a national service base and we are often very busy!

If you do not immediately get on to a solicitor please leave a message with your contact details and we will get back to you as soon as possible -this is better than trying again at another time because it ensures you a position in the queue.  Please note that you will not be able to talk to a solicitor by ringing the administration line and we do not give legal advice in response to e-mail correspondence.

While our solicitors can provide free advice over the phone, generally we will not contact insurers on your behalf or act/ file court papers for you directly in Insurance Dispute Resolution Processes or Court Proceedings. This type of help is legal assistance and we will provide it, in certain circumstances, in accordance with our internal policy guidelines.

For more information, see Legal Assistance below.

Legal Assistance

We are able to provide legal assistance where a case or a client falls within our internal policy guidelines for matter intake. Depending on the matter type and appropriate assistance required this may take the form of Written Advice, Legal Drafting or even Legal Representation in either an Insurance Dispute Resolution Scheme or the applicable Court for your matter.

Written Advice

Most people who contact the Insurance Law Service for assistance are given legal advice over the telephone only. However in some cases callers may be asked to send in a written account of their problem and copies of all relevant documents (such as the policy, letters and court documents).

This will only happen if:

• The caller has a legal problem in relation to an insurer;
• The caller is not in a position to consult a private solicitor;
• The service's solicitors have sufficient time available to consider the matter.
• Once a solicitor has received a client's documents they will proceed to research the matter and provide the client with written advice about his or her options.

Legal Representation

In a small proportion of cases further assistance may be offered.

This may include:

• Negotiating with the other party (such as the insurer) to try and resolve the matter;
• Drafting submissions for an insurance dispute resolution scheme such as the Insurance Ombudsman, the Financial Industry Complaints Service, or the Insurance Brokers Disputes Limited;
• Reporting relevant matters to the appropriate regulatory body such as APRA, ASIC or ACCC;
• Representing the client in a court.

Further assistance will only be offered where: 

• The client has a legal problem in relation to an insurance policy;
• Problems similar to the client's problem are being, or are likely to be, experienced by other consumers; 
• Assisting the client may lead to benefits for other consumers; 
• The caller is not able to afford to consult a private solicitor or other appropriate legal service;
• The service's solicitors have sufficient time available to undertake the matter.

Priority will be given to clients who are economically disadvantaged and/or have difficulty accessing legal redress because of poor English language skills or an illness or disability.