New BBV Legal-Health Literacy Training for Lawyers and Migration Agents

Do you support clients living with HIV, hepatitis C or hepatitis B? Or clients living with disability, mental health challenges and/or other chronic health conditions?  If so, you know that legal matters and health conditions often intersect. This can then shape clients’ capacity to access legal, migration and other services, and resolve their matters. Some of these intersections between health and law can become quite complex to navigate – for clients themselves but also for their legal or migration representative. And they can exacerbate the impact a legal issue has. What does it take to provide legal and migration services that are genuinely responsive to the needs of people living with blood-borne viruses and other conditions?

Insights from Health+Law’s national Legal Needs Study (LeNS) have helped answer this question. For example, the LeNS showed that people living with blood-borne viruses often rely on word of mouth to find legal or migration professionals they can trust, who understand the specific issues they might face, and who do a good and holistic job of addressing their legal and migration needs. However, word of mouth can circulate unevenly and can be difficult to access beyond certain networks.

Drawing on this research, professional expertise from the hands-on experience of lawyers at the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre (HALC) and other community and sector inputs, our team has now developed and published new online training called ‘Supporting clients with blood-borne viruses: Legal-health literacy for lawyers and migration agents’. This set of four online learning modules was principally developed by members of our research team based at the Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW, in collaboration with our partners at HALC, and the Faculty’s continuing legal education (CLE) development arm, UNSW EDGE.

‍The training was designed to support lawyers and migration agents to meet their professional obligations, aligning with solicitor capability standard and occupational competency standards for migration agents. Primarily, it aims to strengthen the awareness and capacity of practitioners to work respectfully and sensitively with people living with HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. However, the training is relevant more widely and will strengthen the skills and awareness of all legal and migration professionals whose clients experience disability, chronic health conditions, or mental health challenges.

‍The modules, which earn professionals 1.25 CDP points, are free to access and available online now.

‍Who is this training for?

At least 1.13% of people in Australia live with a blood-borne virus. Many of these people experience a significant or complex legal burden, especially in issues related to migration. We designed these training modules primarily for lawyers and migration agents who support people in these groups as clients, though it has a far wider application.

‍This training will be of interest to all lawyers and migration agents at any stage of their career, including those who are developing their skills, expanding into new areas of practice, or simply seeking to build greater confidence working with clients whose matters are affected by health conditions. The content is relevant across a wide range of practice areas, including migration law, criminal law, family law, administrative law, and beyond.

‍The training was developed as part of a new national award for lawyers and migration agents whose work reflects rights-based, informed, holistic and inclusive approaches. The Award, which will be launched in the coming weeks, aims to make trusted knowledge more visible and accessible, making it easier for people living with blood-borne viruses to find the right lawyers and migration agents. Our goal is also to support practitioners to be more informed and aware, so they can practice across legal and migration matters in ways that are more sensitive and tailored to the needs of all clients.

‍What is in the modules?

‍The online learning is structured across four modules that reflect a client’s experience from their first point of contact through to the resolution of their matter. This approach draws on insights from Health+Law research, which showed that the quality of people’s legal experiences is shaped not only by their outcomes, but by how relationships are built and sustained throughout the process.

‍Each module focuses on a different area. The first, ‘Blood-borne viruses and the law’, walks the learner through the basics of blood-borne viruses, including testing, treatment, prevention, and how these can intersect with legal and migration matters. Module 2, ‘Practitioner–client relationships’, explores how trust, communication and respect influence whether clients feel safe, heard and able to participate fully in their matter. It offers methods for strengthening these important qualities of the relationship in practice. Module 3, ‘Legal-health outcomes’, explains how tailoring your legal or migration practice to the needs of people in these communities can support not only the resolution of their matter, but their broader wellbeing. It highlights the power of collaboration, referral pathways, and a holistic approach. Finally, module 4, ‘Migration and blood-borne viruses’, has a specific focus on migration law. This is an area where client matters are often especially complex and high stakes. The module provides key information and practical on-the-ground guidance for professionals who are navigating these contexts with their clients.

‍Throughout, the modules combine legal knowledge with practical scenarios and reflective exercises, supporting professionals to apply the learning directly to their own work. In essence, the modules offer an opportunity to build legal-health literacy, strengthen client engagement, and work in a stigma-sensitive and trauma-informed way. Module 4 in particular targets your specific understanding of substantive laws regulating how health conditions impact visa pathways. The entire course takes about 1 hr and 15 minutes to complete and may be used to obtain 1.25 CPD points.

Read more about Health+Law’s national BBV Responsive Lawyer and Migration Agents Awards

Access and enrol in ‘Supporting clients with blood-borne viruses: Legal-health literacy for lawyers and migration agents’

Browse and access more online continuing professional development on UNSW Edge’s website