Scope and responses

Data Requests	Responses
Q1 Could you please provide information on the NDIA’s total legal costings for the 2023-2024 financial period regarding AAT appeals?	$53.1 million (External AAT/ART legal costs)
Q2 Additional (sic), could you please provide information on the NDIA’s total legal costings for the calendar year 2023 and the calendar year up to October 25, 2024, regarding AAT appeals?	a) Total legal costing for the period 1/1/23-31/12/23 for AAT appeals is $49,398,247
b) Total legal costing for the period 1/1/24 -25/10/24 for AAT appeals is $47,297,169
Q3 Thirdly, could you please provide legal costs charged by externally contracted law firms for the 2023-2024 financial period?	$59.7 million
Q4 Could you please provide information on how many in-house counsel the NDIA have, their involvement in AAT Proceedings and how much they are paid?	The NDIA does not employ in-house counsel i.e., barristers for AAT proceedings.
The NDIA does employ lawyers and paralegals – please refer to Q7 for numbers.
Q5 Could you please provide a breakdown on how many lawyers and barristers the NDIA employ as in-house counsel and for the periods mentioned above?	The NDIA does not employ in-house counsel i.e., barristers for AAT proceedings.
The NDIA does employ lawyers and paralegals – please refer to Q7 for numbers.

Data Requests	Responses
Q6 Could you please provide a breakdown on how many of these in-house counsel are working on AAT / ART matters and for the periods mentioned above?	The NDIA does not employ in-house counsel for AAT proceedings. The NDIA does employ lawyers and paralegals – please refer to Q7 for numbers.
Q7 Could you provide a total number for how many legal practitioners (lawyers / solicitors / barristers etc) are involved in NDIA disputes at the AAT / ART currently and for the periods mentioned above?	The NDIA has an in-house legal team and also relies on external law firms and barristers (counsel) to support AAT/ART matters. The external lawyers/barristers may not solely work on NDIA matters so the response below relates only to NDIA lawyers.

a) Number of NDIA lawyers involved in ART matters for the period 1/1/23-31/12/23: At 31 December 2023, number of APS lawyers was 12, number of legal contractors was 24. (This headcount of legal contractors includes 18 lawyers and 6 paralegals). b) Number of NDIA lawyers involved in ART matters for the period 2023/2024: |

FOI 24/25-0555

At 30 June 2024, number of APS lawyers was 13, number of legal contractors was 53. (This headcount of legal contractors includes 44 lawyers and 9 paralegals). c) Number of NDIA lawyers involved in ART matters for the period 1/1/24- 31/10/24: At 31 October 2024, number of APS lawyers was 21 and number of legal contractors was 43 (This headcount of legal contractors includes 34 lawyers and 9 paralegals).