Get to safety first, then deal with the law. Go to the nearest police station.
The Office of the Public Solicitor
The Public Solicitor is a constitutional office — it is established by the Constitution itself, not by a government programme that can be quietly discontinued. Its function is to provide legal aid, advice and representation to people who cannot afford a lawyer.
What you should know:
- It has offices in Port Moresby and in provincial centres. Ask at the court registry where the nearest one is — registry staff will know.
- Its priority is criminal defence, particularly for people facing serious charges in the National Court, and people held in custody.
- It also takes civil, family and human rights matters, subject to capacity — which is genuinely limited.
- There is a means test. Being poor is the point of the office; do not be embarrassed by the question.
- Go early. A lawyer who receives your file the week before trial can do far less than one who receives it at the start.
Ask the police or corrections officers to contact the Public Solicitor, and ask a relative outside to go to the office in person. Under section 42 of the Constitution you must be permitted to communicate without delay with a lawyer and with a relative or friend. Under section 57, the National Court can act to protect a Basic Right on its own initiative, and detainees may write directly to the court.
Your rights on arrest under section 42 → · What to do when arrested →
Other places to try
| Where | What they can do |
|---|---|
| Village Court | Mediation of local disputes, compensation orders, and referral. Free and close to home. The right starting point for many neighbour, family and minor money disputes. |
| District Court registry | Court staff cannot give legal advice, but they can tell you which forms to file, what the fee is, where the Public Solicitor is, and when the court sits. Enormously useful and consistently underused. |
| Papua New Guinea Law Society | The professional body for lawyers. Use it to check that a person calling themselves a lawyer actually holds a current practising certificate, and to make a complaint about a lawyer’s conduct. |
| Ombudsman Commission | Complaints about the conduct of public officials and government bodies, and enforcement of the Leadership Code against leaders. |
| Independent Consumer and Competition Commission | Complaints about traders, pricing, and anti-competitive conduct. See consumer rights. |
| Department of Labour and Industrial Relations | Wage, entitlement and termination complaints against an employer, and industrial disputes. See Employment law. |
| Private lawyers | Ask about fees at the first meeting and ask for the estimate in writing. Some firms will act on a fixed fee for a defined piece of work, which is safer than an open-ended hourly arrangement if money is tight. |
Engaging a private lawyer
If you can meet the cost, or the matter is outside what the Public Solicitor can take on, the Law Firms directory lists the 369 firms on the Papua New Guinea Law Society register, by province, with the contact details the register holds. Inclusion is not a recommendation — it means the firm is registered.
Before instructing anyone, check that the firm and the individual lawyer hold a current practising certificate, using the Law Society’s registered lawyer directory.
How to prepare before you see anyone
Legal help is scarce. The people who get the most out of it are the ones who arrive organised. Before your appointment:
- Write the story down in date order. One page. What happened, when, and who was there. Dates matter more than feelings, however strong the feelings are.
- Gather every document. Contracts, receipts, letters, pay slips, bank records, photographs, medical reports, police reports, text messages and social media messages. Take screenshots before anything can be deleted.
- Bring the court papers if you have been served with anything — all of them, including the envelope, because the date of service can matter.
- Write down your deadlines. Any date on any document. Tell the lawyer about them in the first five minutes.
- Know what you actually want. Money back? To keep your job? To stay in your house? Safety? To be left alone? The remedy shapes the advice.
- Make copies. Never hand over your only copy of anything.
- Delay. Limitation periods and appeal deadlines are strict, and a court will usually not extend them because you did not know.
- No evidence. An arrangement nobody wrote down and nobody witnessed is extremely hard to prove, whatever really happened.
- Not turning up. Missing a court date can mean judgment against you, or a warrant. If you cannot attend, tell the registry before the date.
Offices move, phone numbers are reassigned and services open and close. Everything on this page is a starting point for finding help, not a directory to be relied on. Confirm details locally before travelling any distance.