Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services are crumbling under the pressures of rising case and client numbers on shoestring budgets, according to those tasked with the challenge.

The impacts are felt across the country. Services are at best struggling to operate effectively, if not periodically shut-down, leaving families, communities and individuals caught up in the legal system vulnerable.

A National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services peak body meeting on Wednesday heard first-hand accounts from former clients and workers amid a call for $250 million in emergency support from the federal government.

The lawyers and legal professionals who represent Indigenous Australians, some of the most incarcerated and statistically-likely people to be thrown into custody on the planet, are barely coping.

Mikayla Reynolds has seen both sides of the equation.

Ms Reynolds' family turned to the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT after her brother died in police custody after suffering an asthma attack in 2018.

She said legal teams from across the country contacted them with an appetite for launching a civil claim amid the proceeding resulting coronial inquest.

ALS NSW/ACT didn't take that approach.

"ALS did not obviously treat us like that," Ms Reynolds said.

"They were culturally appropriate. They were our point of contact throughout three years. They answered us anytime we needed help. They support us."

Ms Reynolds said barriers to accessing Legal Aid were likely, per the means test it operates on.

"We didn't have to worry about any of that burden with having ALS during that really tough time."

Ms Reynolds has in the past been an ALS NSW/ACT staff member expressed the importance of having First Nations people and agencies in the legal sector creating an environment of understanding often lacking otherwise.

However, funding provided takes its toll on maintaining that work force.

In her time working for ALS NSW/ACT she saw a high turnover of staff, many moving on to Government organisations, for the higher wages offered by properly funded.

"Not because they wanted to but because they have to," Ms Reynolds said.

Sydney-based criminal lawyer Jordan told National Indigenous Times after weighing up his options, the money on offer was a "big factor" in him turning down a role with the ALS on the NSW mid-north coast

He said the job paid around two-thirds of what he would expect from a smaller firm in the city for a comparable role.

"It wasn't worth uprooting my life in Sydney and moving…for the amount that they were offering for me as a salary," he said.

Although Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service is fortunate enough to pay a competitive amount to staff, chief executive Nerita Waight said her workforce still operate in a demanding space.

Ms Waight said 38 Aboriginal people are arrested in Victoria every day, leading to an overwhelming number of people, "not a number on a book", turning to them for help.

VALS's work extends well past courtroom and into prevention, social work, and family and community support.

With staff stretching themselves thin, Ms Waight said "it's not an easy life" on the front line and taking on the emotional toll of their job.

"We're not seeing any reduction in service demand. We're not seeing any less complex clients," Ms Waight said.

"Everything is continuing what isn't, is increased funding to support that demand."

In recent years VALS have been forced to roll back services and even freeze new client intake altogether due to a lack of financial resources and, as Ms Waight said on Wednesday, "ensure that our lawyers had safe practice loads".

"It was our lawyers who struggled with that the most. It was our lawyers who were the most resistant to shutting down service provision… because they knew that community would go unrepresented. They knew that that will lead to poor outcomes," Ms Waight said.

"It feels like you're battling a system (and) that you're just not going to get anywhere."

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (Queensland) chief executive Shane Duffy wants sufficient funding, not the marginal "piecemeal offering(s)" he's seen over 18 years.

He said keeping mob in the service is crucial to the work.

"There's really strong social justice bones in their bodies. They want to stay for us," Mr Duffy said.

"But when you got a young family, etc, or you turn up to work every day and you hate coming to work because you feel sick in the stomach, because you can't meet the needs of your client appropriately because potentially you may have 300 open files running at the same time..I see why people leave."

He warned the current state of affairs, including cuts to services will ultimately end in people going to jail.

Both he and Ms Waight said the courts themselves have been hostile towards Aboriginal Legal Services for an inability to provide sufficient representation, despite the circumstances.

As for the funding required, Ms Waight said "we're not saying that we just need more money for criminal services."

"We're saying we need more money to hire people to engage in areas for across the board," she said.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney and Attorney General Mark Dreyfus were invited but unable to attend Wednesday's meeting.

In a statement provided, read by ALS NSW/ACT chief executive and NATSILS chair Karly Warner, Mr Dreyfus recognised the work of ALSs across the country, and flagged a rethink to funding arrangement following a NLAP (National Legal Assistance Partnership) review this year.