FOI enables access to government information that may previously have been difficult to obtain. It thus represents a valuable tool for lawyers. However, when the Tasmanian legal profession's use of FOI is examined it appears that use to date has ben minimal. This paper examines the role of lawyers in using FOI, the benefits of such use and actual use in Tasmania by the legal profession.The authors identify the major problem facing the use of FOI as seemingly the low level of comprehension that exists in the legal profession and within the general public. They comment that while this is the case, there is little hope of FOI fulfilling its stated aims and conclude that lawyers should be encouraged to make a concerted effort to come to terms with the utility and scope offered by the FOI Act so as to promote FOI to their clients and by extension to the public at large.