Law and Justice Foundation Logo
Home > Evidence Bank

Category: Evidence Bank

Publications from EXTERNAL authors and select LJF publications.  ALL external papers must be under this category to keep separate from LJF research.

Cover of Towards a measurement framework for people centred justice systems by OECD

Towards a measurement framework for people‑centred justice systems

Maaike de Langen,

Tatyana Teplova,

Geoff Mulherin, | 2026

This working paper proposes a framework for measuring people-centred justice systems, responding to the fragmented and institution-focused nature of existing justice data. It links government policy, justice services and outcomes...

Access to justice,

Legal needs,

Outcomes,

View report Download Cite this report
AI and Access to Justice at the Shop Front cover

Artificial Intelligence and Access to Justice at the ‘Shop Front’: The Potential and Limitations of Meeting Legal Need Through Technology

Catherine Hastings,

Art Cotterell,

Farzana Bruce, | 2026

This article explores what must be considered about client capabilities to ensure AI technologies are appropriate in the context of CLC service delivery. The authors consider the nature of legal...

Access to justice,

Legal needs,

Technology,

View report Download Cite this report

Artificial Intelligence and Access to Justice at the ‘Shop Front’: The Potential and Limitations of Meeting Legal Need Through Technology

Catherine Hastings,

Art Cotterell,

Farzana Bruce, | 2026

This article explores what must be considered about client capabilities to ensure AI technologies are appropriate in the context of CLC service delivery. The authors consider the nature of legal...

Access to justice,

Community Legal Centres,

Legal needs,

Technology,

View report Download Cite this report
Report cover page titled “Measure for Measure: A People-Centred Approach to Tailoring Justice” featuring an illustration of two people riding a tandem bike, and the Victoria Law Foundation logo.

Measure for measure: A people-centred approach to tailoring justice

Bridget McAloon,

Georgina Rychner,

Yolanda Mansfield,

Bethia Burgers, | 2026

This foundational research aimed to map and understand a range of justice initiatives from across Victoria. The report surfaces common elements seen to underpin success across 66 initiatives from 31...
View report Download Cite this report

Barriers experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families accessing legal supports

National Voice for our Children (SNAICC) ,

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) ,

, | 2026

This scoping study examines the legal needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families involved with the child protection system, identifies gaps in access to legal support, and provides recommendations...

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples,

Access to justice,

Legal needs,

View report Download Cite this report
Cover of Justice at a disavantage, a short paper from Victoria Law Foundation's Public Understanding of Law Survey

Justice at a disadvantage: What we know now about legal need, capability and multiple disadvantage 

Hugh McDonald,

Zhigang Wei, | 2026

This short paper investigates the interplay of disadvantage, legal need, and legal capability on Victorians legal problem prevalence, duration, and severity based on data from the Public Understanding of Law...

Access to justice,

Data,

Legal assistance services,

Legal needs,

View report Download Cite this report

Toolkit for access to justice and people-centred justice systems

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , | 2025

This toolkit provides recommendations on how to make justice systems people-centred. It includes checklists and good-practice examples of people-centred justice approaches from around the world. One of the examples is the Foundation’s Need for Legal...

Access to justice,

View report Download Cite this report
Justice Methods 13: A practical guide to writing think-pieces, discussion papers, policy briefs, and submissions

A practical guide to writing think-pieces, discussion papers, policy briefs, and submissions

Kerryn Butler, | 2025

This Justice Methods paper offers a guide to writing think-pieces, discussion papers, policy briefs, and submissions for policy, legal, or social issues.

Justice Methods,

Methodology,

Recent,

View report Download Cite this report
Qualitative research: Methods for understanding justice issues, Justice Methods 12

Qualitative research: Methods for understanding justice issues

Kate Davies,

Sarah E. Ratcliffe, | 2025

This Justice Methods paper explores how qualitative research helps us understand the “how” and “why” behind people’s experiences of justice. It shows how these methods reveal complex issues, amplify underrepresented...

Justice Methods,

Methodology,

Recent,

View report Download Cite this report
Cover page of Access to just this - Eligibility for legal aid in Australia and its implications

Access to just this? Eligibility for legal aid in Australia and its implications

Hugh M McDonald,

Nigel J Balmer,

| 2025
This paper discusses the challenges and implications of legal aid eligibility in Australia and calls for increased funding, less stringent means tests, and redesigned entry points to legal assistance, to...

Access to justice,

Legal assistance services,

View report Download
Timing of disaster-related legal assistance in New South Wales

Timing of disaster-related legal assistance in New South Wales: Trends in service utilisation for common legal problems following flood and bushfire

Emily Kothe,

Kerryn Butler,

| 2025
Originally published in the Australian Journal of Emergency Management, AIDR (CC BY 4.0). This study examines legal service use after disasters, analysing statewide data across six issue categories (insurance, grants,...

Access to justice,

natural disasters,

Recent,

Service data,

Service Delivery,

View report Download

Health Justice Partnership: An opportunity to respond to childhood adversity

| 2025
This mixed-method evaluation found that Health Justice Partnerships helped improve practitioners' understandings of legal support pathways and caregivers to access legal support. International Journal of Integrated Care, 25(1)

Children and young people,

Legal assistance services,

View report Download

Legal Aid Private Practitioners – 2024 Census

Megan Blaxland,

Natasha Cortis,

| 2025
This report presents findings from the 2024 Census of Legal Aid Private Practitioners, conducted by the Social Policy Research Centre for National Legal Aid. It provides insights into the experiences...

Lawyers,

View report Download
The cover of NLAS (Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples) report

NLAS (Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples)

Delphine Bellerose,

Catriona Mirrlees-Black, | 2024

Updated to complete the suite of NLAS indicators based on the 2021 Census, NLAS(Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples) is intended to support the planning of legal assistance services as...

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples,

Data,

Indicators of legal need,

Legal assistance services,

NLAS,

Planning service delivery,

Recent,

View report Download Cite this report

The Public Understanding of Law Survey Volume 3: A New Perspective on Legal Need and Legal Capability

Hugh McDonald,

Nigel J. Balmer,

Pascoe Pleasence,

Rebecca L. Sandefur,

| 2024
This publication explores how attitudes, skills and confidence matter in satisfactorily resolving justiciable issues.

Legal need surveys,

Legal needs,

View report Download
Introducing NLAS(Language) - 2021 Census information sheet

Introducing NLAS(Language) – 2021 Census

Catriona Mirrlees-Black,

Delphine Bellerose, | 2024

This latest addition to the suite of NLAS indicators is intended to support legal assistance service providers in identifying geographic areas where there is potential demand for translator and interpreter services. 

Data,

Indicators of legal need,

Legal assistance services,

NLAS,

Planning service delivery,

View report Download Cite this report

Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS) In brief: Young people’s experience of legal problems

Georgina Rychner,

Rochelle Jupp,

| 2024
This briefing paper presents data about the prevalence of justiciable problems among young people (aged 18–24) in Victoria, drawn from the Victoria Law Foundation’s Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS)....

Children and young people,

Legal needs,

See more

Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS): Problems at work: Young people, employment and legal need

Georgina Rychner,

Hugh McDonald,

| 2024
This short paper uses the Public Understanding of Law Survey to examine the experience of employment problems that raise legal issues for people aged 18 to 24. This short paper...

Children and young people,

Legal needs,

See more

The Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS) In brief: How single parents experience the law in Victoria

Emmaline Ohri,

Hugh McDonald,

| 2024
This briefing paper presents data that is relevant to how single parents experience the law in Victoria, collected from Volume 1 of Victoria Law Foundation’s Public Understanding of Law Survey...

Legal needs,

See more

The Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS) In brief: Mental distress and experience of legal problems

Hugh McDonald,

Rochelle Jupp,

| 2024
This briefing paper presents data from the Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS) concerning experience of justiciable problems and mental distress. Visit the PULS website to find out more.

Health and Disability,

Legal needs,

See more
Data to inform assessment of legal needs in New South Wales

Data to inform assessment of legal needs in New South Wales

Delphine Bellerose,

Catriona Mirrlees-Black,

Michaela Mournehis,

Kerryn Butler, | 2023

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of some information and data sources that are useful to consider in conducting a legal needs assessment in New South...

Assessing legal need,

Data,

Legal assistance services,

Legal needs,

View report Download Cite this report

The Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS) Volume 1: Everyday Problems and Legal Need (2023)

Hugh McDonald,

Nigel Balmer,

Pascoe Pleasence,

Rebecca Sandefur,

| 2023
This report is the first of three volumes from the PULS.  and explores how everyday legal problems are experienced, what people do about them and if they are resolved. Visit...

Legal need surveys,

Legal needs surveys,

See more

Mapping Justice Project in Victoria

Victoria Law Foundation,

| 2023
EXTERNAL - Conducted by the Victoria Law Foundation, the Data Mapping Project examines how administrative data is collected and used in the Victorian civil justice system. The project explores administrative data collected in...

Service data,

See more