Medium-length research papers produced by the Foundation, presenting findings on a specific topic. Topics include the legal need impacts of domestic and family violence, the value of different legal information strategies, and locating the demand for legal services.
Supporting people-centred justice insights with civil justice data
The administrative data collected by courts and tribunals has potential to inform decision-making, improve litigants’ experiences, and strengthen public trust and confidence in the justice system.
Evidence-based policy & law making: Bail reform in New South Wales
What role should evidence play in shaping justice policy, particularly when decisions must balance individual rights, public safety, and community expectations? This edition of Justice Issues explores the importance of…
Conciliation in Australian civil justice: An evidence snapshot
This snapshot brings together research evidence on the role of conciliation in Australian civil justice systems. It aims to build understanding of conciliation practices, their benefits and risks, and the…
Justice Impact Tests: What are they and what is their value?
Justice Impact Tests support good use of public funds, and their publication can promote public confidence in government and justice related decision making.
The complexities of child protection-related legal needs: Findings from the LAW Survey
Families who have involvement with the child protection system are likely to experience a complex range of co-occurring legal and non-legal issues.
Need for Legal Assistance Services (NLAS) indicators – 2021 Census update
The Foundation’s NLAS(Capability) and NLAS(Community) indicators have been updated with the most recent (2021) Census data, with counts available at various levels of geography. These counts provide a comparative indicator…
Uptake of legal self-help resources: what works, for whom and for what?, Justice issues 30
This paper reports new analysis of the national dataset of the Legal Australia-Wide (LAW) Survey examining Australians’ use of self-help resources (SHRs) for legal problems. It includes previously unreported measures…
Quantifying the legal and broader life impacts of domestic and family violence, Justice issues paper 32
New analysis of the Legal Australia-Wide (LAW) Survey reveals that respondents who had experienced domestic and family violence (DFV) reported 20 legal problems on average in the preceding 12 months,…
Conducting legal need surveys in the Australian context: challenges and options, Justice issues paper 31
Australia’s first legal needs survey, the LAW Survey, was conducted in 2008. Much has changed in the last ten years, including major population growth and a digital transformation in service…
An indicator of need for community legal centres: introducing NLAS(CLC), Justice issues paper 29
In August 2018 the NSW government announced that it was adopting an application-based funding model following the Cameron Review of community legal centres and other community-based legal assistance services. The…
Locating demand: updating the Need for Legal Assistance Services indicators: 2016 Census data, Justice issues paper 28
This paper describes the revisions to the 2015 Need for Legal Assistance Services (NLAS) indicators following the release of the 2016 Census data. The NLAS indicators were developed by the…
Fines: are disadvantaged people at a disadvantage? Justice issues paper 27
Using LAW Survey data, this paper reveals that fines problems disproportionately affect disadvantaged people. The most disadvantaged were particularly vulnerable to fines problems, and the adverse consequences resulting from fines…
Personal injury problems: new insights from the Legal Australia-Wide Survey, Justice issues paper 22
This paper uses data from the LAW Survey to shed light on four different types of personal injury problems that are likely to be justiciable or have legal aspects -…
Need for legal assistance services: developing a measure for Australia, Justice issues paper 26
This paper describes how the Foundation developed the Need for Legal Assistance (NLAS) indicator which uses census data to assess potential demand by geographic location. It provides a count of…
It’s personal: business ownership and the experience of legal problems, Justice issues paper 24
This paper uses Legal Australia-Wide (LAW) Survey data to explore 2,611 nationally representative business owners’ experiences of legal problems. Independent of other factors, business owners were found to be more…
Community legal education and information: model priorities and principles, Justice issues paper 25
The research evidence on legal need, and on effective service delivery to address that need, provides clear direction for planning effective community legal education and information (CLEI). This paper summarises…
How people solve legal problems: level of disadvantage and legal capability, Justice issues paper 23
The paper provides compelling new evidence from the Legal Australia-Wide (LAW) Survey demonstrating the lower legal capability of multiply disadvantaged people. The most disadvantaged respondents were found to be significantly…
What works? Learning from the literature, Justice issues paper 19
A sensible first step in seeking to understand what works is to identify lessons learned from past experience and research. Yet, faced with a proliferation of articles, research, evaluation reports…
Is early intervention timely? Justice issues paper 20
Better to have a fence at the top of the cliff than a fleet of ambulances at the bottom. Such is the call to early intervention: preventing legal problems from…
