What works and at what cost? It’s a question commonly asked by funders, policy makers and practitioners, seeking to make the best use of available resources. To make informed decisions, a sensible first step is to look at what may be learned from past experience and research. However, this may not be as straightforward as...

Executive summary Over recent years, there has been popular concern about an apparent decrease in lawyers working in regional, rural and remote (RRR) areas throughout Australia. Attention has centred on perceived problems in the recruitment and retention of lawyers.

This paper provides a framework for discussion around how Australian access to justice research, policy development and the delivery of public legal assistance services can best build upon the substantial evidence base made up of findings from ‘legal needs’ surveys undertaken in Australia and overseas.

Abstract: Stress-related illness, physical ill health, relationship breakdown, moving home, and loss of income or financial strain, were all adverse consequences attributed to the legal problems reported by respondents to the Legal Australia-Wide (LAW) Survey. This paper draws on the LAW Survey data to explore the adverse consequences reported by young females and males. The...

This paper explores differences in the experience of legal problems by Indigenous status. Abstract: The Legal Australia-Wide (LAW) Survey found that Indigenous people who experience legal problems had an increased likelihood of experiencing multiple legal problems. New analyses using the LAW Survey national dataset show that compared to others, Indigenous people have higher vulnerability to...