Person
Hugh McDonald
Alternate Name:
Hugh M. McDonald
Briefing paper
Indigenous people and legal problem resolution
This paper examines the experience of Indigenous Australians in relation to the resolution of legal problems in comparison with non-Indigenous people. Using the Legal AustraliaWide (LAW) Survey national dataset, the findings show that Indigenous respondents were significantly more likely than others to have unresolved crime problems.
Briefing paper
Fines: are disadvantaged people at a disadvantage?
This research used population-level data from the Legal Australia-Wide (LAW) Survey to examine whether the prevalence of problems with fines is higher for disadvantaged groups than others. It also investigated whether people’s responses to fines problems, and the outcomes they achieve for these problems, varies by disadvantage.
Report
How people solve legal problems: level of disadvantage and legal capability
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 more likely to take no action in response to their legal problems. In addition, when they did take action, they were significantly less likely to...
Report
Beyond great expectations: Modest, meaningful and measurable community legal education and information
Great expectations accompany many community legal education and information (CLEI) strategies - as tools to empower, to prevent legal issues escalating and to improve access to justice. This paper seeks to identify what different CLEI strategies may actually provide. To move beyond the great expectations, this paper provides a model for identifying different types of...
Discussion paper
Reshaping legal assistance services: building on the evidence base - a discussion paper
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.