Noone, Mary Anne --- "Access to Justice Research in Australia" [2006] AltLawJl 9; (2006) 31(1) Alternative Law Journal 30

^[*] MARY ANNE NOONE teaches law at La Trobe University.*

© 2006 Mary Anne Noone

email: m.noone@latrobe.edu.au

*This article was first presented as a section of a paper given at the International Legal Aid Group Meeting, Killarney, Ireland June 2005. Thanks to my co-author of that paper, Liz Curran.

^[1] Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee (‘Senate Committee’), Inquiry into the Australian Legal Aid System, Third Report, (1998) 17.

^[2] Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee, Legal Aid and Access to Justice (2004) 40. See also, Australian Law Reform Commission, Managing Justice: A Review of the Federal Civil Justice System, Report No 89 (2000) recs 39, 40.

^[3] See J Johnsen, ‘Studies of Legal Needs and Legal Aid in a Market Context’ in F Regan, A Paterson, T Goriely and D Fleming (eds), The Transformation of Legal Aid (1999); P Pleasence and A Buck, ‘Needs Assessment and Prioritisation of Legal Services in England and Wales’ in International Legal Aid Group Papers Vol 1 & 2, Australia (2001); P Pleasence, ‘Needs Assessment and Community Legal Services in England and Wales’; A Currie, ‘The Nature and Extent of Unmet Need for Criminal Legal Aid in Canada’ in International Legal Aid Group Papers, USA (2003).

^[4] A Currie, ‘The Emergence of Unmet Needs as an Issue in Canadian Legal Policy Research’ in International Legal Aid Group Papers, Vol 11 (2001) 32, 71.

^[5] A selection of work includes; M Cass and R Sackville, Legal Needs of the Poor, Research Report, Law and Poverty Series (1975); M Cass and J Western, Legal Aid and Legal Need, Commonwealth Legal Aid Commission (1980); P Hanks, Social Indicators and the Delivery of Legal Services (1986). A recent exception is the Rush Social Research Agency and John Walker Consulting Services, Legal Assistance Needs Project: Phase One and Two (1999).

^[6] Professor Rosemary Hunter outlined some of this research, both completed and ongoing, at the Legal Aid Congress. See R Hunter, Legal Aid Research in Australia and Future Needs (2004) <http://www.legalaid.qld.gov.au/congress2004/content/papers/Thu18-Plenary2-RosemaryHunter.ppt> at 2 February 2006.

^[7] For a complete list of publications see <http://www.naclc.org.au/docs/Assessing_Legal_Needs.pdf> 1 at 2 February 2006.

^[8] L Schetzer, ‘Measuring Legal Needs’ (Paper presented at National Community Legal Centre Conference, Hobart, September 2003) <http://www.naclc.org.au/docs/Assessing_Legal_Needs.pdf> 1 at 2 February 2006.

^[9] Extracted from Law and Justice Foundation New South Wales website: <http://www.lawfoundation.net.au/access/> at 21 April 2005.

^[10] Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales, Access to Justice Roundtable, Proceedings of a Workshop July 2000 (2003).

^[11] L Schetzer and J Henderson, Access to Justice and Legal Needs; Stage 1: Public Consultations Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales (2003).

^[12] Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales, Access to Justice and Legal Needs; Stage 1: Data Digest Sydney (2003).

^[13] Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales, Access to Justice and Legal Needs; Stage 2: Quantitative Legal Needs Survey Bega Valley (Pilot) (2003); L Schetzer, above, n 8.

^[14] Not released at time of writing.

^[15] S Ellison et al, The Legal Needs of Older People in NSW (Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales, 2004).

^[16] C Vernon, Demons, Damsels or Discord — Exploring the Legal Needs of Young Women, Youth Legal Service Inc (2002) 1.

^[17] The numbers of participants in the discussion groups are not provided: ibid 3.

^[18] Ibid 9–10.

^[19] Ibid 16.

^[20] S Aplin, Analysis of the Legal Needs of Horn of Africa People in Melbourne, (Pro Bono Fellowship Report 2002) 17–19.

^[21] Ibid p 22–26.

^[22] Ibid 46.

^[23] Legal Aid Queensland, Northern Outreach — A Client Needs Survey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf of Carpentaria (2001) 7.

^[24] Ibid 38–39.

^[25] Ibid 7 and 54.

^[26] For a discussion of the reviews see J Giddings and M A Noone, ‘Australian Community Legal Centres Move into the Twenty-first Century’ (2004) (11)3 International Journal of the Legal Profession 257, 261–263.

^[27] Inner City Legal Centre et al, Law for All: An Analysis of Legal Needs in Inner Sydney Today (2000) 3–4.

^[28] Ibid 58–59.

^[29] Law Council of Australia, Erosion of Legal Representation in the Australian Justice System (2004) Executive Summary paras 2–4.

^[30] Ibid 12.

^[31] Ibid Ch 4, 5.

^[32] Ibid 76.

^[33] R Hunter, J Giddings and A Chrzanowski, Legal Aid and Self-Representation in the Family Court of Australia (Socio Legal Research Centre, Griffith University 2003) 33–34.

^[34] Ibid iii.

^[35] Ibid 34.

^[36] Ibid v, 34.

^[37] Legal Aid Queensland and Colmar Brunton, Tracking Access & Equity in Legal Aid Queensland (2004) 2.

^[38] Ibid 11.

^[39] G Renouf, Justice Too Far Away: Report of the Tennant Creek Regional Legal Access Project, (Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission 2003) 13– 15.

^[40] Ibid 23.

^[41] Ibid 6.

^[42] R Hunter, above n 6.

^[43] Senate Committee, Legal Aid and Access to Justice (2004) 1.

^[44] Ibid.

^[45] Ibid 221.

^[46] See report of plenary sessions <http://www.legalaid.qld.gov.au/congress2004/> at 2 February 2006.