Access to Justice Project

The Law and Justice Foundation of NSW has set as its priority for 2002-2003 to investigate the access to justice and legal needs of socially and economically disadvantaged people.

The principal purpose of the project is to develop a statement of needs to inform government, non-government and community agencies working to improve access to justice for disadvantaged people in NSW.

The Law and Justice Foundation Director, Geoff Mulherin says the outcomes of the project will include reports and papers from workshops, forums, conferences and consultations.

It will produce a publicly accessible online database of literature and studies on access to justice and legal needs, as well as the development of reliable Community Needs Assessment Models to facilitate the measure of access to justice and legal needs.

Mulherin says the Foundation recognises that the Access to Justice and Legal Needs project is ambitious in its scope and realises the need to engage many organisations in the process.

The Foundation is accepting submissions in response to the projects terms of reference.

The objectives of the Project are to examine the ability of disadvantaged people to:
 obtain legal assistance (including legal information, basic legal advice, initial legal assistance and legal representation)
 participate effectively in the legal system (including access to courts tribunals, and formal Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms)
 obtain assistance from non-legal advocacy and support (including non-legal early intervention and preventative mechanisms, non-legal forms of redress, and community based justice)
 participate effectively in law reform processes.

In achieving these objectives the project will involve both qualitative and quantitative investigations into:

 legal problems encountered by disadvantaged people
 services and processes to deal with these problems
 the barriers that obstruct access
 useful services and processes not provided by the legal system

The project will ensure that proper use is made of existing knowledge, so that no duplication of other work occurs.

Submissions close on Monday September 30th 2002. You can obtain a background paper from the Foundation’s website at wwwlawfoundation.net.au/access.

Or you can contact the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, tel (02) 9221 3900, fax (02) 9221 6280, or email the Project Manager
Louis Schetzer on lschetzer@lawfoundation.net.au.au.