What with twitter going evil, thought I might try @bluesky and turns out it's decent. Would be good to get more Australian law/legal services/A2J presence over there. Looking at you first @LSBC_Victoria @CommunityLawVic @VicLawReform @VicLawFoundn @yourLIV @VicLegalAid Do it!!

Many thanks to my co-authors & all those who helped including (but not limited to) @VicLawFoundn, @LSBC_Victoria, @VicLegalAid & 6008 respondents who gave their time to share some of the most challenging episodes of their lives. I hope the work does their stories justice 6/6

There is an imperative to address capability asymmetries to better meet needs and ultimately, democratize justice. There are challenges for many including regulators, policy makers and all those engage with those facing problems. Its about tailoring to legal capability 5/6

Low skills not just limit people’s ability to handle problems themselves, but also their ability to extract value from legal services & the justice system more broadly. The upshot of -ve experience is -ve attitudes to justice, which colour future actions and interactions 4/6

Critically, it turns out that your legal capability - the array of knowledge, skills, confidence & attitudes you bring to the table - really matter. They matter to pretty much everything - what you did, how long things lasted, how you accessed the justice & what you got 3/6

The PULS is about peoples ‘justiciable’ problems. These are issues we'll all face in our lives concerning our work, wealth, health, homes and families. But more importantly, it's about how these problems are dealt with, who gets a just resolution and more often, who doesn’t 2/6

Launched Vol 3 of The Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS) this week - https://t.co/m7T98ITSD6 Here's what it is all about The PULS is a legal needs & a legal capability survey, and its big, involving speaking to over 6,000 people face-to-face in their own homes 🧵 1/6

Job Alert 🚨 ICYMI 4 amazing roles for skilled and passionate empirical legal researchers currently advertised at @LSBC_Victoria https://t.co/hF2yiHthhk Fabulous opportunity to work at a great org, with smart & principled people, while having a positive impact on the world!

Check out what we at the @a2jlab & @EmilyLagratta wrote in the @StateCourts Trends publication about our study of online courts relative to case processing outcomes and perceptions of fairness. https://t.co/34sdGhEMIZ Let the litigant choose!

Super empirical legal research job alert!! Research is up and running at @LSBC_Victoria & we are recruiting! 4 great research roles right here https://t.co/hF2yiHthhk Want to do some rigorous research that has positive real world impact? Then this is for you! Get involved!

A new article in @DukeJudicature by Rhode's Lucy Ricca on #RegulatoryReform, evidence & innovation and access in legal services highlights 2 projects that create regulatory environments to enable evidence-based, people-centered services. Read it here: https://t.co/NuaQwKkfCm #a2j

Tanina Rostain & James Teufel with framework for evaluating lay legal assistance programs - v interesting https://t.co/sP0ouAeN8t Channels Ronald Fisher - "Rather than an exercise after-the-fact, evaluation needs to be built into the design of innovations". I surprisingly agree

What’s #housinginsecurity got to do with the legal sector? Hear from our Board CEO and Commissioner, #FionaMcLeay, at the launch of our #Advancinghousingjustice report and grant round. 🧵 @GerardBrody #auslaw

Very interesting report on Debt & Eviction by @LisaLawSoton & @TraceyVarnava https://t.co/2do1vu41wj Some too familiar themes around inaccessible process, low trust/confidence, escalating problems & need to better reflect needs/capabilities through regulation/reform/design/data

This was a lot of fun. Excited to be finally showing off our work in this area. The tech isn’t new, but used well it can be a very cost effective way to improve the court user experience and increase access to justice. Interested in leaning more? Reach out!

Thanks Matthew!! You may like the next bit too as we try to unpick the relationship between legal needs & legal capability. Not properly understanding action/outcome/needs is kind of why we embarked on the whole legal capability thing... Hopefully some answers hidden in the data?

Thanks to @VLF_Exec @VicLawFoundn @VicLegalAid @LSBC_Victoria @RoyMorganAus, my co-authors & 6k respondents. And o VIC AG @JaclynSymes for saying nice things about our research at the launch - good example of why VIC feels so progressive/exciting for A2J stats nerds like me! 6/6

Recognising differences in needs/capabilities & responding accordingly can inform form & intensity of service, communication, & whether/how complementary services are drawn upon. It could help to reshape provision, optimise resources & ultimately help to democratise justice 5/6

Legal capability matters because poor skills, low confidence, & negative attitudes limit prospects of a just resolution of problems. And capability is unequally distributed. Inequality of capability sits alongside inequality of experience as a layer of inequality of justice 4/6