The time-worn criticism of the adversarial system. What if you could change that from the ground up, and involve all members of the community in the process? Enter Lawfunder.org - the Kickstarter of legal causes.
More than 150,000 of Australia's most vulnerable people are turned away each year from community legal centres
85% of community legal services are forced to limit their services in order to meet demand
76% have asked their staff and volunteers to work additional hours in order to meet demand
67% report being underfunded
63% are not able to meet demand (second-highest ranking after government housing)
59% have increased waiting times
Self-represented litigants have risen to 27% of Family Court trials
Community legal services had the highest turn-away rate across all service types in 2011-2012
Federal Court fees have increased progressively to the point of being unaffordable for many
Commonwealth funding to community legal services are expected to drop drastically as a result of the 2015 Government Budget
How are individuals expected to effectively present their case and ensure impartiality and procedural fairness from the courts when they are not sufficiently trained and lack the resources to rectify this? This lack of affordable legal representation and the limitations on the availability of legal aid are key issues on which we hope to have an impact.
Barriers to justice reinforce poverty and exclusion. Maintaining a strong rule of law is a precondition to protecting disadvantaged communities and helping people leave poverty behind. Improving access to justice is therefore a key means of promoting social inclusion. Many of the issues commonly faced by people, such as family breakdown, credit and housing issues, discrimination, and exclusion from services, have a legal dimension that if not resolved can contribute to social exclusion.
Join us in the debate below, or show your support by visiting Lawfunder.org and seeing how you or your organisation can help.