Meet our research team
Victoria Law Foundation's highly-skilled research team have many years of experience in legal research.
Professor Nigel J. Balmer, Research Director
Nigel joined the VLF in December 2018 as its inaugural Research Director. He has been conducting empirical research for over twenty years and is expert in the application of social science and modern quantitative methods to explore how the public understand and interact with the law.
Nigel’s research includes work on the role of law in everyday life; attitudes to justice; public experience of and response to legal issues; the interaction between legal and health problems; and design of legal services and legal aid. He is best known for his work on legal need surveys around the world, including recent guidance supporting global access to justice initiatives under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16.
Nigel is also Professor of Law and Social Statistics at University College London.
Dr Hugh M. McDonald, Principal Researcher
Hugh joined the Foundation in September 2019 as Principal Researcher.
He previously worked at the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, on several landmark access to justice and legal need projects.
Throughout his career, he has worked closely with legal aid commissions, community legal centres, state and federal governments, giving him a deep understanding of legal institutions and access to justice issues throughout Australia.
Bridget McAloon, Senior Researcher
Bridget joined the Victoria Law Foundation in June 2023 as a Senior Researcher.
With over 20 years of experience in monitoring, assessment and project management, Bridget is an evaluation specialist. She holds a Master of Public Health from Monash University, and is skilled in quantitative and qualitative measurement and analysis, and building evaluation capacity and systems.
With a background working in international and community not-for-profits, Bridget has led evaluation and research over the last 8 years at Victoria Legal Aid, driving evidence-based practice to underpin the design and delivery of effective, client-centred legal services.
Dr Georgina Rychner, Senior Researcher
Georgina joined Victoria Law Foundation in June 2023 as a Senior Researcher.
Georgina has a PhD in Legal History from Monash University and has a history of quantitative and qualitative research, which includes working as a Senior Analyst for the Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office and several leading Australian universities.
Her work has been published in the International Journal for Crime, Justice, and Social Democracy, and other journals.
Tenielle Hagland, Research Coordinator
Tenielle joined the Foundation in 2015 and has a strong background in the community legal world. She has coordinated our work with the profession on improving communication through our plain language and Better Information programs as well as providing plain language workshops to law students.
As Research Coordinator, she works across all research activity, and has a lead role in the development of the Research Network.
Clare Kennedy, Research Communications
Clare joined the VLF in January 2017 as the Foundation’s legal writer and editor, managing the Foundation’s publications and producing legal content.
Clare joins the research team as a communications and content specialist. She brings a legal background, and extensive content and production experience to the role.
More information
If you have a question about research contact our Research team.