Research Network
Connecting the justice, community and academic sectors around legal research and evaluation related to access to justice.
The Research Network connects the justice, community and academic sectors to enable knowledge sharing and encourage collaboration among those working on legal research and evaluation related to access to justice issues.
We do this by holding events throughout the year showcasing exciting international and domestic access to justice and legal need developments. Learn about these developments and meet and connect with colleagues working in this space.
Upcoming event
Mapping Justice
We will hear from Dr Hugh McDonald, Principal Researcher and Lynne Haultain, Executive Director at Victoria Law Foundation, and Richard Hodge, Director, Innovation & Service Experience at the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria.
In this session, Hugh and Lynne will present findings from Victoria Law Foundation’s Data Mapping Project.
This foundational and expansive work examines how administrative data is collected in the Victorian civil justice system: what data is available, its accuracy and consistency, how it’s used, and what needs to be done to maximise its utility.
One of the new innovations in Victoria is the establishment of a service centre for people with matters in the Magistrates’ Court. Richard Hodge, Director, Innovation & Service Experience at the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, will join us to discuss this new service, its data, and what impact the service centre has had on court users.
Date
Tuesday, 28 November 2023
Time
9:30am – 11:00am AEDT
Where
Online - a Zoom webinar link will be sent before the event
Presenters
Dr Hugh McDonald
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, as well as state and federal governments, giving him a deep understanding of legal institutions and access to justice issues throughout Australia.
Lynne Haultain
Lynne leads the Victoria Law Foundation and was instrumental in building the VLF research function.
Over the last 25 years, she has been involved with shaping research and reports at a number of agencies, including the ACCC, the Victorian Ombudsman and the Victorian Law Reform Commission, and as an independent Chair on a Victorian Government inquiry.
Richard Hodge
Richard is a leader in service excellence, with extensive experience in the design, delivery and change practices to support organisations to transform into digitally enabled, user-centre, service providers.
He is an organisational capability enhancement professional with experience in overseeing projects and programs to modernise, recalibrate or accelerate organisational growth to achieve service excellence. Since 2020 Richard has won a state, national and international award for user-centred digital justice service design in the public sector.
Richard leads the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria Service Centre which was recognised in June 2023 for its innovation, when it was awarded the Citizen-centred Service Design Award at the Institute of Public Administration Australia’s ‘Leadership in the Public Sector’ awards. The award recognises the MCV Service Centre as “an exemplar of innovation, demonstrable impact and inspirational delivery for the public sector and the Victorian community.”
Join the network
The Research Network is relevant to those working on access to justice related research and evaluation.
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If you have research or projects you’d like to present, contact the Research Team.