WHO WANTS TO SEE LAWYERS?
Legal Health Checks
QCOSS Conference// October 2015
Presented by….
Sue Garlick
QPILCH
Queensland Public Interest
Law Clearing House Inc.
We will explore:
What is a Legal Health Check?
 Why involve community workers?
 Why is it on-line?
 What next?
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Let’s start with a video…
OK…what are my acronyms?
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CLC = Community Legal Centres
NACLC = National Association of CLCs
QPILCH = Queensland Public Interest Clearing
House Inc…a CLC which coordinates pro bono
resources for civil law need
Pro bono = law firms providing free AND targeted
legal services
HPLC= Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinics
Lawyers on footpath…is it enough?
Impact of unresolved legal problems
But…..
Who wants to see lawyers?
A bit of research…
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Disadvantaged or socially excluded groups are:
 more vulnerable to having multiple legal problems (3+ problems/year);
 less likely to take action to resolve these problems (50% seek some help);
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less capable of handling their problems alone; and
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more likely to suffer a variety of adverse consequences that may further entrench their
social exclusion.
Only 6% of those with a legal problem seek help from lawyers. Who do
they ask instead?
Key role of non-legal workers as a pathway to justice has potential to
improve the access to justice for…disadvantaged people, particularly those
with complex needs…
Coumarelos C, et al, ‘Legal Australia-Wide Survey: legal need in Australia’ (2012) Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, Sydney
LEGAL HEALTH CHECK: Good Questions
The original Legal Health Check
Developed by QPILCH in 2009 with support from StreetSmart,
Roma House, HerbertSmith Freehills and Minter Ellison lawyers.
Multiple legal issues: Roma House 2011/12
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67 new clients with 204 legal matters, across 7 issue types
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Average of 3.04 legal matters per client
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58% of clients had a SPER issue identified. Compare with Café One (our busiest
HPLC) where 8% of clients had a SPER issue identified
Roma House 2011/12
SPER
Debt
Housing
Crime
Guardianship
Family
Other
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Number of clients with issue of that type
35
40
45
Which legal issues in LHC?
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Representative: HPLC casework frequency
Endemic: Legal issues entrenched in homelessness experience
e.g. SPER
Barriers: Biggest legal barriers to sustaining housing
Solutions available: Debt, tenancy, crime etc
Client group: Refugees/DV service/Mental Health
We need to collaborate more to
solve legal problems
Don’t always
identify all legal
need (just family
law and criminal)
Need training,
resources and
support to identify,
prioritize and
refer legal need
Vulnerable
clients
Has multiple legal
needs, but doesn’t know
what/how/who to ask
about them
Will benefit from
“diagnosis” of those
needs
Support
workers
Lawyers
Choice = knowing
what’s on the “menu”
Benefit from a structured interviewing tool
Need community workers to ask best Qs at the
best time, and refer/support client
Why train community workers to use LHC ?
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Efficient: community workers have no/few tools to identify and
prioritise legal needs. Learned skills stay with the worker
across client groups and roles.
Appropriate:
“…workers can be involved with the clinic on a couple of different levels. Once they
signed the consents that the client’s okay for them to communicate with the lawyers,
they can keep on top of the situation to assist the law firm in delivering communication
and also being aware of all the issues affecting the resident that they are working with
which again feeds into their recovery and support plan.” – Kelly Sciacca, Roma House
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Flexible: adjust to align with in-take process and capacity of
the community organisation or campaign – e.g. 139 Club/500
Lives
Better outcomes: More significant legal matters addressed and
resolved per client
Spectrum and process for collaboration with
community workers
Chat
Legal Health
Check
Postcard/Focus
question
Prioritise
Impact on
housing e.g
debt barriers
Reducing stress
–e.g debt
collector
harassment
Connect
Make
appointment
Provide client
with clinic
details
Support
Attend
with/Follow up
Correspondence
“buddy”
HPLC LHC training videos 2013 – on QPILCH site
www.qpilch.org.au/lhc
Evaluation of HPLC LHC videos 2013
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All reported that the video had been of benefit to them... increased
knowledge, profile and awareness of the HPLC and the LHC... use of video
had an impact on their memory.
Quicker than explaining/concrete/shows real examples/excellent
training/accessible
[Research shows]...video allows participants to marry visual cues, memory
and the recall of new information. ..viewer can revisit complex procedures as
many times as they wish. Furthermore, the interactive features...promote
‘active viewing’ approaches with a range of participants.
2015 Legal Health Check (QPILCH + NACLC)
New Postcard
www.legalhealthcheck.org.au
Benefits of on-line training and
resources
On-line Training
Flexible
 Effective
 Efficient
 Inclusive
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HPLC Legal Basics Training day in March 2013
On-line Resources
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Flexible -outreach compatible
Comprehensive -all issues
Timely -connect to your internal processes/intake
Privacy assured
Appropriate – complex issues for vulnerable clients
Remote clients - From Brisbane to CLEWG to Minjilang
Healthy Lifestyles Festival (on Croker Island NT)
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Nationally available
WHAT NEXT?
Keep in touch…
Sue Garlick
Email: [email protected]
www.qpilch.org.au
Ph: (07) 3846 6317
Fax: (07) 3846 6311
PO Box 3631
South Brisbane BC QLD 4101