Unsustainable scales of pay, complexity of matters, and significant hours of unremunerated work are all factors impacting the long-term viability of legal aid and access to justice in Australia, according to a new report released today.
"The Legal Aid Private Practitioners 2024 Census reveals the extent of the crisis facing our legal assistance sector," Law Council of Australia President, Juliana Warner said.
"I commend National Legal Aid for facilitating this important first-of-its-kind national survey to expose the pressure points that exist and what measures will be most effective in ensuring all Australians can access justice.
"What the survey clearly demonstrates is that long-term shortfalls in government funding must be urgently addressed.
"The Law Council of Australia continues to call on the Commonwealth and states to meet their responsibility as outlined in the Review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership and provide funding that enables legal aid rates to private practitioners to be aligned with court scales.
"The private legal profession is critical to the delivery of legal aid in this country, particularly in rural, regional and remote areas.
"Survey responses paint a picture of legal aid rates that have stagnated for more than a decade and are now around three times less than what they can earn privately. In addition, the complexity of cases, level of support required by the client, and time required from practitioners are all on the rise.
"Eighty-five per cent of practitioners rate having to provide unremunerated work as a difficulty and 77 per cent said it is hard to do quality work with limited time and resources.
"This survey highlights the remarkable dedication of those private practitioners who continue to deliver legal aid, despite the very real financial and emotional pressures this can create.
"It tells of the stress and worry they deal with because they desperately want to continue providing legal aid, and at the same time pay their staff and keep their practices operating.
"As a result, a third of the private lawyers doing all they can to support access to justice in this country are having to contemplate doing less legal aid work in the next five years.
"What we must remember is that the victims of this ongoing underfunding are those individuals who are reliant on legal aid as a source of legal advice and representation at some of the most challenging times of their lives.
"We need lawyers to continue to put their hands up to do this difficult work, and it is unrealistic to expect lawyers to continue to do this without appropriate government funding to make it sustainable."
The Law Council also welcomed the release today of the Report on the 9th Biennial Pro Bono Survey.
"Hand in hand with the legal aid data, this report shows how committed the entire legal profession is to ensuring access to justice for all Australians," Ms Warner said.
"The survey reports on the provision of pro bono services by large law firms. The respondent firms collectively represent nearly 20 per cent of all lawyers in practice.
"According to the survey results, these lawyers and firms continue to increase their pro bono hours. Combined, these firms provided a record number of pro bono hours: 704,888 pro bono hours, which is around 25 per cent higher than in 2022.
"Lawyers providing pro bono services undertook an average of 41.9 hours per year, up from 36.2 hours in 2022; and for the first time a majority of respondent firms exceeded the National Pro Bono Target of 35 hours per lawyer per year.
"In addition, lawyers provide thousands of hours contributing on a voluntary basis to the critical policy and advocacy work undertaken by legal professional bodies to advise government, support law reform, and the further advancement of the law and administration of justice, as well as supporting charitable and not-for-profit organisations.
"The entire legal profession, from small firms embedded in local communities supporting legal aid work to large practices with impactful pro bono programs, remains committed to access to justice. We need the same commitment from governments."
