75% clients agreed with the statement:
“I know what to do next
about my legal problem”
“I’m really grateful for the help because I did not understand the language and laws in Australia”
“Because of ARC Justice, I’ve started to understand the law better”
When people understand their rights and how the law works, they can take action to solve problems and prevent them from getting worse, which is why building legal capability is central to our work.
We use several tools to measure how well we’re doing this. Clients complete short surveys after using our services and we seek feedback from the community organisations we partner with. This helps us see where people feel more confident and where more support is needed.
Improving how we collect feedback has been a focus across ARC Justice. We’re working with other community legal centres to make sure the language in our surveys is plain, respectful and accessible and that the way we gather feedback is safe and ethical.
Most clients who achieve a positive legal outcome report a positive experience. When clients are unhappy, it usually relates to an outcome not meeting their expectations rather than the service itself.
We’re now developing new survey tools to reach more people, including those supported by our duty lawyer and family law programs, while protecting their privacy and safety.
Formal surveys are only one part of the picture. Our teams learn from each other by reflecting on client experiences in regular meetings. This helps staff identify what works and apply those lessons in future cases. We’ve also added new fields in our case management system, Actionstep, to capture informal feedback as part of day-to-day work.
We know that not everyone can provide written feedback. Many participants in our Community Legal Education sessions face language or literacy barriers or take part through interpreters. These sessions are always delivered with local partners who help us tailor the content to participants’ needs.
After each session, we debrief with organisers to capture their insights and use this information to refine future programs.
Together, these changes are giving us a clearer, more consistent picture of what clients and communities need, what they value about our services and how we can keep improving the way we help people understand and use the law.
We measure our clients’ and communities’ legal capability to understand where support is most needed. This includes short surveys after services are delivered and regular feedback from the community partners we work alongside.
Casework – both legal and non-legal – remains the most direct way we help people take control of their legal and life problems. These cases often involve complex issues that need specialist expertise and sustained support.
This year, new team structures and growth have led to a 36% increase in the number of casework services opened. This increase shows the benefits of a stable, well-resourced team and a stronger focus on client outcomes.
Casework services are prioritised for people who are most marginalised or have the fewest resources to resolve issues on their own. As a result, most clients come from multiple priority groups, reflecting our commitment to fairness and access.
Last year, only 5% of cases involved older people. In 2024–2025, that figure rose to 14%, showing growing capacity to respond to elder abuse and age-related legal issues.
In 2026, our program plans continue to target First Nations people, migrants and refugees, LGBTIQA+ people and older people as key priority groups. Teams are also embedding climate-conscious lawyering into their practice to recognise how environmental factors affect clients’ legal problems.
Consistent with our rights-based approach, we use insights from individual casework to guide systemic advocacy and law reform.
By learning from our clients’ experiences, we identify patterns, challenge unfair systems and push for broader change that prevents legal issues from arising in the first place.
Many of our clients face more than one legal problem at a time. Issues like family violence, family law and tenancy are often connected. By offering holistic support, we help people deal with these overlapping legal and non-legal needs, rather than treating each problem in isolation.
Our duty lawyer services in family violence hearings, family court matters (where family violence is a factor) and Child Protection cases are a key part of this work. They provide immediate help at critical moments – much like an emergency department in the health system.
This year we supported more than 2000 clients through these duty services. For many, it was their first contact with a lawyer and their first step toward understanding their rights.
Ideally, people who need further support move from duty services into follow-up appointments for advice or casework. This allows lawyers to explore the underlying issues, connect clients with other supports and work through solutions more deeply.
The biggest challenge to offering this kind of trauma-informed, wraparound service is capacity – having enough time and staff to meet demand.
While this is ultimately a resourcing issue, we’re also focusing on building lawyer capability and improving systems so we can deliver more joined-up, people-centred services.
We’re investing in smarter processes and self-help tools to make it easier for clients to get follow-up support.
Continuous improvement at every stage of the client journey helps us strengthen access to holistic services and make sure people don’t fall through the cracks after that first call for help.
