The WA Chief Justice says community legal services will have to innovate to deal with funding cuts.

The state’s community legal centres (CLCs) face cuts of up to 30 per cent from July next year, despite stats showing they deliver significant value for money.

West Australian Chief Justice Wayne Martin says independent cost-benefit analysis finds that CLC’s deliver a benefit to society of 18 times the money spent funding them.

“You look at a Productivity Commission report prepared by economists who tell the Government that they will get more money [from the CLCs] than they spend,” Justice Martin said at the opening the National Community Legal Centres conference in Fremantle.

“When you get people coming out and saying these are vital, unmet needs, and yet the money keeps on decreasing, you have to say, well what do we have to do to increase the funding in this area?

“But you just tend to despair when you see all the rational argument that hasn't actually achieved improved funding.”

Justice Martin said there was a lot of unmet need in WA legal services, especially in family law, employment law, personal injury law, consumer rights law, welfare law, housing and tenancy law and migration law.

“Those areas of legal need correspond very closely to activities and characteristics that are at the very core of our human existence, including our relationships with our families, employment, capacity to reside in the country of our choice, the dwelling in which we live and the wherewithal we need to put food on the table.”

CLCs will “have to collaborate effectively with each other and continue to develop innovative means of service delivery... in order to avoid a very significant reduction in the level of important services,” he said.

Justice Martin said those innovations could involve early intervention and prevention, greater use of volunteers, and even technological means.

Delivering legal aid through community radio and podcasts was just one idea.

“You wouldn't describe radio as cutting-edge technology, but it remains an important medium of communication to a broad audience, particularly for those who may not be comfortable with more recent forms of technology,” he said.

“A number of CLCs are regularly using radio programs to raise awareness of their services and to provide basic information to the communities which they serve.

“That seems to be a particularly effective way of providing information in regional and remote areas.”

Web-based services should be looked at too, the Chief Justice said, including mobile apps, online training tools, webinars, video conferencing, and public video sites.

He even pointed to a Dutch dispute resolution program called Rechtwijzer, which is programmed to help resolve issues without going to court.