A new program aims to improve community legal assistance services by incorporating the insights of the people who use them. 

The Lived Experience Legal Assistance Change Project is designed to reform legal services to better meet the needs of clients amidst growing demand.

Community Legal WA (CLWA), a peak organisation representing 26 community legal centres in Western Australia, will lead the project. These centres provide free or low-cost services to disadvantaged individuals. 

In the 2022-2023 period, they assisted more than 24,500 Western Australians, with significant portions of these clients being female (63 per cent), victims of family and domestic violence (29 per cent), and individuals with disabilities or mental illnesses (22 per cent).

The project focuses on building the capacity of the legal assistance sector by engaging people with lived experience of legal need in the co-design of services. 

It aims to identify and support a pool of such individuals, giving them a strong voice on relevant issues, including policy and advocacy. Their contributions are expected to inform and shape reforms, ultimately improving social and legal outcomes for clients.

Lotterywest and the State Government have each committed $200,000 to this project over three years. 

“By increasing access to effective services, these centres will be able to resolve people's issues more quickly and provide appropriate supports,” said Attorney General John Quigley.

“People with experience of these issues are well-placed to give critical guidance in achieving well-designed, trauma-informed legal assistance.”

Marisha Gerovich, Community Legal WA’s Lived Experience Engagement Coordinator, emphasised the transformative potential of high-quality legal help. 

“People experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage have told us they can find accessing lawyers and the justice system to be overwhelming and traumatic. They also told us when they are able to access high quality legal help it can be life-changing. Providing people with a safe opportunity to be heard and have their experiences valued not only provides key learnings to improve services for everyone, it can also help individuals feel empowered and rebuild trust,” she said.

Chelsea McKinney, CEO of Community Legal WA, says there are preventative benefits of timely legal assistance. 

“Getting legal help in time can stop problems getting worse - keeping people in work, families in their homes and kids safe. This groundbreaking project funded by the State Government and Lotterywest will develop a pool of people with lived experience, who are empowered to work together with community legal centres to improve services and policy,” she said.