The Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner (VLSB+C) has launched the Legal Services Research Centre, an independent body dedicated to strengthening access to justice and ensuring more equitable outcomes for Victorians. The Centre will enhance VLSB+C’s strategic goals of protecting consumers, supporting ethical legal practice, and improving accessibility, while operating with full research independence to guarantee credibility and trust.
VLSB+C CEO and Commissioner Fiona McLeay highlighted that the initiative reflects the regulator’s longstanding commitment to evidence-based justice. She emphasised that the Centre will engage with both the public and the legal profession to generate insights that directly inform regulation, policy development, and service design.
The Centre is led by Professor Nigel Balmer, a leading international expert on access to justice research who joined VLSB+C as Research Director in 2024. His work focuses on understanding how people experience everyday legal problems and interact with the law, with the aim of shaping systems that better meet public needs. Balmer noted that the Centre reinforces Victoria’s place within the global “bottom-up” justice movement, which prioritises the perspectives of the public.
The launch coincides with the Centre’s first publication, the Report of the Pilot Victorian Legal Understanding and Lawyer Use (V-LULU) Survey, which examines how the public engages with law and legal services. Future projects will include the Census of Victorian Lawyers, set for late 2025, addressing issues from AI and competence to ethics, wellbeing, and workplace practices. All research outputs will be made publicly available on the Centre’s website.