Evaluation of Victoria Legal Aid’s Legal Practice Model
The CIJ have been commissioned to conduct what emerged as a developmental evaluation – working alongside VLA to support the continuous generation of learnings as the Model becomes bedded down.
Victoria Legal Aid’s Legal Practice Model aims to provide client-centred lawyering to people with legal needs in connection with Victoria’s Specialist Family Violence Courts. Upon the Model’s establishment, the CIJ was commissioned to conduct what emerged as a developmental evaluation – working alongside VLA to support the continuous generation of learnings as the Model becomes bedded down.
In 2022 the CIJ conducted two rounds of surveys with practitioners associated with the Model, as well as consultations with judicial officers, court staff, legal and other practitioners to understand how certain components of the model were being experienced on the ground, particularly in the context of considerable wider reform as a result of COVID-19. This work generated an Interim Report to inform the ongoing strengthening of the Model. In 2023, the CIJ is conducting a ‘deeper dive’ into VLA’s focus on participant-centred service delivery, including exploring ways to harness the most crucial features in the context of limited resources.