“Access to justice is a fundamental and internationally recognised UN human right,” says Head of UNE Law School, Professor Michael Adams.
A right, it would seem, that’s not afforded to everyone.
Currently, less than 10% of solicitors practise in regional, rural and remote areas (RRR) while 28% of the Australian population lives there. This workforce shortfall has severely impeded the access to legal assistance for people outside of metropolitan areas.
University of New England Head of Law School, Professor Michael Adams.
Currently, less than 10% of solicitors practise in regional, rural and remote areas (RRR) while 28% of the Australian population lives there. This workforce shortfall has severely impeded the access to legal assistance for people outside of metropolitan areas.
“The proximity of lawyers to their clients is a real issue,” says Prof. Adams. “It is important for both criminal and civil matters. If someone is charged with a criminal offence, there is a right to legal representation and this is often missing in remote or very rural communities. Similar to tele-health for the medical profession, lawyers can provide some services via video-conferencing, but face-to-face is generally a better experience in this highly emotional context.
“Similarly, civil law matters, such as family law, wills and estates and commercial/contract law play a key part in all communities. In the larger metropolitan areas there are Legal Aid facilities and Community Law Centres, but these are harder to come by in RRR areas.”
In the larger metropolitan areas there are Legal Aid facilities and Community Law Centres, but these are harder to come by in RRR areas.”
In response to this problem, the country’s peak law body, the Law Council of Australia (LCA), has appealed to the Commonwealth to provide incentives through the introduction of a Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debt reduction and indexation relief initiative for solicitors to live and work in RRR Australia.
“This sort of incentives has been used for teachers and nurses, which also have a shortage in RRR areas,” say Prof. Adams. “I think it is one factor that could be a positive incentive on how law graduates make their decision on where to work and live. If a lawyer has grown up in a RRR area, they may feel much more attracted to return to a similar area. With current cost-of-living issues, the chance to have lower university fees would be attractive.
“In respect of UNE, we are currently the leading national law school online and attract a higher percentage of RRR students. As such this incentive could be very attractive to a larger group.
We are currently the leading national law school online and attract a higher percentage of RRR students.
“We have Australia’s leading research centre, the Australian Centre for Law and Agriculture and also offer some unique subjects (units) in areas of legal practice linked to RRR.
“Late in 2023 we also developed and offered the only Graduate Certificate/Diploma in Transition and Succession Planning – this is a unique area that directly impacts on many regional and rural family farms and other businesses. This new course is currently being offered as a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) which is a huge savings on fees!
“Our law graduates tend to have careers throughout Australia - from large city-based firms to promotions within their corporate or government employers. However, we believe that about 20% are strongly linked to RRR areas and the LCA incentives could encourage them to remain in those regions.”
LCA incentives could encourage them to remain in those regions.
Prof. Adams notes that the NSW Law Society has also provided a great booklet on encouraging the benefits of working in RRR areas. In addition, the UNE Law School provides some specialist (elective) units on legal topics for RRR law practitioners.
“Thus, I think we need to do more to promote careers in RRR rather than over focus on the big city law firms or the major corporates or even government lawyers. The more we can expose our law students to the wide variety of careers, including the benefits of working in RRR, the more inclined they will be to work in those areas. Last year UNE Law ran a whole-day event on legal careers and there was a focus on RRR, with invited guests including lawyers that chose to practice in rural and regional practices.”
