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Current Project Areas
English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey
User Perspectives on the Criminal Justice System
Money Outreach Advice Evaluation
Delays in the Youth Court
Spatial Dimensions of Need and Advice
Diversity of the Legal Services Commission's Service
Provider Base
Crime Victims, Offenders and Civil Justice
Research on Community Legal Advice Centres and Networks
Other Project Areas
Impact of Debt Advice (2007)
Legal Services Workforce (2006)
Means Assessment (2005)
Annual Telephone Survey of Civil Justice Problems
(2005)
Legal Aid Family Practice (2005)
Problem Noticing and Referrals (2003)
CLAF Feasibility for Northern Ireland (2001)
Legal Aid Criminal Practice (2001)
Local Legal Need (2001)
Funding Code (1999)
Defining the Public Interest (1998)
Legal Aid Personal Injury Practice (1998)
CURRENT PROJECT AREAS
English and Welsh Civil and
Social Justice Survey
The English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey (formerly the National
Periodic Survey of Justiciable Problems) is a large-scale representative
household survey of people's experience of civil justice problems, the
strategies employed to deal with them, barriers to advice, sources of
financial support for advice and representation, the impact of problems
and the impact of advice. Findings provide a broad empirical base for
the development of legal aid and broader civil justice system. Findings
also provide figures for Ministry of Justice PSA targets. The survey has
been conducted in 2001, 2004 and, since January 2006, on a continuous
basis. Comprehensive findings from the 2001 and 2004 surveys are set out
in the book Causes of Action: Civil Law and Social Justice, second
edition, published in February 2006. A report of the 2006 survey was published
in December 2007. Details of all survey related publications are set out
on the publications page. Quantitative
researchers who are interested in conducting secondary analysis of the
CSJS datasets should contact Dr Nigel Balmer at the LSRC.
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User Perspectives on the Criminal
Justice Process
The purpose of the project is to examine to what extent suspects and defendants
in the criminal justice process understand their legal rights when arrested
and what the main factors are in influencing their choice of solicitor.
The reasons why people decide not to have a solicitor are also being explored.
Around 1,000 interviews are being conducted in the main police station
and magistrates’ courts in six different areas. Fieldwork started
in February 2008.
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Money Advice Outreach Evaluation
The LSRC has been evaluating the money advice outreach pilots. The pilots
were funded by the Financial Inclusion Fund and targeted towards ‘hard-to-reach’
and financially and socially excluded groups. The evaluation consists
of a range of methodologies and involves a number of different research
organisations. The first evaluation phase focused on the target population
of the pilots. The second phase is a process, effectiveness and early
impact evaluation of the pilots, focussing on the provider and partner
perspectives. The third phase is focused on impact and the cost-effectiveness
of the pilots. Publication of the three remaining reports will be in summer
2008 (details are set out on the publications
page).
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Delays in the Youth Court
The Delays in the Youth Court Project has researched issues of effectiveness
and efficiency in the Youth Courts, by examining the interdependency of
the three main agencies - HM Courts Service, the Crown Prosecution Service
and defence solicitors. It is being conducted in collaboration with the
Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge. As a result of
the themes arising from the Youth Court Project, the LSRC has conducted
an observational study of adult courts, focussing on the Criminal Justice:
Simple, Speedy, Summary (CJSSS) courts, to assess whether similar themes
are evident. Observations have been undertaken in the five pilot CJSSS
courts, with further follow up work being conducted in 2008.
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Spatial Dimensions of 'Legal
Need' and advice
This project looks at how geography (where people live) impacts on patterns
of vulnerability to problems, advice-seeking behaviour, accessibility,
awareness of services and how services are used. Current research activity
is based around CSJS data, administrative data and small-scale qualitative
research.
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Diversity of the Legal
Services Commission's Service Provider Base
The Diversity Project (formerly the Equal Opportunities Project) involves
monitoring the impact of the Legal Services Commission's activities on
the ethnic, gender, disability and age profile of service providers. Data
is currently collected annually through a routine service provider survey.
Project reports are published annually. Details are set out on the publications
page.
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Crime Victims, Offenders
and Civil Justice
The Crime Victims, Offenders and Civil Justice Project is exploring the
links between the experience of crime and civil justice problems. The
analysis is drawing on data from the English and Welsh Civil and Social
Justice Survey and the Ministry of Justice's Prisoner Cohort Study.
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Research on Community
Legal Advice Centres and Networks
The LSRC is responsible for a research project on Community Legal Advice
Centres (CLACs) and Community Legal Advice Networks (CLANs). The research
will consist of an outcome and a process study. The process study will
be externally commissioned. There will be both qualitative and quantitative
elements in both research studies, which are due to report at the end
of 2009.
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CONCLUDED AND OTHER PROJECTS
Impact of Debt Advice
The Impact of Debt Advice Project has been aimed at establishing the social,
economic and health impact of advice interventions for people facing debt
problems. It has employed a variety of methodologies. The first involved
an economic analysis of data derived from the English and Welsh Civil
and Social Justice Survey. The second involved a qualitative follow-up
of survey respondents identified as having had a debt problem. The third
involved a random control trial (RCT), a hitherto untested methodology
in this context. Full methodological details of the RCT, in CONSORT format,
can be downloaded here. Most
project findings were published earlier this year (details are set out
on the publications page). Detailed RCT
findings were published in November 2007.
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Legal
Services Workforce
The Legal Services Workforce Project involves the analysis of data collected
through the Workforce Survey. and follow-ups. being conducted as part
of the National Occupational Standards Project being managed by the Legal
Services Commission. Findings will be published later this year.
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Means Assessment
The Means Assessment Project has involved a number of phases since its
commencement. It has been conducted in collaboration with the Institute
for Fiscal Studies. In a first phases a range of potential means assessment
criteria for use in relation to civil legal aid were developed and impact-tested
using statistical models. This led to the introduction of new means tests
for civil legal help and representation in December 2001. The project
then involved monitoring the impact of the new tests. In the most recent
phases the project has examined various options for means testing in relation
to criminal legal aid and the capital elements of means tests. Details
of project publications are set out on the publications
page.
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Annual Telephone Survey
of Civil Justice Problems
The Annual Telephone Survey fo Civil Justice Problems was a short version
of the English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey conducted via
the telephone. It provided annual figures for Department of Constitutional
Affairs PSA targets. It was last conducted over the winter of 2004/5.
Annual figures for PSA targets will in future be available from the continuous
English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey.
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Legal Aid Family Practice
The Legal Aid Family Practice Project currently involves a follow-up to
the Family Case Profiling Project which reported in 1998. The follow-up
has sought to establish whether the profile of legal aid certificated
private law family casees has changed over the past decade. Data has been
collected from case files, administrative data systems and through in-depth
interviews with practitioners and Legal Serives Commission staff. Details
of project publications are set out on the publications
page.
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Problem
Noticing and Referrals
The Problem Noticing and Referrals Project involved a review of the use
made of the paper copy of the Community Legal Service directory and its
cost effectiveness. This led to the curtailment of the paper directory.
It also involved a review of evidence relating to problem noticers (non-legally
trained persons or organisations having regular contact with individuals
experiencing justiciable problems) and their role in the civil justice
dispute resolution process.
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CLAF Feasibility for Northern
Ireland
The CLAF Feasibility Study was undertaken for the Northern Ireland Advisory
Committee on Legal Aid. The aim of the project was to ascertain the feasibility
of different forms of CLAF scheme in the Northern Ireland context. The
project also sought to identify the principal lessons arising from the
introduction of conditional fees in England and Wales. The study was conducted
in collaboration with Professor Roger Bowles, University of York and Pamela
Abrams, University of Westminster.
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Legal Aid Criminal
Practice
The Legal Aid Criminal Practice Project has included the Criminal Case
Profiling Project, which involved an inquiry into the working practices
and structure of solicitors' firms engaged in criminal defence work. It
included both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and provided,
for the first time, a detailed breakdown of the costs associated with
criminal defence work from the outset to the conclusion of criminal cases.
The project report, published in 2001, includes a comprehensive description
of current criminal practice, sets out the cost profile of criminal cases
of different descriptions, and sets out the findings of analyses aimed
at identifying the principal criminal case cost drivers. Elements of the
data collection and analysis were conducted by the Law Society, Professor
Paul Fenn, University of Nottingham, Neil Rickman, Surrey University,
and Alastair Gray, Oxford University.
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Local Legal Need
The Local Legal Need Project involved a review of current strategy, methods
and tools for assessing 'legal need' within the Community Legal Service
and Community Legal Service Partnerships and make recommendations as to
future developments. Particular areas of inquiry included the use and
development of predictive legal need models and local methods for determining
levels of absolute need. The final report was published in January 2001.
Details are set out on the publications page.
The report included an analysis of the models developed over the past
decade by the Legal Service Commission (LSC), an introduction to the use
of empirical research methods, and a model legal need survey instrument.
The Local Legal Need Research Project was a collaborative project involving
Professor Hazel Genn, University College London, Professor Alan Paterson,
University of Strathclyde, Professor Richard Moorhead, Cardiff University,
Tamara Goriely, Professor Lee Bridges, Warwick University, and Professor
Gwynn Davis, University of Bristol.
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Funding Code
The Funding Code Project informed the development of the civil legal aid
Funding Code and assessed its likely impact. The Funding Code replaced
the merits test for Legal Representation with a new and flexible set of
rules to determine which individual cases should receive public funding.
A preliminary study was undertaken in late 1998. The final report was
published in 1999. Details are set out on the publications
page.
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Defining the Public Interest
The Defining the Public Interest Project informed the development of the
civil legal aid funding code. It examined the political and philosophical
underpinnings of competing definitions of the public interest and brought
together a range of practical approaches to measuring it. The final briefing
was published in 1999. Details are set out on the publications
page.
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Legal Aid Personal Injury Practice
The Legal Aid Personal Injury Practice Project included the Personal Ijury
Case Profiling Project. This examined the nature and conduct of legal
aid personal injury cases and developed cost driver models. A final report
was published in 1998. An interim report, setting out the methodology
and reviewing the international literature, was published in 1997. Details
are set out on the publications page.
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