In this Research Network webinar, hear from Professor Rebecca Sandefur, Director of the School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University and Matthew Burnett, Senior Program Officer for the Access to Justice Research Initiative at the American Bar Foundation as they discuss their recent research on people-centred access to justice from a global perspective.
This growing body of empirical research focuses on people’s experience of justice, and supports people-oriented solutions, being those that are designed to be accessible, proportionate, and focused on the outcomes people experience when faced with civil legal problems (OECD 2021).
They also discuss the recently launched Justice Data Observatory, a partnership between the American Bar Foundation, Canada’s International Development Research Centre, the World Bank, and OECD.
Also hear from VLF’s own Dr Georgina Rychner and Bridget McAloon on our new project Measure for Measure: Tailoring Everyday Justice. This project follows on from key PULS findings about legal need and aims to draw together examples of tailored and targeted initiatives that are successfully meeting the legal needs and capabilities of people and communities in Victoria.
About our speakers
Professor Rebecca Sandefur
Rebecca L. Sandefur is Professor and Director of the School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University.
She investigates access to civil justice from every angle -- from how legal services are delivered and consumed, to how civil legal aid is organized around the nation, to the role of pro bono, to the relative efficacy of lawyers, nonlawyers and digital tools as advisers and representatives, to how ordinary people think about their justice problems and try to resolve them.
In addition to her appointment at ASU, Professor Sandefur is Faculty Fellow at the American Bar Foundation, where she founded and leads the Access to Justice Research Initiative, and co-founder, with Matthew Burnett, of Frontline Justice.
Matthew Burnett
Matthew Burnett, is Senior Program Officer for the Access to Justice Research Initiative at the American Bar Foundation (ABF), a visiting scholar with The Justice Futures Project at Arizona State University, and an adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center.
Prior to joining the ABF, Matthew was Senior Policy Officer at Open Society Foundations (OSF), where he worked to advance access to justice and legal empowerment through research, advocacy, litigation, and grantmaking in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the United States. Earlier in his career he co-founded and led the Immigration Advocates Network and served as law clerk to Justice ZM Yacoob of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, the World Bank, and the International Development Research Centre. Matthew currently serves as an advisor to the National Center for Access to Justice and is co-founder, with Professor Sandefur, of Frontline Justice.
Dr Georgina Rychner
Georgina joined Victoria Law Foundation in June 2023 as a Senior Researcher.
Georgina has a PhD in Legal History from Monash University and has a history of quantitative and qualitative research, which includes working as a Senior Analyst for the Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office and several leading Australian universities.
Her work has been published in the International Journal for Crime, Justice, and Social Democracy, and other journals.
Bridget McAloon
Bridget joined the Victoria Law Foundation in June 2023 as a Senior Researcher. With over 20 years of experience in monitoring, assessment and project management, Bridget is an evaluation specialist. She holds a Master of Public Health from Monash University, and is skilled in quantitative and qualitative measurement and analysis, and building evaluation capacity and systems.
With a background working in international and community not-for-profits, Bridget has led evaluation and research over the last 8 years at Victoria Legal Aid, driving evidence-based practice to underpin the design and delivery of effective, client-centred legal services.
