Health Justice Partnerships (HJP): Working Ethically to Reach Those in Most Need of Legal and Medical Support & to Improve Outcomes Research Evidence, a Seminar for City, University of London (Law School) 13 September, 2016, London (Presentation Slides)

Lawyer Secondary Consultations: improving access to justice: reaching clients otherwise excluded through professional support in a multi-disciplinary practice¹

“…It is 'secondary' in that the legal information is provided to the professional intermediary who is already supporting a client and then this intermediary uses this information to assist their client or patient or the information is used to enable the professional to better support the client. The author has presented a paper and written a more detailed article canvassing how the ethical and professional responsibilities of professionals using SC have been managed (forthcoming) and so this is not the focus of this article (Curran, 2016c). Critically, SCs can build capacity in nonlegal professionals likely to come into contact with the most challenging problems or clients unlikely to otherwise seek help from a lawyer, so as to be able to identify or quickly verify with a lawyer that a problem is capable of a legal solution.…”

“…The research has found disadvantaged or vulnerable groups are least likely to seek assistance from a lawyer for their legal problems for a range of reasons, including a lack of money, inability to identify a problem as capable of a legal solution, remoteness, social exclusion, poor education. negative perceptions of lawyers and the legal system (Curran, 2015(Curran, , 2016c and other barriers to access (Moorhead, Robinson, & Matrix Research and Consultancy, 2006;Coumarelos et al, 2012).…”

“…The United States research (Trubek & Farnham, 2000) and some Canadian research (Roberts & Currie, 2012) also reveals that many clients are likely to go to a trusted intermediary for help with their problems rather than to a lawyer. The issue is not just that they do not know how to identify a legal issue, which is itself a problem (Productivity Commission, 2014, p. 32, 35, 43), but that they are worried about cost and as discussed above often have negative experiences/perceptions of lawyers and the legal system (Curran, 2016c). These are impediments to people seeking help (Coumarelos et al, 2012;Curran & Noone, 2007;Curran, 2015).…”

Lawyer Secondary Consultations: improving access to justice: reaching clients otherwise excluded through professional support in a multi-disciplinary practice¹

“…The United States research (Trubek & Farnham, 2000) and some Canadian research (Roberts & Currie, 2012) also reveals that many clients are likely to go to a trusted intermediary for help with their problems rather than to a lawyer. The issue is not just that they do not know how to identify a legal issue, which is itself a problem (Productivity Commission, 2014, p. 32, 35, 43), but that they are worried about cost and as discussed above often have negative experiences/perceptions of lawyers and the legal system (Curran, 2016c). These are impediments to people seeking help (Coumarelos et al, 2012;Curran & Noone, 2007;Curran, 2015).…”