ABSTRACT
Despite climate change increasing, there is little evidence about the preparedness of access to justice agencies to anticipate and respond to climate change impacts. This article reports on the findings of a qualitative mixed methods study into lawyers’ perceptions about how equipped the Australian legal assistance sector is to respond to climate change when viewed against indicators of organisational resilience. Data was obtained through a survey (n = 49) and interviews with lawyers (n = 16) from several Australian states and organisations across the legal assistance sector. Data reported on in this article relates to lawyers’ views about anticipatory ways of working, workforce sustainability, networks and collaboration, infrastructure and resourcing. Qualitative analysis of the data indicates a lack of adaptive capacity of the Australian legal assistance sector to effectively adapt to climate change across considered indicators of organisational resilience. This article concludes that without proactive investment in sector planning and resourcing, climate change will undermine an already overburdened sector’s ability to prepare for escalating climate change impacts. Findings from this study may inform jurisdictions beyond Australia also striving to deliver justice in a climate-changed world.
Monica Taylor, Preparing the access to justice sector for climate change: insights from Australian lawyers, International Journal of the Legal Profession. Published online: 1 February 2025.
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