The Foundation was established in 1967 and is an independent body incorporated in New South Wales by the Law and Justice Foundation Act 2000 (NSW) to improve access to justice in NSW, particularly for socially and economically disadvantaged people.

The Foundation's staff and Board come from a range of different backgrounds such as law, research, education and the social sciences. This enables us to consider issues of access to justice from different perspectives.

They achieve our goals by:

identifying their needs through the independent research of our Access to Justice and Legal Need program and discrete projects carried out in partner research with universities

supporting community and other organisations to produce a wide range of access to justice initiatives (i.e. information booklets, DVDs, workshops, research) through financial and other support from our Grants program

promoting the use of Plain English to produce understandable legal information

producing a range of publications which helps to promote access to justice activity

acknowledging the outstanding work of people working to improve access to justice by managing the annual Justice Awards

supporting legal system reforms and new justice initiatives by contributing our research findings to policy development.

 

The Law and Justice Foundation believes that:

a fair and equitable justice system is essential for a democratic, civil society

reform should, where possible, be based on sound research

people need accurate, understandable information to have equitable access to justice

community support agencies and NGOs play a critical role in improving access to justice for disadvantaged people

 

The Law and Justice Foundation operates on income received from grants and fees for services. The principal source of grant funds is the Public Purpose Fund.