Legal Assistance

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Experimental statistics about clients who received legal assistance. Includes selected demographics and service characteristics

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Reference period
2023-24 financial year
Released
8/05/2025
Next release Unknown

Key statistics

In 2023–24, 432,274 clients received completed legal assistance services from a Legal Aid Commission, Community Legal Centre and/or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service.

  • Over half were female (52%, 224,390).
  • Nearly a third of clients (32%, 139,193) received more than one completed service.
  • There was a one percent (5,344) increase in clients from 2022-23.

About this release

This publication presents experimental statistics about clients that received completed legal assistance services from a Legal Aid Commission (LAC), Community Legal Centre (CLC), and/or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (ATSILS) between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.

Key purpose of these statistics

The primary focus of this publication is to provide a national picture about clients that received legal assistance services funded through the National Legal Assistance Partnership (2020-2025) (NLAP). Over time, these statistics will enhance and complement existing data relating to people’s interactions with the justice system. 

The accompanying service information is intended to inform the nature of the legal assistance provided to clients, rather than a measure of the services themselves. 

Data quality and interpretation

This publication presents the second annual release of experimental statistics for this national data collection. Whilst the ABS continues to work in collaboration with the LACs, CLCs, ATSILS, and other stakeholders to improve the quality and range of data available, further assessment and development is required to enhance the quality and comparability of the national data set. Therefore, the statistics presented are deemed experimental by the ABS.

Differences across the LACs, CLCs, and ATSILS, such as service delivery models, target client populations, funding/resources, and administrative data systems, affect the nature and comparability of the data presented in this publication. As such, comparisons of results across the sub-sectors should be avoided.

Users of these statistics should also take into account the following:

  • The information presented reflects a subset of all clients that received legal assistance services from the LACs, CLCs and ATSILS, due to scope limitations of the NLAP data reporting requirements (i.e. selected service types, services provided with Commonwealth NLAP funding) and the inclusion of only those clients whose services were completed during the reference period.
  • These statistics do not provide a measure of the total workload, efficiency or productivity of the sector in delivering services. For example, clients may receive a relatively ‘simple’ service that involves a single, brief interaction with the service provider (e.g. a legal advice service), or a more complex, resource intensive service (e.g. for clients with multiple legal problems, cultural/language barriers, living in remote areas) requiring ongoing legal representation over a period of months or years. In this collection, each service is counted once (when it is completed), regardless of the resources or intensity/effort expended to assist the client.
  • These statistics do not reflect the true volume or type of legal need (met and unmet) of people across Australia.
  • Clients can receive legal assistance as either the victim/applicant or the alleged perpetrator/respondent in any given legal matter, however the data in this publication does not differentiate between these client types.

Please refer to Methodology and individual chapters for more information to assist interpretation of the statistics presented in this publication.

National client summary

The statistics below present information about clients who had one or more legal assistance services completed by a Legal Aid Commission (LAC), Community Legal Centre (CLC) or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (ATSILS) during 2023–24, per the scope of this national data collection. These data reflect a subset of all clients for whom legal assistance was provided during the period.

Read more in About this release and Methodology.

In 2023–24, there were 432,274 clients that received in-scope legal assistance services from a LAC, CLC and/or ATSILS, representing a one percent (5,344) increase in clients from 2022–23.

Of these:

  • Over half (52%, 224,390) were female; 45% (196,354) were male
  • Half (50%, 217,297) were aged 25 to 49 years
  • 23% (96,863) identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
  • Nearly one third (32%, 139,193) received more than one service.
     

 

  1. Excludes clients who received a facilitated resolution process.

Client profile for each service type

This section presents information about clients and the types of services they received during 2023–24. Clients are counted once for each distinct service type, regardless of the number of services received during the period.

Clients who received legal advice services

Nearly three in four (74% or 318,765) clients received a legal advice service. Of these:

  • 55% (174,805) were female
  • 43% (136,562) were male
  • The most common age group was 35 to 49 years (28% or 90,682)
  • 18% (58,434) received more than one legal advice service.

Clients who received duty lawyer services 

There were 69,869 (16%) clients who received a duty lawyer service. Of these:

  • 58% (40,600) were male
  • 41% (28,681) were female
  • The most common age group was 35 to 49 years (33% or 23,156)
  • 47% (32,764) received more than one duty lawyer service.

Clients who received representation services 

There were 64,165 (15%) clients who received a representation service. Of these:

  • 48% (31,039) were male
  • 47% (29,956) were female
  • The most common age group was 35 to 49 years (31% or 20,096)
  • 20% (12,518) received more than one completed representation service.

Clients who received legal task services 

There were 54,312 (13%) clients who received a legal task service. Of these:

  • 51% (27,473) were female
  • 48% (25,967) were male
  • The most common age group was 35 to 49 years (33% or 17,673)
  • 24% (13,018) received more than one legal task service.

Clients who received non-legal support services 

There were 15,392 (4%) clients who received a non-legal support service. Of these:

  • 68% (10,490) were female
  • 28% (4,338) were male
  • The most common age group was 35 to 49 years (33% or 5,130)
  • 31% (4,772) received more than one non-legal support service.
  1. The proportions in this graph are calculated from the total client population, however only male and female gender are presented due to small numbers in the ‘other’ gender categories, including: x not male or female, transgender, intersex or indeterminate, other, unknown, and not applicable.
  2. Clients are counted once under each distinct service type they received during the reference period.
  3. Includes dispute resolution, court/tribunal and other representation services.
  4. Includes ongoing legal support services. Excludes facilitated resolution processes. 

Legal assistance clients(a)(b), 2023–24

The flow chart shows the number of legal assistance clients, male, female, and age group, who received each of five selected legal assistance service types.

The top level of the flow chart shows that there were 432,274 clients who received a completed service during 2023–24, of which 52% were female and 45% were male. The most common age group was 35 to 49 years (29%).

The second level shows the number of clients who received each type of five selected legal assistance service types:

  • Of the 318,765 clients who received legal advice services, 55% were female and 43% were male and the most common age group was 35 to 49 years (28%).
  • Of the 69,869 clients who received duty lawyer services, 41% were female and 58% were male and the most common age group was 35 to 49 years (33%).
  • Of the 64,165 clients who received representation services, 47% were female and 48% were male and the most common age group was 35 to 49 years (31%).
  • Of the 54,312 clients who received legal task services, 51% were female and 48% were male and the most common age group was 35 to 49 years (33%).
  • Of the 15,392 clients who received non-legal support services, 68% were female and 28% were male and the most common age group was 35 to 49 years (33%).
  1. A client is a person, group, or organisation who received one or more completed services wholly or partially funded under the National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP).
  2. Clients are counted once for each distinct service type they received, regardless of the number of services received during the period.
  3. Client information is not presented for facilitated resolution processes.
  4. Total client count includes a small number of clients who received an ongoing legal support service.

Services

The statistics below represent the total number of services completed by LACs, CLCs and ATSILS during 2023–24, per the scope of this national data collection. These data reflect a subset of all service activity during the period.

Read more in About this release and Methodology.

There were 819,370 in-scope services completed during 2023–24, representing a 3% (26,761) increase from 2022–23. Of these:

  • 51% (419,271) were legal advice services
  • 23% (188,974) were duty lawyer services
  • 11% (85,825) were representation services
  • 10% (80,976) were legal task services
  • 4% (29,040) were non-legal support services
  • 2% (14,567) were facilitated resolution process services.
  1. Includes dispute resolution, court/tribunal and other representation services.

Legal Aid Commissions

Legal Aid Commissions (LACs) are independent statutory bodies operating in each state and territory. They provide legal assistance services for people that are experiencing disadvantage. 

Services provided to LAC clients

Each of the LACs assist clients for both State and Commonwealth law matters. However, per the reporting requirements of the NLAP agreement, only those services provided using Commonwealth NLAP funding are included in these national statistics, as follows:

  • Representation services (provided via a grant of legal aid) for Commonwealth matters; and limited State matters where they are associated with a Commonwealth family law matter
  • Facilitated resolution processes and duty lawyer services for Commonwealth matters; and limited State matters where they are associated with a Commonwealth family law matter
  • All other service types for Commonwealth and State matters (i.e. advice, task, non-legal support). 

As a result, clients that received representation services, facilitated resolution processes and duty lawyer services for State legislated matters (which covers most criminal law matters and some civil and family law matters) are not included in this publication.

Additional factors impact the number and characteristics of clients that receive assistance from the LACs, and therefore, the national statistics presented. For example: 

  • the amount and allocation of funding received from the Commonwealth Government, respective State/Territory Governments and/or other sources
  • how the NLAP and Data Standards Manual (DSM) counting rules are interpreted and applied when recording data about services and clients
  • data recording practices used to capture when a service was completed (thereby impacting total number of services reported for this collection).

Comparability of LAC data with other legal assistance service providers

The profile of LAC clients and the services they receive differ from ATSILS and CLC clients. As such, cross-sector comparison with ATSILS or CLC data in this publication should be avoided.

Read more in About this release and Methodology.

National summary

Clients

The statistics below present information about clients who had one or more legal assistance services completed by a LAC during 2023–24, per the scope of this national data collection. These data reflect a subset of all clients for whom the LACs provided legal assistance during the period.

Read more in About this release and Methodology.

During 2023–24, there were 246,051 clients who received a completed in-scope service from LACs nationally, of which:

  • 51% (124,798) were female
  • 46% (113,596) were male
  • 25% (61,259) received more than one service.

Just over half of all clients were aged 25 to 54 years:

  • 25 to 34 years (19% or 47,243)
  • 35 to 44 years (20% or 48,677)
  • 45 to 54 years (12% or 30,139).
  1. Proportions in this graph are calculated using the total client population. Clients with an unknown age are not presented. More detailed data is available in the Table 8 of the Legal Aid Commissions data download.
  2. Excludes clients who received a facilitated resolution process.
     

Client profile for each service type

This section presents information about clients and the types of services they received during 2023–24. Clients are counted once for each distinct service type, regardless of the number of services received during the period.

Clients who received legal advice services 

Most (83% or 204,372) clients received a legal advice service. Of these:

  • 51% (103,634) were female
  • 47% (96,357) were male
  • 16% (32,622) received more than one legal advice service.
Clients who received legal task services 

There were 31,633 (13%) clients who received a legal task service. Of these:

  • 54% (17,142) were male
  • 45% (14,067) were female
  • The most common age group was 35 to 44 years (24% or 7,687)
  • 21% (6,558) received more than one legal task service.
Clients who received representation services 

There were 30,672 (12%) clients who received a representation service. Of these: 

  • 54% (16,689) were female
  • 36% (11,079) were male
  • The most common age group was 25 to 34 years (28% or 8,683)
  • 13% (3,981) received more than one completed representation service.
Clients who received duty lawyer services 

There were 13,252 (5%) clients who received a duty lawyer service. Of these: 

  • 63% (8,342) were female
  • 36% (4,736) were male
  • The most common age group was 35 to 44 years (35% or 4,637)
  • 33% (4,388) received more than one duty lawyer service.
Clients who received non-legal support services 

There were 6,745 (3%) clients who received a non-legal support service. Of these:

  • 61% (4,142) were female
  • 34% (2,319) were male
  • The most common age group was 35 to 44 years (26% or 1,781)
  • 36% (2,452) received more than one non-legal support service. 
  1. The proportions in this graph are calculated from the total client population, however only male and female gender are presented due to small numbers in the ‘other’ gender categories, including: x not male or female, transgender, intersex or indeterminate, other, unknown, and not applicable.
  2. Clients are counted once under each distinct service type they received during the reference period.
  3. Includes dispute resolution, court/tribunal and other representation services.
  4. Includes ongoing legal support services. Excludes facilitated resolution processes. 

Services

The statistics below represent the total number of services completed by the LACs during 2023–24, per the scope of this national data collection. These data reflect a subset of all LAC service activity during the period.

Read more in About this release and Methodology.

During 2023–24, LACs completed 386,752 in-scope legal services, including: 

  • 258,099 (67%) legal advice services
  • 42,912 (11%) legal task services
  • 35, 538 (9%) representation services
  • 21,437 (6%) duty lawyer services
  • 14,398 (4%) facilitated resolution process services
  • 14,308 (4%) non-legal support services.

Of these 386,752 services:

  • 39% (151,946) were for family law matters
  • 33% (127,579) were for civil law matters
  • 24% (91,974) were for criminal law matters.
  1. Includes dispute resolution, court/tribunal and other representation services.
Problem type

The statistics below represent the ‘primary’ problem type (as identified by the data provider agency) for each completed service provided to clients during 2023–24, per the scope of this national data collection.

As a single service may involve more than one different problem type, these data reflect a subset of all problem types per service/client. 

ABS recommends caution in interpreting this data due to the high proportions of ‘other’ problem types which could result in less meaningful and useful information for certain purposes.

Read more in Methodology.

Parenting arrangements was the most common problem type, representing 21% (75,829) of all completed services provided by LACs during 2023–24. This included: 

  • Over half (56%, 19,922) of all representation services
  • Over half (54%, 11,600) of all duty lawyer services
  • 15% (38,045) of all legal advice services.

The next most common problem types were: 

  • Family and domestic violence, 8% (29,881)
  • Other civil law problem, 8% (29,221)
  • Other criminal law problem, 7% (25,973)
  • Family law property and Consumer/finance, both 5% (17,993 and 17,850 respectively).
  1. Problem type represents the primary problem for each service. Read more in Methodology, Data items.
  2. Includes domestic violence protection orders (civil law) and domestic/family violence (criminal law).
  3. Includes civil law problems not elsewhere classified.
  4. Includes criminal law problems not elsewhere classified.
  5. Includes consumer, credit and debt, and consumer credit.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS) are independent, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled legal services in each state and territory. A manifestation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination, ATSILS provide holistic legal support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that is culturally safe and responsive to the unique priorities and needs of their communities, and local and jurisdictional contexts.

ATSILS were the first established community-based legal services in Australia and are some of the oldest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations in Australia.

Services provided to ATSILS clients

The nature of services that are delivered by ATSILS is largely reflective of the ongoing demand for legal assistance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are over-represented in the justice system.

However, while ATSILS have traditionally focussed on criminal law matters, they are increasingly providing assistance to clients for family, care and protection, civil and human rights law matters.

There are various complex issues that impact the number of clients ATSILS are able to provide legal services to, such as:

  • increasing demand for services, including holistic service responses to complex and intertwined legal and social issues
  • resource constraints impacting capacity to assist clients across all areas of law and/or types of services
  • limited access to fully qualified language interpreters
  • challenges in delivering services to clients living in extremely remote areas – for example, ATSILS staff often travel thousands of kilometres to attend to their clients and courts
  • challenges in balancing access to services in circumstances where two or more parties to a given matter both seek assistance from an ATSILS, especially in regional, rural and remote areas where there is a lack of alternative, culturally safe legal services.

In addition, the quality and comparability of the national ATSILS statistics are impacted by various factors that must be considered when using and interpreting the data, including:

  • the amount of funding received from the Commonwealth Government and State and Territory Governments
  • how the NLAP and DSM counting rules are interpreted and applied when data about services and clients is recorded
  • variations in the administrative data systems used by each state/territory, including capacity to upgrade and maintain modern, fit for purpose technology and data management systems
  • variability in data recording mechanisms and practices used by ATSILS to capture when a service was completed (thereby impacting total number of services reported for this collection).

Comparability of ATSILS data with other legal assistance service providers

The profile of ATSILS clients and the services they receive differ from LAC and CLC clients. As such, cross-sector comparison with LAC or CLC data in this publication should be avoided.

Read more in About this release and Methodology.

National summary

Clients

The statistics below present information about clients who had one or more legal assistance services completed by an ATSILS during 2023–24, per the scope of this national data collection. These data reflect a subset of all clients for whom ATSILS provided legal assistance during the period.

For more details about the collection scope and types of services that are counted, please refer to About this release and Methodology.

During 2023–24, there were 63,757 clients who received a completed in-scope service from an ATSILS nationally, of which:

  • 66% (42,259) were male
  • 33% (21,280) were female
  • 59% (37,931) received more than one service.

Almost half of all clients were aged 24 to 44 years:

  • 25 to 34 years (28% or 18,085)
  • 35 to 44 years (21% or 13,571).
  1. Excludes clients who received a facilitated resolution process.

Client profile for each service type

This section presents information about clients and the types of services they received during 2023–24. Clients are counted once for each distinct service type, regardless of the number of services received during the period.

Clients who received duty lawyer services 

Most (73% or 46,261) clients received a duty lawyer service. Of these:

  • 69% (32,100) were male
  • 30% (14,028) were female
  • 57% (26,341) received more than one duty lawyer service.
Clients who received representation services 

There were 23,277 (37%) clients who received a representation service. Of these:

  • 71% (16,457) were male
  • 29% (6,751) were female
  • 31% (7,160) received more than one completed representation service.
Clients who received legal advice services

There were 11,391 (18%) clients who received a legal advice service. Of these:

  • 53% (6,028) were male
  • 47% (5,305) were female
  • 26% (2,951) received more than one legal advice service.
Clients who received legal task services 

There were 4,247 (7%) clients who received a legal task service. Of these:

  • 59% (2,486) were male
  • 41% (1,740) were female
  • 35% (1,495) received more than one legal advice service. 
Clients who received non-legal support services 

There were 2,006 (3%) clients who received a non-legal support service. Of these:

  • 59% (1,183) were male
  • 40% (810) were female
  • 27% (537) received more than one non-legal support service. 
  1. The proportions in this graph are calculated from the total client population, however only male and female gender are presented due to small numbers in the ‘other’ gender categories, including: x not male or female, transgender, intersex or indeterminate, other, unknown, and not applicable.
  2. Clients are counted once under each distinct service type they received during the reference period.
  3. Includes dispute resolution, court/tribunal and other representation services.
  4. Includes ongoing legal support services. Excludes facilitated resolution processes.

Services

The statistics below represent the total number of services completed by the ATSILS during 2023–24, per the scope of this national data collection. These data reflect a subset of all ATSILS service activity during the period. 

Read more in About this release and Methodology.

During 2023–24, ATSILS completed 222,447 in-scope legal services, of which: 

  • 69% (154,189) were duty lawyer services
  • 17% (37,906) were representation services
  • 8% (17,895) were legal advice services
  • 4% (8,461) were legal task services
  • 2% (3,869) were non-legal support services.
  1. Includes dispute resolution, court/tribunal and other representation services.

Community Legal Centres

Community Legal Centres (CLCs) are independent community-based and community-embedded providers of legal and related assistance to people facing financial or other barriers to justice/legal services. 

Eligibility for a CLC service is most often based on financial disadvantage, however assistance can also be provided without the need for a financial hardship test. For example, for people exposed to violence or discrimination, or public interest cases for individuals/communities.

Services provided to CLC clients

CLCs around the country provide a diverse range of services, largely for family and civil law matters, and some centres also operate criminal law practices. 

Individual centres are predominantly: 

  • Generalist: providing assistance for a variety of legal matters to people living in a specific geographic area. Some may also run specialist programs (e.g. for international students); or
  • Specialist: providing assistance for a particular client population or legal field (e.g. Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander women and children, people with a disability, human rights, social security, tenancy or animal rights). 

Other differences across centres also impact the national statistics in this publication. For example:

  • the amount of funding received from the Commonwealth Government, respective State/Territory justice departments and/or other sources.
  • some individual centres not being subject to State/Territory Government mandates regarding the use of the standard administrative data recording system (Community Legal Assistance Services System (CLASS)), from which these national statistics are sourced.
  • how the NLAP and DSM counting rules are interpreted and applied when recording data about services and clients.
  • data recording practices used to capture when a service was completed (thereby impacting total number of services reported for this collection).

Comparability of CLC data with other legal assistance service providers

The profile of CLC clients and the services they receive differ from LAC and ATSILS clients. As such, cross-sector comparison with LAC or ATSILS data in this publication should be avoided.

Read more in About this release and Methodology.

National summary

Clients

The statistics below present information about clients who had one or more in-scope legal assistance services completed during 2023–24 by an NLAP funded CLC reporting in CLASS. These data reflect a subset of all clients for whom the CLCs provided legal assistance during the period.

Read more in About this release and Methodology.

During 2023–24, there were 122,468 clients who received a completed in-scope service from a CLC, of which:

  • 64% (78,313) were female
  • 33% (40,500) were male
  • 9% (11,140) identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
  • 33% (40,004) received more than one service.

Most clients were aged either:

  • 35 to 49 years (35% or 42,800)
  • 25 to 34 years (21% or 25,811)
  • 50 to 64 years (21% or 25,123).
  1. Excludes clients who received a facilitated resolution process.

Client profile for each service type

This section presents information about clients and the types of services they received during 2023–24. Clients are counted once under each distinct service type, regardless of how many of those services they received during the period.

Clients who received legal advice services

Most (84% or 103,010) clients received a legal advice service. Of these:

  • 64% (65,862) were female
  • 33% (34,178) were male
  • 22% (22,862) received more than one legal advice service.
Clients who received legal task services

There were 18,436 (15%) clients who received a legal task service. Of these:

  • 63% (11,669) were female
  • 34% (6,338) were male
  • 27% (4,951) received more than one legal task service.
Clients who received representation services 

There were 10,213 (8%) clients who received a representation service. Of these:

  • 64% (6,517) were female
  • 34% (3,500) were male
  • 13% (1,378) received more than one completed representation service.
Clients who received duty lawyer services 

There were 10,356 (8%) clients who received a duty lawyer service. Of these:

  • 61% (6,313) were female
  • 36% (3,761) were male
  • 20% (2,034) received more than one duty lawyer service.
Clients who received non-legal support services

There were 6,637 (5%) clients who received a non-legal support service. Of these:

  • 84% (5,543) were female
  • 13% (839) were male
  • 27% (1,790) received more than one non-legal support service.
  1. The proportions in this graph are calculated from the total client population, however only male and female gender are presented due to small numbers in the ‘other’ gender categories, including: x not male or female, transgender, intersex or indeterminate, other, unknown, and not applicable.
  2. Clients are counted once under each distinct service type they received during the reference period.
  3. Includes dispute resolution, court/tribunal and other representation services.
  4. Includes ongoing legal support services. Excludes facilitated resolution processes. 

Services

The statistics below represent the total number of services completed by the CLCs during 2023–24, per the scope of this national data collection. Data for ongoing service types, including representations are understated. These data reflect a subset of all CLC service activity during the period.

For more details about the collection scope and potential undercounts, please refer to About this release and Methodology.

During 2023–24, CLCs represented in this collection completed 210,170 in-scope legal services, of which: 

  • 68% (143,272) were legal advice services
  • 14% (29,604) were legal task services
  • 6% (13,353) were duty lawyer services
  • 6% (12,382) were representation services
  • 5% (10,859) were non-legal support services.
  1. Includes dispute resolution, court/tribunal and other representation services.

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Methodology

Legal Assistance methodology, 2023-24 financial year

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