12 March 2026
The Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner’s (VLSB+C) independent research team, the Legal Services Research Centre, invites Victorian lawyers to take part in the 2026 Lawyer Census. The census opens Thursday 12 March and closes midnight, Friday 24 April.
This voluntary survey is an opportunity for Victorian lawyers to share their experiences and opinions on key issues currently affecting Victoria’s legal profession.
Topics in the 2026 survey include:
- responding to client needs, and technology in practice
- wellbeing, workplace conditions and career sustainability
- professional boundaries and workplace behaviour.
The findings will inform policies and resources to better support lawyers in a rapidly changing legal landscape.
Victorian Legal Services Board CEO and Commissioner, Fiona McLeay, urged practising lawyers to have their say:
We’ve long supported legal research and placed an emphasis on regulation and policy development that’s underpinned by robust evidence and data. We’re excited to be launching the 2026 Lawyer Census under the direction of leading international expert in access to justice research, Professor Nigel Balmer.
The rich insights we gain through the Lawyer Census year on year will help to ensure our regulatory approach continues to be evidence-based and responsive to the profession’s needs.
I encourage you to participate.
The data collected through the census will be anonymous and won’t be linked to, or cross-referenced with, any information held by the VLSB+C (including regulatory data and practising certificate renewal applications).
Participants in the survey help to improve the understanding of how important issues facing the profession are directly affecting practising lawyers. Insights will be drawn on to inform policies, procedures, guidance and resources to better support the profession.
The Legal Services Research Centre conducts the Lawyer Census annually to keep track of some of the most important issues facing the Victorian legal profession. The research team independently analyse the data, and the results are reported publicly as de-identified and aggregate data only.
Data from last year’s census provided an evidence base for the work of the VLSB+C and the wider sector. It fed into development of VLSB+C guidance and policy on wellbeing, sexual harassment and AI — informed directly by what you told us about your work and experiences. It also went further to provide evidence to organisations across the justice sector, including the Law Institute of Victoria and the Victorian Law Reform Commission, so that their work reflects the realities of legal practice. Find out more about last year's census here.
All Victorian legal practitioners have been emailed a link to access the 2026 Lawyer Census.
The census opens Thursday 12 March and closes at midnight, Friday 24 April.
If you are having difficulty accessing the survey or have questions, these should be directed to the research team at research@lsbc.vic.gov.au.