by Nigel Balmer, Research Director, Legal Services Research Centre
When we set about conducting our LULU survey, we had the opportunity to not only survey Victorians, but also those across Australia. The X-LULU project is about those beyond Victoria and provides a detailed account of how over 2,000 everyday Australians choose, use and experience legal services — from finding a provider and understanding costs through to satisfaction and complaint behaviour.
Use of and satisfaction with legal services
The headline finding is broadly positive. Of around one-quarter of adult Australians outside Victoria who had used a legal service in the past two years, most were satisfied with what they got. Legal matters were often resolved to people's satisfaction, and services were generally valued and competently delivered.
However, beneath this lies important nuance. Around one in ten respondents tried unsuccessfully to access a legal service, with cost, contact difficulties, and distance among common barriers. And while most were satisfied with services, where dissatisfaction occurred, this was driven by a mismatch between expectations and delivery. Services not doing enough, failing to keep clients informed, and bills exceeding expectations were recurring themes, with lack of or miscommunication a common root cause.
Costs and their communication
The X-LULU survey reveals a nuanced picture of legal costs. A significant minority incurred no direct cost at all, and for those who did pay, the median outlay was $1,500. However, costs were highly skewed, with a long upper tail extending beyond $40,000. Importantly, just 56% of legal service users recalled being told about likely costs at the outset, suggesting room for improvement in cost transparency, even where disclosure obligations are in place.
Why it matters
The LULU surveys are part of a long tradition of surveys adopting a 'bottom-up' approach — starting from the experience of people using services, rather than from the perspective of the profession, regulator or institutions of justice, and allowing policy, regulation, reform and service design be shaped through the lens of those the system is meant to serve. If we want a legal services market that is fair, accessible, and trusted, it needs to be grounded in user experience. X-LULU findings suggest that this means maintaining and extending the strengths of the current system while addressing known weaknesses — particularly around transparency, communication and complaint resolution.
These reports [link to reports] set out the findings in full: a detailed main report, a themes report exploring the key insights and lessons, and a research brief for those who want the essentials. They complement the pilot V-LULU survey reports, forming a comprehensive picture of how Australians experience legal services.