Understanding the legal information experience of non-lawyers: lessons from the family law context

Article

Crowe, Jonathan, Field, Rachael, Toohey, Lisa, Partridge, Helen and McAllister, Lynn. 2018. "Understanding the legal information experience of non-lawyers: lessons from the family law context." Journal of Judicial Administration. 27 (4), pp. 137-147.
Article Title

Understanding the legal information experience of non-lawyers: lessons from the family law context

ERA Journal ID35442
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsCrowe, Jonathan (Author), Field, Rachael (Author), Toohey, Lisa (Author), Partridge, Helen (Author) and McAllister, Lynn (Author)
Journal TitleJournal of Judicial Administration
Journal Citation27 (4), pp. 137-147
Number of Pages11
Year2018
PublisherLawbook Co.
Place of PublicationAustralia
ISSN1036-7918
Web Address (URL)https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/agispt.20180925002282
Abstract

Parties to legal disputes, now more than ever before, are able to access information about the law. This article reports on an empirical study of experiences in relation to accessing legal information in a family law context. A thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with people who rang the Australian Federal Government’s Family Relationships Advice Line indicated five key issues: first, parties struggle with the complexity of the information experience; secondly, parties have difficulty in assessing the credibility and reliability of sources of information and the information provided; thirdly, parties indicate clear source preferences; fourthly, parties have difficulty applying the information retrieved from various sources to their individual situation; and, finally, parties tend to use language that is no longer reflected in family law legislation or practice. These findings are discussed and analysed with reference to the specific voice of the study participants. The findings should assist government agencies, family dispute resolution providers and others to improve the ways legal information and advice on post-separation issues is provided. The findings are also applicable to other contexts of legal
information provision.

Keywordslegal information provision; information experience; legal information; qualitative research; family law; non-lawyers
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020461002. Human information behaviour
480402. Family law
Public Notes

This article was first published by Thomson Reuters in Journal of Judicial Administration and should be cited as Jonathan Crowe et al., Understanding the legal information experience of non-lawyers: lessons from the family law context, (2018) 27 JJA 137. For all subscription inquiries please phone, from Australia: 1300 304 195, from Overseas: +61 2 8587 7980 or online at https://www.thomsonreuters.com.au/en-au/contact.html. The official PDF version of this article can also be purchased separately from Thomson Reuters at http://sites.thomsonreuters.com.au/journals/subscribe-or-purchase.

Byline AffiliationsBond University
University of Newcastle
Scholarly Information and Learning Services
Queensland University of Technology
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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