Citation

Scollay CE, Batagol B, Grant GM. J. Law Med. 2022; 29(1): 156-172.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Thompson - LBC Information Services)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

35362285

Abstract

Legal services can play a critical role in facilitating claimant access to entitlements and shaping claimant experiences and outcomes in compensation settings. However, much remains unknown about claimants' goals in engaging legal services, experiences of using legal services, and satisfaction with legal advisers. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with claimants in the road traffic injury compensation scheme in the State of Victoria, Australia, this article identified that most claimants engaged legal services to access entitlements when they struggled to do so alone. Claimants often had little understanding of the activities performed by their lawyers: despite this, most viewed legal service use as valuable or worthwhile in terms of outcomes achieved. Claimants' experiences and levels of satisfaction were coloured by the quantity and quality of communication between themselves and their legal representatives. The findings highlight opportunities for schemes, lawyers, and legal profession regulators to increase the responsiveness of services to claimants' needs.

Language: en

Keywords

claimant experiences; injury compensation; lawyer use; legal service use; road traffic crash; road traffic injury