Delivering 'valuable' justice: measuring the Impact of law reform advocacy by the not-for-profit legal sector

In this thesis, I argue that the law reform advocacy work of the Not-for-profit (NFP) legal sector has significant value and should be protected and supported. Current law and practice in Australia do not protect NFP law reform advocacy. Further, funding arrangements restrict or prohibit this important work, and non-legal barriers compound the issue. There is a strong case that NFP legal work should be protected and supported. NFP law reform advocacy has significant legal value in delivering access to justice, and there is clear economic value in that NFP law reform advocacy supports effective and efficient law reform. However, there is a lack of robust supporting evidence. Social return on investment (SROI) is a method that may help fill this gap. An exploratory baseline SROI analysis is conducted with a focus on one component of NFP law reform advocacy. By taking a stakeholder focused approach that measures the social and economic impacts valued by both government and the NFP legal sector, SROI provides the potential to balance economic legitimacy for law reform advocacy with the quest for social justice.