The Legal Services Research Centre was established in 2025 to provide a powerful and independent voice to inform justice policy, regulation and practice within Victoria and internationally. It seeks to provide a robust empirical evidence base to help to make justice more accessible and equitable. In doing so, it advances the global movement towards a 'bottom-up' approach to justice, focused on the needs and capabilities of the public. 

Those familiar with this field of research might think our name rings a bell – and they would be right.

Until 2013, the Legal Services Research Centre was also the name of the independent research division of the then Legal Services Commission in England and Wales. We are not just sharing the name – since it does a good job of describing our focus – but also acknowledging a centre that inspired our principles, methods and way in which we conduct research.