Wayfinding for civil justice

Overview

The civil justice system is complex and multi-faceted; different people and organisations are experts in different parts of the system. For the system to work effectively from a user perspective, there needs to be a degree of coordination and coherence that can only be achieved through an overarching shared strategy to guide our way to improved access to justice.

The Chief Justice and Secretary for Justice invite you to be part of the creation of a national strategic framework, to improve how we work together to improve access to civil justice in Aotearoa New Zealand.

A Working Group of people passionate about improving access to justice in Aotearoa New Zealand have been called on to guide this work and have put together a draft framework to keep the conversation moving. We invite you to share your views and experience and be part of designing how we can better work together to improve access to civil justice.

The Working Group seeks the opinions of those who work in organisations and in roles where they see the need to improve access to justice. What goals do you think Aotearoa New Zealand needs to focus on? What principles should guide reaching those goals? How can we better work together to achieve common aims?

This audience includes, but is not limited to:

• institutions and organisations that work in the area of civil justice (including the judiciary, legal professional organisations, government departments, and academics)
• community groups and people supporting those who see or experience barriers to accessing justice (including, but not limited to, NGOs, Māori communities, Pacific communities, Asian communities, rural communities, disability communities)
• providers of advice, information, and advocacy, including lawyers and non-lawyer service providers (for example, advocates and McKenzie friends)
• individuals and organisations who are trying to disrupt and/or innovate civil justice
• funders of work to improve access to justice.

While it is primarily aimed at individuals and organisations whose mahi is about (either directly or indirectly) improving access to justice, the experiences of those who have been directly affected by a struggle to access justice can also inform the shape of this document.

The Working Group welcomes submissions from people with direct experience of the justice system who would like to share their feedback on this draft Wayfinding for Civil Justice strategy document.