Modernisation of the Justice Sector in Portugal

Annex C. Service-mapping methodology

Mapping legal services: Matching legal services to need

Legal services may only be effective and efficient if they provide the most appropriate services based on the specific legal needs of citizens and are delivered at a time and place where and when they are needed.

In order to both plan for and monitor legal service reach and delivery after identifying legal needs of the community the next important step is to match appropriate legal services to legal needs. Mapping legal service delivery against the measures (indicators) of legal need is a useful planning mechanism to achieve this (although this step requires caution to avoid significant risks associated with oversimplification of measures and ‘matching’).

The planning cycle describes a process whereby the legal needs of the people of the jurisdiction are identified in relation to the people’s experience of those needs. A people-centred justice system seeks to know which groups of people are most vulnerable to which legal and justice problems, locate those problems geographically or in other relevant ways, and then, drawing upon the best available knowledge about what works (i.e. which particular service type is most appropriate to address a particular legal and justice problem in a particular circumstance for a particular person), seeks to position and deliver those most appropriate services in a manner accessible and appropriate for the people concerned. Mapping legal services against needs is a key evidence-based tool in this planning process.

The depth and value of legal service -depends on the nature and quality of the data available (legal needs and service delivery data in particular). The data generally required as part of the justice data ecosystem is discussed in the next section, but for the purposes of this report we consider two levels of mapping: micro-level – which requires more detailed sets of people-focused data well and consistently collected – and macro-level mapping – which requires a much less comprehensive set of data.

Macro-level mapping

In brief, macro-level mapping involves locating justice system service locations against relevant population/demographic groups to provide an at-a-glance picture of the distribution of services in relation to likely legal need. It can provide an accessible tool to identify where there are gaps in service coverage which can, in turn, inform government planning and resource allocation.

In addition to plotting the location of service facilities and their catchments, macro-level mapping can also involve identifying the types of services or target audience (e.g. women, people with disabilities) for that particular service. When mapped against the census/distribution of that/those target groups, this can provide insight into whether the legal services appropriate for the particular target communities are located in the areas of greatest need/greatest number of those target groups.

For example, in Australia, the two maps below provide examples of the use of macro-level mapping.

Figure A C.1 maps the locations of legal assistance service offices in relation to the areas of greatest need for legal assistance services. At a glance, this seems to suggest that the legal assistance service offices are generally located in areas of highest need.

Figure A C.1. Sydney Region SA2s: NLAS (Capability) and service locations

Source: Mirrlees-Black, Catriona; Randell, Sarah (2015[1]), Collaborative Planning Resource - Jurisdictional Data: New South Wales Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316257414_Collaborative_Planning_Resource_-_Jurisdictional_Data_New_South_Wales.

Figure A C.2 plots geographically the community legal centre (CLC) legal assistance catchments (i.e. the regions of operations of each service) across the state of New South Wales, in Australia. The large black areas are those areas not covered by any generalist community legal centre catchment, meaning that people in those regions did not have reasonable access to such a legal assistance service. This map was subsequently used to guide the expenditure of additional funding to expand CLC coverage to cover these areas.

Figure A C.2. Sydney Region SA2s: NLAS (Capability) and service locations

Source: Randell, Sarah; Geoff , Mulherin; Catriona , Mirrlees-Black (2018[2]), Evidence of legal need in NSW to support Cameron Review implementation, Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales, http://www.lawfoundation.net.au/ljf/site/templates/powerpoint/$file/Presentation_Randell_CLC_info_session_Oct2018.pdf.

Using an example from Portugal, Figure A C.3 shows the catchments or areas of competence for the justice of the peace courts in Portugal.

Figure A C.3. Areas of competence for the justice of the peace courts in Portugal

Note: Only available in Portuguese.

Source: Government of Portugal (2024[3]) Mapa dos Julgados de Paz instalados, https://www.conselhodosjulgadosdepaz.com.pt/contactos.asp.

While the macro-level of planning can provide a picture of whether legal services are located in the general proximity of where the greatest legal need is expected, it often may not provide sufficient insight as to where and to whom the legal services are actually delivered. Accordingly, the mere presence of a service in a specific region does not guarantee that it is effectively directed towards or reaching the intended priority clientele within that area.

Macro-level mapping also provides only limited insight into which citizens within a certain region are receiving services from locally-based legal service providers, or remotely from more distant (and sometimes specialist) legal services. Therefore, for governments, service planners, legal service providers and others to gain a sound picture of where and to whom legal services are being delivered and whether these coincide appropriately with populations of greatest legal need, micro-level planning may be a means of obtaining a greater level of detail, provided the relevant data is available.

Micro-level mapping

Micro-level mapping is more detailed and comprehensive than macro-level planning. While this level of planning is often possible in commercial environments (e.g. supermarket sales of each item by store location) and in other areas of human services, the availability of appropriate justice system data in many jurisdictions means that it is much rarer for justice systems. The key challenge for micro-level mapping is, thus, the availability of a comprehensive set of consistent and comparable data across a range of services within a jurisdiction.

Mapping at the micro-level generally involves the use of detailed administrative data, particularly user data, collected on each individual for each service that is rendered to that person. This could include demographic profiles and descriptors of the type of legal matter rendered by the service provider. Using this data might enable mapping the types and quantum of services where they are actually delivered.

Administrative data can provide important information in mapping service delivery against need, particularly if it is collected robustly and consistently within services and on the range of services available within a jurisdiction. This data can help identify location of delivery of services and can be mapped to contrast with where the relevant measure or proxy of legal need. For example, Map Figure A C.4 below compares the proportion of enquiries to legal services, by postcode) in the NSW Northern Rivers area of Australia with the proportion of the Need for Legal Assistance Services (NLAS) (Capability) population.

Figure A C.4. NLAS (Capability) population and services provided by postcode – Proportion of residents (ABS, 2011) & proportion of services provided (All agency 2012-2013) by postcode

Source: ABS 2011; LJF LASDD LawAccess NSW, Legal Aid NSW (Advice) and NSW Community Legal Centres 2015

While not representing legal sector data, Map Figure A C.5 below demonstrates the potential power of contrasting existing services against need. The map contrasts the number of available places in early childhood centres (i.e. supply) with the number of infants of employed parents (i.e. demand) in the Saint-Denis area, in France. While legal need is often a less precise quantity, and the services provided by legal service providers much more diverse than the simple indicator of the availability of places in early childhood centres, the map demonstrates the potential usefulness of such a data collection and mapping exercise.

Figure A C.5. Comparison between number of places in early childhood centres and the number of infants of employed parents in the Saint-Denis area in France

Note: Only available in French.

Source: CG93-DEF-PMI, CAF, Insee RP (Seine-Saint Denis, 2013[4]).

References

[3] Government of Portugal (2024), Mapa dos Julgados de Paz instalados, https://www.conselhodosjulgadosdepaz.com.pt/contactos.asp.

[1] Mirrlees-Black, C. and S. Randell (2015), Collaborative Planning Resource - Jurisdictional Data: New South Wales, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316257414_Collaborative_Planning_Resource_-_Jurisdictional_Data_New_South_Wales.

[2] Randell, S., M. Geoff and M. Catriona (2018), Evidence of legal need in NSW to support Cameron Review implementation, Law and Justice Foundation of New south Wales, http://www.lawfoundation.net.au/ljf/site/templates/powerpoint/$file/Presentation_Randell_CLC_info_session_Oct2018.pdf.

[4] Seine-Saint Denis (2013), Observatoire départemental - PANORAMA CARTOGRAPHIQUE D’INDICATEURS SOCIAUX, https://ressources.seinesaintdenis.fr/IMG/2013-dsoe-sod-panorama_cartographique_indicateurs_sociaux-version_15-10-2013-2.pdf.