Faculty of Law, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Monash University Accident Research Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
PLoS One. 2020 Apr 6;15(4):e0231025. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231025. eCollection 2020.
Injury compensation claimants use legal services to help them navigate compensation schemes, including accessing benefits and resolving disputes. Little is known, however, about the extent of lawyer use by compensation claimants, including changes over time. This paper presents findings from one of the largest empirical investigations of lawyer use in an injury compensation setting to date. Using evidence from more than 275,000 claims in the road traffic injury scheme in the state of Victoria, Australia, this study examines the prevalence of, and changes in, lawyer use between 2000 and 2015. The analysis identifies a significant increase in the use of lawyers in the scheme, and explores possible explanations. This study provides critical insights into lawyer use in compensation settings: the steep increase in lawyer involvement has both access to justice and financial implications for compensation schemes, given the associations between lawyer use, claimant outcomes, and long-term scheme viability.
受伤赔偿申请人使用法律服务来帮助他们了解赔偿计划，包括获取福利和解决纠纷。然而，对于赔偿申请人使用律师的程度，包括随时间的变化，人们知之甚少。本文介绍了迄今为止在伤害赔偿环境中对律师使用情况进行的最大规模实证调查之一的调查结果。该研究利用了来自澳大利亚维多利亚州道路交通伤害计划的 275,000 多份索赔证据，考察了 2000 年至 2015 年间律师使用情况的变化。分析表明，该计划中律师的使用显著增加，并探讨了可能的原因。本研究深入了解了赔偿环境中律师的使用情况：鉴于律师使用、申请人结果和长期计划可行性之间的关联，律师参与度的急剧增加对赔偿计划的司法公正性和财务状况都产生了影响。
