3. Building Organisational Resilience to Climate Change
As a future lawyer who cares about access to justice, you will likely work in a range of workplaces that form part of the legal assistance sector. It is important that these workplaces are organisationally resilient. What does this mean? Organisations need to be well designed, adaptive and sustainable. They need to have what is called adaptive capacity — the ability to adjust to potential shocks, take advantage of opportunities and respond to consequences. Legal assistance sector organisations need to make strategic short- and long-term decisions to plan for and respond to the negative and positive implications of climate change across their workplaces.[1] Staff need to feel supported and able to cope with climate and disaster-related legal work, and they should have access to training to grow their professional skill sets. It also means that leaders within these workplaces understand the importance of taking a climate conscious approach to legal work (see The Legal Profession and Climate Change) and that organisations are adequately funded to work proactively to prevent legal harm from climate change, rather than reactively responding to the after-effects of climate impacts. Legal protections through law reform and community legal education are essential, together with strong networks and collaboration, infrastructure and resourcing.[2] Next, we explore adaptive capacity by taking a close look at some key individual skill sets needed to deliver access to justice in the Anthropocene.
Example: Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre and 2022 Floods
In early 2022, the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales endured record-breaking floods. Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre was at the heart of this climate driven disaster: both of its premises were destroyed, and many staff members suffered personal losses. In 2023, Community Legal Centres NSW produced a short film documenting the community legal centre’s experience, and its work in responding to the floods. The film shows how the disaster affected the organisation’s people and services, and it highlights how a changing climate intensifies legal needs. Even after losing its offices, the Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre was instrumental in helping the local population rebuild, by offering free legal and social work assistance to those displaced at evacuation hubs and later at disaster recovery centres. Beyond the immediate physical and emotional toll, events like these often exacerbate legal problems — for example, disputes over insurance, housing and tenancy, income and social security, debt and credit, family violence and family law matters, and the loss or destruction of important documents such as wills.
Video: Living Under Threat: Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre and 2022 Floods
- Hartmut Fünfgeld et al, ‘Beyond the tools: supporting adaptation when organisational resources and capacities are in short supply’ (2019) 153(4) Climatic Change 625. ↵
- Monica Taylor, ‘Preparing the Access to Justice Sector for Climate Change: Insights from Australian Lawyers’ (2025) 32(2) International Journal of the Legal Profession 239. ↵
The legal assistance sector is a term that describes the public legal service system in Australia. It is a collection of publicly funded legal services that deliver free assistance to people who cannot afford private legal assistance and who experience discrimination and/or disadvantage. This sector is comprised of various organisational providers including Legal Aid Commissions, Community Legal Centres, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and Family Violence Prevention and Legal Services. The legal assistance sector is highly varied and each organisational agency varies in its size, composition, location, reach, and the range and type of legal services that they provide.
Adaptive capacity refers to the ability of systems, institutions, humans and other organisms to adjust to potential damage, take advantage of opportunities and respond to consequences. This definition comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: see IPCC (2022) Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report. Cambridge University Press.
Community legal education refers to the provision of legal information and education to the general public, community groups, schools and other agencies. Its goal is to enhance understanding of the law, legal rights and responsibilities, and how to identify, prevent and i legal issues. Community legal education is considered to be an effective early intervention and prevention strategy, helping individuals and communities build resilience by addressing legal problems before they escalate.
