Economic efficiency in the provision of legal services: The private practitioner and the law centre

This paper seeks to examine the efficiency of the provision of legal services by alternative institutional modes of supply. Using a sample of unfair dismissal cases handled by a private practitioner and a law centre, an analysis of inputs and outputs was carried out. The objective of this analysis was to try to determine whether any systematic differences in these variables could be detected between the two legal modes. Although our sample size does not permit the drawing of broad generalizations, the results do represent a first step towards a full assessment of legal services supplied. There are important policy implications which could be drawn from this study regarding the mode of provision which the government should favour in maintaining or extending the availability of public funding for legal services.