Justice For All

Access to justice should not be dictated by how much money you have, which is why Maurice blackburn lawyers is opening it up in innovative ways, says CEO Jacob Varghese.

- Anne Majumdar

Brand-new technology from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers aims to make help more Australians create a will, no matter their circumstances. This latest innovation is a sign of the law firm’s commitment to justice for all, according to its CEO Jacob Varghese.

“Around 50 per cent of Australians don’t have a will when they pass away and that’s often because they have no idea how to make one or because it’s too expensive,” Jacob tells The CEO Magazine. “These are problems we can fix.”

As the company’s first foray into an electronic offering, the new online portal is still a work in progress, Jacob admits. But it is already cheaper, faster and more accessible than more traditional ways of making a will. “It still involves lawyers to make sure that the product is doing what the client wants it to do, but there is a lot of work that technology can do so that you’re not paying for a lawyer’s time to do very basic jobs,” he says.

Although wills and estates are not generally thought of as an access to justice issue, the reality is that Australians in a wide variety of circumstances own homes. “You don’t have to be very wealthy to have some assets,” Jacob explains. However, by not taking care of it in advance, any family disputes that arise when it comes to the settling of the estate can become costly, depleting its value.