Lawyers in NSW's Hunter region and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations have come together to work to reduce Aboriginal incarceration rates.

At Newcastle Town Hall on Friday Legal Aid NSW and the state's Department of Communities and Justice Aboriginal Services Unit held the Aboriginal Services Justice Hub.

Tania Rockley, coordinator of the Unit's Transforming Aboriginal Outcomes Division, said Closing the Gap is a driving force behind the event.

In 2020, the National Agreement on Closing the Gap set out to reduce the rates of First Nations adults by 15 per cent..

Like national figures, Aboriginal people are significantly overrepresented in NSW criminal justice system.

According to the state's Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research March 2024 figures, Aboriginal people accounted for 30.8 per cent of NSWs' adult prison population - an uptick from 27.3 per cent in March 2021.

The rates of adult Aboriginal people in custody in New South Wales have increased since the Closing the Gap targets were announced.

At present, Aboriginal young people in custody in the state make up 66.4 per cent of the youth detention population.

Ms Rockley told National Indigenous Times the hub stemmed from ideas to foster inter-agency relationships, and address 'silos' present across the Aboriginal justice sector, in and out of the courtroom.

The broad spectrum of lawyers from across the Hunter were invited to the day, alongside ACCOs, as Mr Rockley said, "to engage a better understanding on what we all do and how we can all help each other".

That is building awareness of the services and supports available across the region and familiarity between courts and local services providers towards better outcomes.

Stories of lived experience were on the agenda, with cultural competency training and information to aid working with Aboriginal clients.

Legal Aid NSW chief executive Monique Hitter said "innovative approaches like this are crucial".

"Almost a quarter of our clients are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Aboriginal people are incarcerated at 13 times the rate of non-Indigenous people, so cultural competency training of this sort is essential," she said.

"We are deeply committed to improving access to justice by working with Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and service providers."

Ms Rockley said there is a lack of knowledge negatively impacting Aboriginal people.

"We want to marry up the legal representation with (services which take care of) underlying issues…to get those better outcomes," she said.

With success, Legal Aid NSW and the Aboriginal Services Unit are planning to roll out similar events across the state.