Guardianship Boards are legal tribunals which appoint substitute decisionmakers for adults who lack legal capacity. I was involved in evaluating boards in two Australian jurisdictions: the Victorian Guardianship and Administration Board and the New South Wales (NSW) Guardianship Board. Clients of the two tribunals include people with dementia, head injuries, organic brain damage, psychiatric or intellectual disabilities. Sometimes a 'guardian' is appointed to make personal decisions like whether to have a major operation or whether to move into a nursing home. At other times an administrator or manager is appointed to invest a person's money, pay their bills or handle their banking. Sometimes the board has to make a decision itself, such as whether a person should be able to have a sterilization. Where no suitable private guardian is available, the Public Guardian (NSW) or Public Advocate (Victoria) can be appointed; where no suitable private manager is available, the Protective Commissioner (NSW) or State Trustees (Victoria) may be appointed. The boards are multidisciplinary tribunals including legally-trained people, professionals, and community members. The Victorian board has about eighteen members, the NSW board over seventy. The board meets in panels of one, three or five to hear individual cases which result from applications, usually from relatives or professionals. The boards see themselves as part of a 'new legal culture' which provides an informal and accessible service to people who are often disadvantaged. The evaluations were focused on these people, on the outcomes for the people whose lives had been subjected to the scrutiny of the boards. The research design was based on a comparison of the two states, by using forms which were to be completed by the boards, and a hundred representative cases from each state which were followed up.