Author Archives
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Delivering Justice for Human Trafficking Survivors: Implications for Practice
Researchers at the Urban Institute document the needs of human trafficking survivors. Through interviews and surveys with legal and social service providers, they identify stigma, misconceptions about victimization, xenophobia, and criminalization as major obstacles for human trafficking survivors.
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The Opioid Crisis In America & the Role Medical-Legal Partnership Can Play In Recovery
This issue brief by the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership supports the need for legal services in addressing the non-medical issues for legal clients with substance use disorders(SUD)on their road to recovery. Citing case studies of existing recovery-based MLPs in Ohio, Indiana, and Nevada, this paper provides a well-supported argument for the impact of lawyers as significant actors in combating the ongoing opioid crisis.
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Upstream Advocacy: Addressing Cancer Survivors’ Employment Problems Through Medical-Legal Partnerships
This article reviews the cultural changes that affect cancer survivors at work, explains how their legal needs can impact their quality of life, and proposes that medical-legal partnerships are an ideal model to provide legal resources to underserved survivors to help them avoid and address negative employment consequences.
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San Mateo County Eviction Report
This report is an analysis of 3,145 eviction cases handled by the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County and Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto over a three-year period. The data provides the first attempt to evaluate eviction activity in San Mateo County on a wide scale.
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Shackled to Debt: Criminal Justice Financial Obligations and the Barriers to Re-Entry They Create
This article serves to discuss Criminal Justice Financial Obligations and raises concerns about how they are implemented. It also considers alternative models for the effective and fair deployment of fines, fees, and restitution in the criminal justice context.
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Taking Stock of the Civil Legal Aid Movement in 2015: The Year the Pieces Came Together to Increase Access to Justice in the United States
This document outlines the civil legal aid reform initiatives that occurred in the United States in 2015 and projects the movement’s course in 2016.
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How Can Legal Services Better Meet the Needs of Low-Income LGBT Seniors?
Justice in Aging published this special report to help raise awareness of the additional legal needs LGBT seniors may face that are layered on top of the more common needs of older adults. The organization proposes that because low-income LGBT older adults have lived with decades of discrimination that have led to higher rates of poverty, this group of older Americans has an even greater need for legal services to defend their rights and ensure they have access to the income supports, health care, and housing they need.
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The Legal Response to the Employment Needs of Domestic Violence Victims
Runge writes that domestic violence victims present a myriad of legal needs, some of which include needing accommodations at a place of employment, like missing work to attend court or counseling or missing work due to injuries. They may exceed annual leave and be under threat of losing their jobs. Legal aid can help secure accommodations and protect them at the workplace.
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Legal Representation in the Juvenile Dependency System: Travis County, Texas’ Parent Representation Pilot Project
This study examines outcomes related to a parent representation pilot program in Travis County, Texas. Researchers collected data from 172 parents involved in the juvenile dependency system. Their independent variable was attorney representation and the dependent variables were (1) return to the parent or dismissal of the juvenile dependency petition, (2) permanent management conservatorship, (3) relative or guardianship care, and (4) aging out of the system. There were 52 pilot cases and 61 control cases.
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Legal Needs Assessment of Older Adults in Maine
Legal Services for the Elderly (LSE) is a nonprofit organization in Maine that provides free legal assistance. The University of Maine Center on Aging conducted a legal needs assessment of older Americans in the state. They find that between 45 and 86 percent of those surveyed experienced legal problems within the last three years.
Legal Aid Research 