Author Archives
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Civil Legal Aid Yields Economic Benefits to Clients and to the Commonwealth FY12
MLAC conducted a study on the economic benefits and impact of legal aid in Massachusetts during FY 2012. They found that the provision of legal assistance led to a positive total economic impact of approximately $48 million.
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The National Self-Represented Litigants Project: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of Self-Represented Litigants, Final Report
This major report is the result of research conducted by Dr. Julie Macfarlane in three Canadian provinces from 2011-2013 on self-represented litigants (SRL’s) in family and civil court. It aims to dispel myths about SRLs including the perception that they choose to self represent because they believe themselves as capable as lawyers. It contains extensive recommendations.
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Shaping the Future of Justice: Effective Recruitment and Retention of Civil Legal Aid Attorneys in California
Civil legal aid organizations in California have found it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain high quality attorneys to provide legal assistance for low-income individuals. This report examines recruitment and retention trends for civil legal aid attorneys in California and offers recommendations.
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Making the Case for Medical-Legal Partnerships: A Review of the Evidence
This covers 49 published articles written between 1977 – 2012 available on the MEDLINE, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases. Researchers also scanned the Center’s “Academic Articles” page.
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Annual Report of the Task Force to Expand Access to Civil Legal Services in New York
2012 annual report to the Chief Judge of New York State.
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Examining the Real Demand for Legal Services
This study asks whether affordability is the actual reason why low and moderate income households frequently do not seek representation when facing a legal problem. The study finds that whether legal advice was sought depended heavily upon the nature of the problem.
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Pro Se Phenomenon
The article reviews the causes of the increase in pro se litigation in the US. Inability to pay is only one of many reasons a litigant will end up going to court pro se. The current state of legal services in the US is failing the people who need help the most. Most clients receive only advice on how to proceed on their own.
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Family Law Information Centers: An Evaluation of Three Pilot Programs
This study looked at the impact of pilot programs which established information centers for litigants in family law cases who did not have attorneys. The survey was taken from 1364 customers at the three Family Law Information Centers and 24 judges who oversee family law cases.
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Findings of the Civil Legal Aid Opinion Research
In this video, Celinda Lake presents her research findings and recommendations for building awareness of the role of civil legal aid.
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How a Civil Right to Counsel Can Help Dismantle Poverty in America’s Inner Cities
The article suggests that a civil right to counsel can be a powerful tool to enhance low-income inner-city neighborhoods, empower those who live there, and create new opportunities, new choices, and socioeconomic mobility in our cities.
Legal Aid Research 