This article looks at the role of empirical research in understanding the relationship between the law and social change. While discussing the law’s power to inform political reform, this article describes several ways in which lawyers can become involved in social activism.
Audience
Rubber Stamp Justice: US Courts, Debt Buying Corporations, and the Poor
Incorporating over 100 interviews as well as relevant literature and empirical data, this Human Rights Watch article develops a comprehensive assessment of practices that fail to serve equal access to justice in debt buying cases. Additionally, it describes potential solutions to alleviate inequality in the courts through reform legislation and increased funding for legal aid programs focused on serving low-income clients.
Legislating Forgiveness: A Study of Post-Conviction Certificates as Policy to Address the Employment Consequences of a Conviction
A criminal record poses a variety of challenges to becoming a productive, law-abiding member of society. Certificates restoring eligibility for employment and certain licenses possess the potential to help individuals with a criminal record overcome such obstacles to achieve successful reentry. This study indicates that while the value of these documents often goes unrecognized by courts and employers, evidence suggests that legal aid providers can act as powerful advocates for expanding access to and successful implementation of certificates, ultimately facilitating stable employment.
The Community Listening Project
The Community Listening Project, sponsored by the DC Consortium of Legal Service Providers, assesses the various challenges experienced by D.C.’s poorest residents in an effort to determine how to better serve members of the community in most need of assistance. Through these efforts, participants identified housing, transportation, neighborhood concerns, employment, and debt as the greatest challenges to overcoming poverty. In addition to gaining a more informed understanding of the issues affecting low-income individuals, this research highlights the power that the law has to drive social change in the pursuit of meaningful justice for all.
Roles Beyond Lawyers: Summary and Recommendations of an Evaluation of the New York City Court Navigators Program
This report found that tenants facing eviction in New York City were able to get significantly better results under an innovative program that uses “court navigators,” who are not lawyers. The New York City Court Navigators Program seeks to address a considerable imbalance in legal representation, since, at the time of the study, approximately 90 percent of tenants did not have a lawyer, while the vast majority of landlords did.
Expanding Access to Justice, Strengthening Federal Programs: First Annual Report of the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable
In November 2016, the Department of Justice issued the first annual report of the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable (WH-LAIR), “Expanding Access to Justice, Strengthening Federal Programs,” to President Obama. The report documents ways in which WH-LAIR’s 22 participating agencies have been working together with legal aid service providers to develop programs and collaborations that integrate legal aid and advance common goals.
A National Study of Access to Counsel in Immigration Court
This study of immigration cases between 2007 and 2012 provides data to support claims that a public defender system for immigrants facing deportation may be efficacious for both the immigrants and the immigration courts.
Civil Legal Aid in the United States: An Update for 2015
This report outlines the history of civil legal aid and highlights the major developments in increasing funding and improving access to services between June 2013 and December 2015.
Closing the Legal Services Gap in Prison Reentry Programs
This study finds that “reentry programs do not adequately address the legal needs” of formerly incarcerated individuals (p. 15). Using data from reentry initiatives, the article identifies the legal barriers of those reentering society from prison or jail.
2007-2008 Evaluation Findings Clean Slate Program
The LFA Group conducted an evaluation for the San Francisco Office of the Public Defender on the Clean Slate Program. LFA Group finds that the Clean Slate program reduced barriers to employment, education, public benefits, and housing.
Legal Aid Research 