This comprehensive literature review takes stock of the current research on civil legal aid and domestic violence. It finds that civil legal aid is promising, but underexplored.
Audience
Bridging Health Disparity Gaps through the Use of Medical Legal Partnerships in Patient Care: A Systematic Review
They conducted a systematic literature review on how medical-legal partnerships impact individuals and implications for individuals living with HIV. They find that MLPs can address the social and environmental threats to an individual’s health.
Battered Women’s Multitude of Needs: Evidence Supporting the Need for Comprehensive Advocacy
Researchers interviewed participants within the first week of leaving a shelter program. After the first interview, some of those involved were randomly selected to work with an advocate. They compared the effect of the advocacy intervention between those who received the service and those who did not. In their cluster analysis and found that DV victims present three groups of needs: those related to housing, education and employment, and legal issues. They found that of those leaving a domestic violence shelter, 59 percent reported unmet legal needs.
Report on the Survey of Judges on the Impact of the Economic Downturn on Representation in the Courts
The survey of 1,176 state court judges had significant participation from nine states. The survey found that the number of cases had increased and fewer parties had representation, which slowed the courts.
The Challenges of Calculating the Benefits of Providing Access to Legal Services
This essay explores how policymakers and other public-interested actors have empirically calculated the benefits of providing low-income access to legal services in the past, and how they might improve upon existing methods going forward. The author reviews, criticizes, and tries to build on two major civil justice needs studies, one published by LSC in 2005 and the other by the ABA in 1994.
In Pursuit of Justice? Case Outcomes and the Delivery of Unbundled Legal Services
This non-randomized study tracked and compared outcomes for tenants facing eviction in a single California trial court, all of whom received unbundled help drafting a responsive pleading. The provision of unbundled legal services had no measurable impact on ultimate outcomes.
The Impact of Legal Aid Services on Economic Activity in Texas: An Analysis of Current Efforts and Expansion Potential
Legal aid inherently has societal value, but it is also a prudent use of state resources from a pragmatic, economic perspective.
How Effective Are Limited Legal Assistance Programs? A Randomized Experiment in a Massachusetts Housing Court
This article reports the findings of a randomized control trial comparing the effectiveness of two alternative programs of legal representation for occupants of housing units in parts of the Massachusetts North Shore.
Explaining the Recent Decline in Domestic Violence
The decline in intimate partner abuse from 1993 to 1998 has three significant causes, one of which is the increased provision of legal services for victims of intimate partner abuse. This is a widely cited study.
Agenda for Access: The American People and Civil Justice
A report by the ABA discussing the results of the ABA’s Comprehensive Legal Needs Survey (CLNS) completed in 1993. The new report sounds the alarm that the civil justice system of the US is fundamentally disconnected from the lives of millions of Americans.
Legal Aid Research 