Published by: Legal Services Corporation (LSC). Published in September 2005. Link to PDF The report finds that for every client served by an LSC-funded program, at least one person who sought help was turned down because of insufficient resources. Only… Read More ›
National
Quality Legal Services for the Poor and Near Poor Are Possible Through Increased Productivity
This study requested by the Senate Finance Committee, compares on a limited basis the cost of federally supported legal services and the cost of private prepaid legal services.
Two Nationwide Surveys: 1989 Pilot Assessments of the Unmet Legal Needs of the Poor and the Public Generally
Published by: ABA Consortium on Legal Services and the Public. Published in January 1989. Link to PDF The Spangenburg Group study was the first-ever national study of the civil legal needs of low income persons. The study by the American… Read More ›
Securing Equal Justice for All: A Brief History of Civil Legal Assistance in the United States
This provides a history of civil legal assistance for the low-income community in the US, along with descriptions of political battles thoughts about the future.
A Short History of Poverty Lawyers in the United States
This article uses the label “poverty lawyer” to include all lawyers, at any time, who have focused on using law, the legal system, and other methods of advocacy, to try to change political and social institutions in ways that ensure every person has her basic needs met for shelter, food, clothing, and, if able, work. A poverty lawyer primarily focuses on issues of wealth and class.
Poverty Warriors: A Historical Perspective on the Mission of Legal Services
The current push for “access to justice” and “Civil Gideon” strays from that original mission by focusing on individual legal problems that do not target the underlying causes of poverty.
Medical-Legal Partnership: Evolution or Revolution
They examine why so many lawyers–especially those associated with legal aid, law schools, the private bar, and hospital general counsel–are collaborating with health care providers to deliver health-promoting legal services to low-income persons.
Grounds for Objection: Causes and Consequences of America’s Pro Se Crisis and How to Solve the Problem of Unrepresented Litigants
This is one of several papers commissioned by CAP’s Doing What Works project to explore the persistent gap between the legal needs of low-income people and capacity of the civil legal assistance system to meet those needs.
The Justice Gap: Civil Legal Assistance Today and Tomorrow
This report describes the state of civil legal services today and how we got here. It also recommends more funding and better service delivery.
Access Across America: First Report of the Civil Justice Infrastructure Mapping Project
Access Across America is the first-ever state-by-state portrait of the services available to assist the U.S. public in accessing civil justice. The report documents, for the nation as a whole and individually for the states who is eligible for assistance and how it is delivered, funded, coordinated and regulated.
Legal Aid Research 