By encouraging evidence-based approaches in civil legal assistance, the federal government can help service providers target resources more efficiently.
National
Connecting Self-Representation to Civil Gideon: What Existing Data Reveal About When Counsel is Most Needed
This reviews existing reports reveals a correlation between representation and success rates in court. It finds that this is especially true when the litigant faces a power imbalance and when the litigant’s advocate is skilled and has relevant knowledge.
Foreclosures: A Crisis in Legal Representation
This is a review of the foreclosure crisis including the number of persons without legal representation in selected counties with high rates of foreclosure, why having a lawyer matters, the barriers to legal representation, concluding with recommendations.
Legal Needs and Civil Justice: A Survey of Americans, Major Findings from the Comprehensive Legal Needs Study
Interviews by phone and in person were conducted in 1993 with more than 3,000 low- and moderate-income Americans to ask about circumstances experienced that pertain to civil justice. (Link is major findings only.)
Economic Benefits of Civil Legal Aid
This two-page fact sheet lists five ways the civil legal aid also yields substantial economic benefits.
Civil Legal Aid in the United States: An Update for 2019
This report outlines the developments in civil legal aid between July 2017 and December 2019.
Legal Services for All: Is the Profession Ready?
Charm writes that legal needs are highly elastic: resources will never be adequate to address every problem. There will always be constraints and because of that, the legal profession is not ready for legal services for all. Instead, public policy must involve resource targeting and rationing.
Report of the Pro Bono Task Force
LSC created a 67-member Pro Bono Task Force which has compiled recommendations to LSC and its grantees, as well as a set of requests for the legal profession as a whole.
Social Determinants and Military Veterans’ Suicide Ideation and Attempt: a Cross-Sectional Analysis of Electronic Health Record Data
A study funded by the VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans and published by the Journal of General Internal Medicine in November 2019 analyzed the relationship between adverse social determinants of health (including violence, housing instability, financial/employment problems, legal problems, familial/social problems, lack of access to care/transportation, and nonspecific psychosocial needs) and suicide ideation and attempt among veterans.
Practical Implications of Current Domestic Violence Research: For Law Enforcement, Prosecutors and Judges
This report gives practitioners the research on perpetrators and victims of domestic violence, the impact of current responses to such violence, and the implications of that research for day-to-day, real-world responses to domestic violence by law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges.
Legal Aid Research 