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.
Population Served
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.
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.
Civil Legal Aid and Domestic Violence: A Review of the Literature and Promising Directions
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.
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.
Legal Aid Research 