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.
Practice Areas
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.
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.
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.
Recent Studies Compare Full Representation to Limited Assistance in Eviction Cases
In this article, John Pollock discusses three recent studies comparing full representation to limited assistance in the eviction context, and cautions there is still much to learn.
Legal Aid Research 