In a District Court in Massachusetts, researchers randomly selected tenants facing eviction to receive full representation or limited, unbundled assistance. They find there are better results if tenants were offered full representation. Further, the offer did not increase court burdens.
Practice Areas
The 2016 Biennial Report to Congress on the Effectiveness of Grant Programs Under the Violence Against Women Act
In response to the reporting requirements authorized by VAWA 2000, the 2016 biennial Report to Congress on the effectiveness of Grant funds under the Violence against Women act (2016 biennial Report) presents aggregate qualitative and quantitative data submitted by grantees of 23 currently and formerly authorized discretionary grant programs administered by the Office on Violence against Women (OVW). This report also presents current research on best practices to respond to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, and stalking, which OVW uses to invest in proven strategies and solutions to further the common goal of ending domestic and sexual violence.
The Financial Cost and Benefits of Establishing a Right to Counsel in Eviction Proceedings Under Intro 214-A
Stout Risius Ross, Inc. conducted a cost / benefit analyses regarding the cost of City Council Intro 214-A, legislation that would establish a right to counsel in housing cases. The report concludes that New York City would realize a benefit from Intro 214-A of $320 million annually.
Understanding the Legal Problems of Renters
The Legal Education Foundation is a grant making trust that promotes legal education to help people better understand and use the law. This information is drawn from the study ‘How People Understand and Interact with the Law,’ in 2015. Their analysis is based on 4,000 interviews conducted for the English and Welsh Civil & Social Justice Panel Survey (CSJPS) in 2010 and 2012.
Delivering Justice for Human Trafficking Survivors: Implications for Practice
Researchers at the Urban Institute document the needs of human trafficking survivors. Through interviews and surveys with legal and social service providers, they identify stigma, misconceptions about victimization, xenophobia, and criminalization as major obstacles for human trafficking survivors.
The Opioid Crisis In America & the Role Medical-Legal Partnership Can Play In Recovery
This issue brief by the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership supports the need for legal services in addressing the non-medical issues for legal clients with substance use disorders(SUD)on their road to recovery. Citing case studies of existing recovery-based MLPs in Ohio, Indiana, and Nevada, this paper provides a well-supported argument for the impact of lawyers as significant actors in combating the ongoing opioid crisis.
Upstream Advocacy: Addressing Cancer Survivors’ Employment Problems Through Medical-Legal Partnerships
This article reviews the cultural changes that affect cancer survivors at work, explains how their legal needs can impact their quality of life, and proposes that medical-legal partnerships are an ideal model to provide legal resources to underserved survivors to help them avoid and address negative employment consequences.
San Mateo County Eviction Report
This report is an analysis of 3,145 eviction cases handled by the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County and Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto over a three-year period. The data provides the first attempt to evaluate eviction activity in San Mateo County on a wide scale.
Shackled to Debt: Criminal Justice Financial Obligations and the Barriers to Re-Entry They Create
This article serves to discuss Criminal Justice Financial Obligations and raises concerns about how they are implemented. It also considers alternative models for the effective and fair deployment of fines, fees, and restitution in the criminal justice context.
How Can Legal Services Better Meet the Needs of Low-Income LGBT Seniors?
Justice in Aging published this special report to help raise awareness of the additional legal needs LGBT seniors may face that are layered on top of the more common needs of older adults. The organization proposes that because low-income LGBT older adults have lived with decades of discrimination that have led to higher rates of poverty, this group of older Americans has an even greater need for legal services to defend their rights and ensure they have access to the income supports, health care, and housing they need.
Legal Aid Research 