Launching A New Report, “Civil Justice for All”

A vast civil justice gap exists between the number of Americans who need civil legal assistance and the few who receive it. A lack of access to civil justice can be devastating, especially for low-income Americans who cannot afford representation and – as a result – may experience eviction, family separation, job loss, disrupted health care, and other hardships. The impact of COVID-19 increases the urgency of understanding and addressing the nation’s inadequate civil justice system.

Civil Justice for All, a new report from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ Making Justice Accessible project, illuminates the civil justice gap and recommends closing it with programs, partnerships, innovations, and a significant shift in mindset that extends the duty and capacity to assist those with legal need beyond lawyers. 

This launch event of the report featured project Cochairs Kenneth Frazier (Merck and Co.), John Levi (Sidley Austin LLP), and Martha Minow (Harvard Law School) in a conversation moderated by David Rubenstein (The Carlyle Group).