Project

Data Collection and Legal Services for Low-income Americans

Democracy & Justice
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By convening scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers with representatives of the courts, legal aid providers, and foundations, the project seeks to understand and assess the challenge of providing legal services for low-income Americans.

Featured publication

Measuring Civil Justice for All

A new Academy whitepaper that provides a blueprint for the collection of data about civil justice activity in the United States.
Overview

The legal community does not have enough reliable and accessible data to be able to address adequately the scope and variety of the crisis in civil legal services.

This project - convening an array of scholars, practitioners, and advocates - will identify the essential facts that should be collected about civil justice activity and the entities who are best placed to collect that information. It will also develop a set of data access standards to help guide the use of civil justice data for research purposes.

The related Winter 2019 issue of Dædalus, “Access to Justice,” explores what access to justice really means, enumerates the multiple parties and interests with a stake in equal access to civil justice, and educates the broader public about current efforts to deliver quality civil legal representation.

People

People

Project Chairs
Working Group
Staff
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Publications

Publications

Report |
FEB 2021

Measuring Civil Justice for All

A new Academy whitepaper that provides a blueprint for the collection of data about civil justice activity in the United States.
Project
Data Collection and Legal Services for Low-income Americans
Democracy & Justice
News & Updates

News & Updates
In the News
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We need a new civil right

There are many rights that Americans living in poverty can’t access simply because they can’t afford a lawyer. This includes rights in housing, veterans’ benefits, disability access and many other areas of our civil justice system. This is called the access to justice gap, and it’s one of the most urgent — and under-discussed — civil rights issues of our time.
Source
CNN Opinion
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In the News
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Lawyers: Who Needs ’Em?

Dahlia Lithwick discusses lack of legal representation and access to justice with Rebecca Sandefur, cochair of Academy project on Making Justice Accessible.
Source
Slate
In the News
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Famed Journal Lends Its Clout To Fighting Access Crisis

Access to justice is a “stunningly invisible issue given its importance in the country.” The latest issue of Daedalus, featuring two dozen articles from leading law professors, researchers and experts, shines a spotlight on a topic that often gets lost in the din of a nonstop news cycle.
Source
Law360
Bulletin
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Legal Services for Low-Income Americans

On November 11 and 12, 2015, over 50 Judges and Justices, Chief Justices, legal scholars, and lawyers gathered at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Brought together by John Levi, Chairman of the Legal Services Corporation; Martha Minow, Dean of the Harvard Law School; and Lance Liebman, former Dean of the Columbia Law School, the group discussed the nation’s failure to provide legal services for low-income Americans.
Bulletin
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Making Justice Accessible

On November 11, 2015, Diane P. Wood, Goodwin Liu, and David S. Tatel discussed issues of access to the justice system. The program, which served as the 2027th Stated Meeting and the Inaugural Distinguished Morton L. Mandel Annual Public Lecture, was streamed to gatherings of members in four cities around the country: New York, Washington, Chicago, and Berkeley. The program concluded the first day of a two-day Academy symposium on the state of legal services for low-income Americans, which brought together federal and state judges, lawyers, legal scholars, and legal aid providers concerned about the state of legal services for Americans.
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Events

Events

The Charles E. Simons Jr. Federal Court House, Aiken, South Carolina
May 21, 2019

The Hidden Crisis in Civil Legal Services

Featuring Robert H. Frank, Nathan L. Hecht, Joseph Kennedy III, John G. Levi, Andrew M. Perlman, Rebecca L. Sandefur, James Joseph Sandman, and Diane P. Wood
Washington, D.C.
Nov 11, 2015

Making Justice Accessible

Featuring Diane P. Wood, Goodwin Liu, and David S. Tatel
Cambridge, MA
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Project Information
Project Date
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Contact Information
Peter Robinson
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