A2J Lab

Cartoon depicting Upsolve in jail without a way to communicate while New York courts stand tall with a megaphone in hand

Inside Upsolve’s Legal Fight for Justice Advocacy

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Upsolve is a New York nonprofit attempting to create a program in which non-lawyers give limited legal advice to low- income people in debt collection litigation. The organization would be a boon in helping the roughly 80 percent of defendants failing to appear in debt collection court. The only thing standing in its way? New York’s Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL) statute. HLS student Ashil Jhaveri charts a legal argument based on UPL’s unconstitutionality that could hopefully move the organization forward.

Cartoon depicting a police officer taking the shirt off of an individual's back and declaring that it was used in a crime.

Civil Forfeiture’s Access to Justice Problem

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File this one under “historic laws in need of modernizing.” Civil forfeiture—the act of seizing and forfeiting physical property, regardless of whether an individual has been charged with a crime — has its roots in customs and piracy cases. But today, in addition to serving as a tool to pad police department’s budgets, it more often keeps cars, cash, and possessions out of the hands of potentially innocent individuals with no guarantee of legal representation. The result is an access to justice failure, as reported by HLS student Joe Liberman in this week’s “Student Voices” blog and podcast episode.

Cartoon depicting a parent and child stuck on a life boat with the S.S. Courthouse boat nearby holding case storage and S.S. Resources boat holding everything the parent and child need (social work, financial help, etc.).

Navigating Unmet Social Needs: A Closer Look at New York Family Courts

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In his 2026 State of the Judiciary Address, Hon. Rowan Wilson, Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, took the opportunity to bring attention to one of the state’s most critical access to justice problems: the difficulties families face while navigating New York Family Court. Despite judicial efforts to address families’ underlying social needs, the legislative and executive branches of the state—and in the larger context, the nation—have the responsibility to implement more lasting improvements.

Cartoon depicts inmate waiting to be admitted into a virtual child welfare hearing

Locked Out: Structural Barriers to the Child Welfare System for Incarcerated Parents

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For a child, parental incarceration is a legal gateway into the child welfare system. Parents have rights to participate in custody proceedings, but incarceration erects barriers that can make meaningful participation difficult. In this “Student Voices” post, we look at the current system–one in eight incarcerated parents lose their parental rights–and potential solutions to these barriers that, if left unchecked, can effectively lock incarcerated parents out of the child welfare process.

Cartoon depicting a multiple-choice case test for lawyers

Beyond the Bar: Measuring Real-World Legal Judgment

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If law could follow medicine to better the field and those working in it, we could see standardized case tests coming to measure lawyers’ decision-making abilities. That’s the argument made by HLS J.D. candidate Michael Pusic in this bonus Proof Over Precedent post. Multiple-choice case evaluations could objectively assess lawyers’ decision-making, improve training and hiring, and determine best use of legal assistance.

Cartoon depicting a mother and child on a stage between a bear representing Mother Up and holding cash out to them and a monkey representing Child Protection Services and being pulled off the stage.

Turning Proof into Policy: Evidence for Guaranteed Income to Support Black Mothers

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The Mother Up project has grown from a small six-person study to the expanded and currently enrolling Phase III study now underway. Throughout, Mother’s Outreach Network has been building evidence to show that financial support, in addition to a network of social and legal help, can help Black mothers avoid entanglement with child welfare agencies. The leader of the organization offers her vision on the project and reaction to the results so far.

Cartoon depicting Mothers Outreach Network (as a bear) giving money to a mother and child (drawn as horses) to buy (horse) shoes.

Testing the Poverty-Child Welfare Connection: Pre-Pilot Study Explores Guaranteed Income

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The “Mother Up” pre-pilot program is an evaluation of a guaranteed income project targeting Black mothers in Washington, DC, who are in danger of getting involved with the child welfare system. Studying the efficacy of the program provided the A2J Lab with enough solid data to pursue it on a larger scale and bring an evidence-based voice to the discussion on poverty’s link to child welfare.

Cartoon comparing a household of neglect due to poverty vs. a household with a little more money running smoothly.

At the Poverty Line: Is Money the Root of Family Stability?

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Eight hundred families in Illinois–and the researchers working with them–are about to find out. With monthly cash gifts of varying denominations dependent on family size and local cost of living, participants of the EmPwR Study will gain firsthand knowledge of whether a year of guaranteed income will stave off child welfare involvement. HLS J.D. candidate Julia Saltzman examines the relationship between poverty and family regulation system involvement and shares details on the randomized controlled trial taking place in urban, suburban, and rural communities in Illinois.

Cartoon depicts Child Protection Services as a falling building, with law and medical support helping to save a family

Inside CHAMPS’ Evidence-Based Holistic Approach to Child Advocacy

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This is the story of a traditional law school clinic that has evolved into much more. CHAMPS, the Carolina Health Advocacy Medical–Legal Partnership, is a legal service provider embedded in a healthcare setting. It’s also the field partner for an A2J Lab study evaluating whether legal partnerships can reduce downstream involvement by child welfare agencies in cases potentially due to poverty-related conditions.

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