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Government Websites: Why are They so Bad (and Can They be Better)?

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Government websites, when effective, can make the process of filing for bankruptcy, divorce, restraining orders and other common legal requests easier. Unfortunately, the quality of these websites varies significantly with many state and federal sites’ lack of accessibility reflecting limited access to justice for their users. Fixing these websites is a relatively easy and inexpensive method to expand accessibility to court systems and services, provided the willpower is there. 

Cartoon depicting the challenge of bringing access to pretrial justice in Africa

Denied: Global Right to Counsel Study 

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Despite a right to counsel in both Kenya and Tunisia, the default for low- and middle-income individuals who cannot afford to pay for legal representation is no counsel at all. The A2J Lab began a project to study the effects of early access to counsel for misdemeanors in the two countries but was thwarted in January by a federal stop work order. What follows is an update on the project itself and the educational moment it provided.

Cartoon depicting the confusion and difficulties of filing for no-money-down bankruptcy

What To Do About “No Money Down” Bankruptcies

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In the second part of the “Student Voices” series on “no money down” bankruptcies, HLS student Joe Liberman picks up where he left off in the previous blog: exploring possible solutions to the problems of Chapter 13 filings, understanding their tradeoffs, and proposing how we might study them. 

Cartoon depicting how "no money down" bankruptcies are hurting filers

How “No Money Down” Bankruptcies Are Hurting Filers, and What We Can Do About It

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The combination of rising debt and inability to pay for legal help has allowed the proliferation of a financially fraught practice: “no money down” bankruptcies. While purporting to help the low income client, these bankruptcies often leave the filer in a worse financial situation because they were ill-suited for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This post explores the rise of “no money down” bankruptcies and how we can address this access to justice issue.

Cartoon depicting an owl teaching life skills to some repeat offenders of the animal world

Education and Community Support: Key to Avoiding Repeat Arrests?

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A typical cycle for someone caught in the U.S. criminal justice system due to poverty-related issues may look something like this: Risky behavior on the individual’s part leading to arrest for a low-level crime such as shoplifting, followed by court-appointed community service. Repeat. An A2J Lab study aims to find out whether a community diversion program offers a better chance of breaking this cycle than community service programs.

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Do Pro Se Litigants Struggle to Interpret the Law?

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Do pro se litigants struggle to interpret rules of civil procedure? Or could noncompliance be explained by other access to justice (A2J) barriers? Advocates for pro se litigants often focus on translating the law into plain language. But these efforts fall short of addressing deployability, an individual’s ability to leverage their knowledge of the law in court. Recent research suggests many A2J barriers fall into the latter category.

Cartoon depicting an official deciding who is a participant in the "Human Subjects Bowl"

Who is a ‘Human Subject’ in Legal Field Research?

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Though it might seem like a purely academic regulatory puzzle, the way researchers, IRBs, and courts define “human subjects” in legal research will shape the future of evidence-based reform in access to justice and beyond.

Cartoon depicting a lawyer shown as a wolf evicting the Statue of Liberty and replacing her with Uncle Sam

Who Deserves a Lawyer? The Hidden Gender Bias in the Right to Counsel

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The landmark court decision in Gideon v. Wainwright from 1963 made it a constitutional right, both in federal and state courts, for criminal defendants to have the right to counsel. That decision does not extend to civil cases– such as child custody, eviction, and domestic violences cases–which affect women, often from marginalized backgrounds, more than than men. HLS student Laura Aquino argues for a study to address the gender bias in denying legal assistance to civil litigants that may play a role in preserving a system that limits access to justice for women.

Cartoon depicting three little pics trying to avoid eviction from the wolf

Legal Literacy: An Upstream Eviction Prevention Strategy

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With this housing insecurity having potentially numerous contributing factors, the Access to Justice Lab and research partners at the University of Houston Law Center targeted legal literacy as a potential key to addressing housing evictions in its recently completed pilot study.

Cartoon depicting a lawyer seeing medical quackery in his mirror reflection

What Law Can Learn from the History of Medicine

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Law is a millennium behind medicine (give or take a few centuries). While medicine has evolved into a science-based discipline with rigorous empirical standards, law still operates on precedent, rhetoric, and theory untethered to scientific evidence. It doesn’t have to be that way. There is nothing so unique about the practice of law that makes it immune to data. Why should law, unlike every other discipline, not submit itself to math and science?

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