Research Database

Conducting legal need surveys in the Australian context: challenges and options

This Australian report canvasses challenges faced in conducting large scale legal needs surveys. The researcher notes that the demographic profile in Australia has changed significantly since the last large scale legal needs survey in that country, over a decade before. The report concludes that consideration must be given to the questions asked, including what types of […]

Narrowing the Access-to-Justice Gap by Reimagining Regulation Report and Recommendations from the Utah Work Group on Regulatory Reform

This U.S. report outlines the findings of a task force on lawyer regulatory change in the State of Utah. The task force recommends that Utah  significantly loosen, or possibly repeal, a state bar rule prohibiting law firms and other legal services operations from sharing fees with non-lawyers. Such a move would make it easier for […]

Summaries of Randomized Control Trials in the US Legal Profession

This research tool provides summaries of 50 randomized control trial studies conducted in the U.S. The studies were identified in 2016 research by Harvard’s A2J Lab. That research defined “randomized control trials” as studies that met five criteria: They had to be conducted in the United States They must have been field studies of real-world […]

The Digital Delivery of Legal Services to people on low incomes: Annual Report Summer 2019

This report provides an update about developments in digital delivery of legal services in British Columbia, Ontario, England, Wales, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the US, Australia, and the Netherlands. It discusses some of the issues digital delivery of public legal education and information (PLE) raises for governments, funders, providers and users, including digital divides. It builds […]

Using the law to address unfair systems: a case study of the Personal Independence Payments legal challenge

This UK research explores the litigation process in a successful 2017 case brought by a disability claimant and led by the Public Law Project (PLP) to challenge discriminatory changes to a disability benefit “personal independence payments” (PIPs) at the end of 2017. The legal challenge resulted in changing the assessment criteria for PIPs for thousands […]

What Makes Court Forms Complex? Studying Empirical Support for a Functional Literacy Approach

This article describes an empirical study examining the complexity of court forms. The researchers obtained direct feedback from individuals without legal training who were attempting to complete a standard court form. The researchers conclude that “using a functional literacy approach, coupled with robust human testing, generates useful insights about court-form complexity that will facilitate the […]

Winning the right to housing: Critical Reflections on a Holistic Approach to Public Interest Litigation

This report analyzes critical reflective practice for legal practitioners in order to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of public interest litigation. The litigation in question focused on the right to housing on behalf of people who are homeless or precariously housed. The report also positions the lack of affordable housing as a […]

Assisted Digital Support for Civil Justice System Users: Demand, Design, & Implementation

This report focuses on assisted digital support (ADS) – the process of assisting a person with lower digital capability to use a digital service. The report aims to build an understanding of the role that ADS services can play, as well as their limitations, to inform designers of online legal services. The report also addresses […]

Design for Justice: How Design and Technology can Help to Deliver Justice Better

This Australian report canvasses ways in which design principles and technology can be used to make the justice system work better. The authors recommend following several “design policies”, including: Build user-centred systems to deliver equitable solutions Make legal information easy to access and understand design data in a way that is open, transparent, and easy […]

Digital Delivery of Legal Services to People on Low Incomes 2017-18

This report provides an update about developments in digital delivery of legal services in British Columbia, Ontario, England, Wales, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the US, Australia, and the Netherlands. It discusses some of the issues digital delivery of public legal education and information (PLE) raises for governments, funders, providers and users, including digital divides. It builds […]