Research Database

Capturing Technological Innovation in Legal Services

This report canvasses technological advances and innovations increasingly used by lawyers and other justice sector professionals in the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions. Some of the solutions canvassed include: online dispute resolution services “smart forms” to fill in for court proceedings mobile advice apps mobile apps that put people in touch with people and services […]

Digital Delivery of Legal Services to People on Low Incomes – Annual Report May 2017

This report provides an update about developments in digital delivery of legal services in British Columbia, Ontario, England, Wales, the US, New Zealand, 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. It builds upon findings in an […]

Digital Delivery of Legal Services to People on Low Incomes – Half year update December 2017

This report provides an update about developments in digital delivery of legal services in British Columbia, Ontario, England, Wales, the US, New Zealand, 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. It builds upon findings in earlier […]

HiiL Justice Accelerator Impact Report 2012-2016

This report contains an evaluation of the “Innovating Justice Awards” program set up in 2012 by a Dutch justice organization to promote innovations by entrepreneurs in several European and African jurisdictions. overview of the impact that has been achieved through the Innovating Justice Awards since 2011. It shares project stories from Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and […]

Literacy Requirements of Court Documents: An Unexplored Barrier to Access to Justice

This report explores using a “functional literacy” framework to evaluate whether court and tribunal forms used in Canada are overly complex. The functional literacy framework acknowledges that “adults do not read printed materials in a vacuum but read them within a context or for a particular purpose.” The researchers used this framework and a rating […]

ODR and Justice System Integration: B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal

This report provides an overview of British Columbia’s Civil Resolution Tribunal, which is Canada’s first online tribunal. The report also discusses the differences between public and private online dispute resolution (ODR) processes, and argues that despite the successes of private ODR systems, increasing access to justice cannot fully happen until ODR is integrated into a […]

Statewide Website Assessment: Report for the Justice Community

This report summarizes the findings of a 2016 evaluation of the websites run through the US Legal Services Commission. Evaluators looked at sites using a set of 63 usability criteria that spanned nine focus areas: ease of navigation, accessibility, visual design and iconography, plain language, content presentation, mobile friendliness, community engagement, language access, and user […]

Summary Legal Advice Services in Alberta: Year 1 Results from the Community Legal Clinic Surveys

This report examines the results of the first year of exit and follow-up surveys of clients receiving services from four community legal clinics in Alberta. Overall, clients were satisfied with the help they got from clinic lawyers and felt that they had a better understanding of their legal situation and options after meeting with a […]

Tracking Action on Canada’s Justice Development Goals: A2J Progress in 2017

This report provides an overview of progress on reaching Canada’s 9 justice development goals previously articulated by leading access to justice experts across Canada. It maps initiatives and projects established to further access to justice, to help various provinces and territories to coordinate efforts, share ideas, innovations, and experiences, and identify opportunities to improve the […]

Access to Justice Review submission 2016 – Victoria Law Foundation

One of Australia’s major public legal education and information (PLEI) funders and providers provided this submission in response to a 2016 access to justice review in Victoria, Australia. The submission called for better resourcing and coordination of an existing portal to online legal information, the “Everyday-Law” site. It also addressed the importance of making sure […]