Research

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In addition to the resources highlighted on srln.org, be sure to check the following sites, which house important research, data, reports and evaluations that impact access to justice for the self-represented litigant.

Report: Nonlawyer Navigators in State Courts: An Emerging Consensus (McClymont 2019)
This report provides a survey of the national landscape of nonlawyer navigator programs in state courts assisting self-represented litigants. It includes an analysis of 23 programs in 15 states and the District of Columbia. It is based on extensive outreach and interviews with more than 60 informants who created, oversee or manage nonlawyer navigator programs in court settings. The report describes program features and offers practical considerations for creating and implementing such programs.
Year published: 2019
Document Author: Mary McClymont
Research Reports, Evaluations, Best Practices, Surveys Reports Court Navigators Research about Court Navigators
Research: “This ‘order’ must be ANNIHILATED”: How Benjamin Austin’s Call to Abolish Lawyers Shaped Early Understandings of Access to Justice, 1786-1819 (Jeon 2020)
Author Kelsea Jeon prepared this senior thesis and submitted this document to the History Department of Yale University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts.   Exploring Access to Justice in early America, Kelsea provides a detailed history of access justice and provides insights about the foundational principles that guide the legal profession today and it's relationship with the access to justice movement.  
Year published: 2020
Document Author: Kelsea Jeon
Research
Report: Mismatched and Mistaken: How the Use of an Inaccurate Private Database Results in SSI Recipients Unjustly Losing Benefits (Mancini, Lang, and Wu 2021)
In the fiscal year 2018, the Social Security Administration (SSA) began using a data set from LexisNexis (Lexis) called Accurint for Government on a widespread basis to determine whether recipients of needs-based government assistance had unreported real property that could disqualify them from the receipt of such benefits. Since the advent of SSA’s use of the Accurint for Government (Accurint) product, advocates representing individuals receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits reported significant problems with clients being falsely accused of owning real property.
Year published: 2021
Document Author: Sarah Mancini, Kate Lang, Chi Chi Wu
Research Reports
Report: Digital Justice: HMCTS Data Strategy and Delivering Access to Justice Report and Recommendations (Byrom 2019)
This report was based on research conducted by Dr. Byrom during a three-month secondment to HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) in early 2019, at the invitation of HMCTS chief executive Susan Acland-Hood. As a public guarantee of Dr Byrom’s independence, it was agreed her post would be unremunerated by HMCTS, and her findings and recommendations would be made public at the end of the secondment. 
Year published: 2019
Document Author: Natalie Byrom
Courts Research Reports, Evaluations, Best Practices, Surveys Reports Evaluation Best Practices
Report: Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act: Report to the Legislature (Judicial Council of California 2020)
On Monday July 13, 2020 at noon eastern, the SRLN Research Working Group hosted a presentation by Bonnie Hough of the California Judicial Council and Kelly Jarvis of NPC Research who reported on the major, multi-year research produced as a result of the California Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act. Commencing in fiscal year 2011–12,  the legislation funded research and legal representation in housing, child custody disputes, domestic violence, a guardianship/conservatorship.
Year published: 2020
Document Author: Judicial Council of California
100% Access to Justice Strategic Planning ATJ Commissions Research Reports, Evaluations, Best Practices, Surveys Reports Unbundling Legal Aid Referral Systems to Unbundled Webinars
Resource: SRLN Legal Design Bibliography (SRLN 2020)
The attached bibliography provides a comprehensive, but not exhaustive, list of resourcs and materials related to legal design research, thought leadership, and case studies demonstrating it's potential to improve access to justice.   For more information about legal design, visit SRLN's Human Centered Design section.
Year published: 2020
Document Author: Katherine Alteneder, Eduardo Gonzalez, SRLN
Human Centered Design Research Reports, Evaluations, Best Practices, Surveys Tools for Evaluating Self-Help Programs and Services Consumer Adoption
Website: IAALS Honoring Families Initiative (IAALS)
The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System Honoring Families Initiative is a project aimed at promoting new approaches to improve outcomes in legal issues related to divorce, separation, and custody.   Visit the IAALS Honoring Families Initiative homepage for more information.
Document Author: IAALS
Human Centered Design 100% Access to Justice Law Schools Research
Evaluation: The Utah Online Dispute Resolution Platform: A Usability Evaluation and Report (i4J Program 2020)
The Utah Online Dispute Resolution Platform: A Usability Evaluation and Report was published by the Innovation for Justice (i4j) Program at the University of Arizona School of Law, led by Professor Stacy Butler. The following is the report's executive summary.  
Year published: 2020
Document Author: Stacy Butler, Sara Mauet, Christopher L. Griffin, Jr., Mackenzie S. Pish
Human Centered Design Research Reports, Evaluations, Best Practices, Surveys Best Practices Surveys Technology Online Dispute Resolution
Report: Cases Without Counsel: Experiences of Self-Representation in U.S. Family Court (IAALS 2016)
The following excerpt introduces the report: Cases Without Counsel: Experiences of Self-Representation in U.S. Family Court (“Cases Without Counsel” or “CWC”) is a qualitative empirical research study exploring the issue of self-representation in the United States from the litigants’ perspective.6 The study includes data from in-depth interviews with 128 self-represented litigants and 49 court professionals in four family courts (listed from West to East): Multnomah County, Oregon; Larimer County, Colorado; Davidson County, Tennessee; and Franklin County, Massachusetts.
Year published: 2016
Document Author: Natalie A. Knowlton, Logan Cornett, Corina D. Gerety, & Janet Drobinske
Human Centered Design 100% Access to Justice Research Reports, Evaluations, Best Practices, Surveys Reports Surveys Tools for Evaluating Self-Help Programs and Services
Report: The Justice Gap: Measuring the Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low- Income Americans (LSC 2017)
The report begins with the following introduction –
Year published: 2017
Document Author: Legal Services Corporation
100% Access to Justice Strategic Planning Research Reports, Evaluations, Best Practices, Surveys Reports