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
Report: Nonlawyer Navigators in State Courts: Part II - An Update: New Energy, Urgency and Possibilities (McClymont 2023)
In 2023, Mary McClymont published Report: Nonlawyer Navigators in State Courts: Part II - An Update: New Energy, Urgency and Possibilities as a follow-on to her original research of how Navigators provide help in the state courts. She discovered tremendous growth and momentum. This report details those findings, and offfers improtant information about funding strategies.
Year published:
2023
Document Author:
Mary McClymont
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
Report: Better _______: Strategies for User-Informed Legal Design (Michigan Advocacy Program and Graphic Advocacy Project 2021)
In 2019, the Michigan Advocacy Program (MAP) received a Technology Initiative Grant (TIG) from the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to bring UX design and usability testing training to the justice community. After having struggled with these topics in the early days of Michigan Legal Help, and then learning how important they are, MAP wanted to help others in the community understand the basics of UX design and learn how easy usability testing can be.
Year published:
2021
Document Author:
Michigan Advocacy Program, Graphic Advocacy Project
Report: Alternative Legal Service Providers: Understanding the Growth and Benefits of These New Legal Providers (Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute, Georgetown University Law Center, and the University of Oxford Saïd Business School 2017)
In the 2010's, the legal marketplace saw an influx of new start-ups and new entrants looking to challenge the long-standing service model offered by law firms to their clients. Traditionally, clients looked to their law firms to provide a full range of legal and legal-related services. In 2017, by contrast, consumers of legal services found themselves the beneficiaries of a new and growing number of nontraditional service providers that are changing the way legal work is getting done.
Year published:
2017
Document Author:
Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute, Georgetown University Law Center for the Study of the Legal Profession and the University of Oxford Saïd Business School
Report: Social Work Practices in California Legal Aid Organizations (OneJustice and The Legal Aid Association of California 2021)
This report seeks to illuminate one particular aspect of the legal aid landscape: the confluence of social work services and civil legal services, which can often be siloed into separate and fragmented service delivery systems. The idea of removing the boundary between the two fields, and housing both within a legal aid office, is often synonymous with conceptions of developing holistic and client-centered services.
Year published:
2021
Document Author:
OneJustice, The Legal Aid Association of California
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
Report: Business Process Analysis in Legal Aid: How Florida Rural Legal Services Partnered with Toyota to Improve Its Client Intake and Customer Service (Legal Services Corporation 2021)
Many organizations have experience with business process analysis (BPA), a method to analyze a company’s processes and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations. In fact, there are multiple methodologies used to accomplish the goals of BPA. A notable one is the Toyota Production System (TPS). TPS was established based on several principles and concepts, including a customer-first culture, an acknowledgment that team members are the most important resource, continuous improvement, a go-and-see approach, jidoka, and just-in-time.
Year published:
2021
Document Author:
Legal Services Corporation
Article: Faster, Cheaper & As Satisfying: An Evaluation of Alaska’s Early Resolution Triage Program (Marz 2016)
The Alaska Court System, in partnership with the Alaska Pro Bono Program, created the Early Resolution Program (ERP) to address many issues with which courts across the country are grappling: how to efficiently and effectively manage divorce and custody cases involving self-represented litigants (SRLs), and how to triage cases to the appropriate resolution approach. This paper reported on an evaluation of the Anchorage ERP.
Year published:
2016
Document Author:
Stacey Marz
Report: Designing for Housing Stability: Best Practices for Court-Based and Court-Adjacent Eviction Prevention and/or Diversion Programs (Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program and American Bar Association 2021)
Designing for Housing Stability: Best Practices for Court-Based and Court-Adjacent Eviction Prevention and/or Diversion Programs (Joint Report of the Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program and American Bar Association 2021)
Year published:
2021
Document Author:
Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program, American Bar Association