Legal Services from Nonlawyers (Human and Digital)

Regulatory changes, research discoveries, and technological developments are changing the way law is practiced and legal services are delivered. These changes open up opportunities to deliver legal services and access to justice for ordinary people in new ways and to people and communities historically excluded. Professor Sandefur will discuss some of these developments, and review some of the evidence about what could work.

Professor Rebecca L. Sandefur

Rebecca L. Sandefur investigates access to civil justice from every angle -- from how legal services are delivered and consumed, to how civil legal aid is organized around the nation, to the role of pro bono, to the relative efficacy of lawyers, non-lawyers and digital tools as advisers and representatives, to how ordinary people think about their justice problems and try to resolve them. In addition to her appointment at ASU, Sandefur is Faculty Fellow at the American Bar Foundation, where she founded and leads the Access to Justice Research Initiative.

Her public service includes her appointment by the Supreme Court of Utah to the state's Office of Legal Services Innovation and her role as Co-Vice Chair of California's Closing the Justice Gap Working Group.

In 2013, Sandefur was The Hague Visiting Chair in the Rule of Law. In 2015, she was named Champion of Justice by the National Center for Access to Justice. In 2018, she was named a MacArthur Fellow for her work on inequality and access to justice. She is currently Editor of Law & Society Review.

About the Victoria Law Foundation Research Network

Thank you for showing an interest in Victoria Law Foundation’s Research Network.

We are aiming to build a network across the justice, community, and academic sectors to share knowledge and encourage collaboration among those working on legal research and evaluation related to access to justice issues.

What will this involve?

Throughout the year we will hold events where attendees can showcase or learn about interesting research projects, findings, work currently being conducted, and learnings from past projects.

Who can be part of the network?

We welcome those who are conducting research and evaluation in relation to access to justice issues.