This is very good news. Chuck Greenfield is going to NLADA as their new Chief Counsel for Civil Programs. That alone would be encouraging news about the direction of access to justice, because Chuck in all his positions, including at LSC, at Legal Services of Northern Virginia, and the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, has brought an innovative and energetic perspective.
However the really good news is the way NLADA describes his role. In addition to his counsel work: “Chuck will play a lead role in a new initiative at NLADA aimed at developing a research capacity for civil legal services as well as improving quality and program effectiveness.”
This suggests that NLADA is making a strong commitment in these areas. Maybe, adding this to the research coming out of the academic world, to the American Bar Foundation work mapping access, the encouragement of the DOJ, and Wayne Moore’s work on metrics, we are getting to a tipping point in which we have a real research commitment and capacity, and therefore in which our system will become evidence based, and can show the value of what we do. If so, that would really be something to celebrate.
I am please to be able to say that Chuck has agreed to do a NewsMaker Interview for this blog. Watch this space.
Richard Zorza's Access to Justice Blog 
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Thrilled to hear these news! I have worked with Chuck on OPP program reviews, and it has always been a pleasure to see him coordinate the findings from large and diverse team members, always arriving at a factual, balanced, and helpful recommendations. I am thrilled about his role in research and metrics, sorely needed to better understand what parts of the delivery system need shoring up, and what are ideas that are neat and cool, but really offer no real long term impact in improving access to justice and results for low income and vulnerable groups.Congratulations to the NLADA team and to Chuck! I am sure his colleagues at OPP will miss him, but he is an approachable person and he won’t be too far. Thanks for sharing this, this is great news for the legal non profit community.