Category Archives: Research and Evalation

Guest Post From Sherna Deamer on Making Justice Truly Blind — Where it Should Be

Posted on March 30, 2015 by richardzorza

This blog loves to share provocative “out of the box” ideas that can get conversation going.  Here is one on how to remove some of the unconscious cultural and ethnic bias in our legal system.  It comes from Sherna Deamer, … Continue reading →

Posted in Court Management, Judicial Ethics, LEP, Research and Evalation | 2 Comments

Jim Greiner Asks “What is Access to Justice For?”

Posted on March 28, 2015 by richardzorza

Jim Greiner, in a recent two part post for the Haarvard Law and Policy Review (here and here), urges that we need to decide what we are trying to achieve in our access work. He points out that without a … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, Research and Evalation, Systematic Change | Comments Off on Jim Greiner Asks “What is Access to Justice For?”

Child Support Proposals in the President’s Budget Would Support Research Into Innovative Approaches

Posted on February 6, 2015 by richardzorza

Mark Greenberg, Acting Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and Families has this to say in summarizing the budget proposals on child support: For the Child Support Program, we are renewing a number of prior proposals for efforts to ensure that … Continue reading →

Posted in Child Support, Funding, Research and Evalation, Self-Help Services | 1 Comment

NYT “Fixes” Column Highlights “Downshift Jobs” as Problem Solver — Consider Legal System Implications

Posted on December 12, 2014 by richardzorza

Those who are worried about the emerging trend to use more non-lawyers in the legal system, including perhaps in the courtroom, might be somewhat reassured by the evidence that this approach is being used in other professions.  Indeed, a recent … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Non-Lawyer Practice, Research and Evalation, Systematic Change, Technology | Comments Off on NYT “Fixes” Column Highlights “Downshift Jobs” as Problem Solver — Consider Legal System Implications

Evaluation of Idaho Informal Custody Trial Raises Interesting Questions

Posted on November 7, 2014 by richardzorza

For several years, Idaho has been experimenting with an “Informal Custody Trial” (ICT).  They have recently released the evaluation, and we have permission to post it on this blog here, Informal Custody Trial Evaluation Report. Big kudos to the state … Continue reading →

Posted in Court Management, Judicial Ethics, Research and Evalation, Systematic Change | Comments Off on Evaluation of Idaho Informal Custody Trial Raises Interesting Questions

Newly Released “Community Needs and Services Study” Should Trigger Some Rethinking About Barriers and Needs

Posted on August 8, 2014 by richardzorza

Rebecca Sandefur and the American Bar Foundation have just (today) released Accessing Justice in the Contemporary USA: Findings from the Community Needs and Services Study (CNSS). This very important study went into a Midwestern city and asked people whether they … Continue reading →

Posted in Research and Evalation, SRL Statistics | 2 Comments

Shift of Poor People to Mobile Phones May Result in Undercounting in Legal Needs Studies

Posted on July 10, 2014 by richardzorza

The Center for Disease Control has just released some stats on the relationship between poverty and cell phone use.  As they put it: Adults living in poverty (56.2%) were more likely than adults living near poverty (46.1%) and higher income … Continue reading →

Posted in Metrics, Research and Evalation | 3 Comments

Justice Index Next Generation Ideas Can be Foundation of ATJ Reform Agenda

Posted on March 5, 2014 by richardzorza

It is great news that the recently released Justice Index is getting strong media. As we think about the reaction, I have some suggestions about ideas for improvement and next steps.  As you know, David Udell and the project vey … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Index, Research and Evalation | 1 Comment

A Big Day — The Justice Index is Launched

Posted on February 26, 2014 by richardzorza

The Justice Index, the pioneering state by state index of access to justice measures, developed by a partnership led by the National Center for Access to Justice at Cardozo Law School, is up, and its very well worth the wait. … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Legal Aid, LEP, Research and Evalation, Self-Help Services | 4 Comments

Why a “Study” Involving Closing Bridge Access Lanes Does Not Require Human Subject Experimentation Protections

Posted on February 2, 2014 by richardzorza

My niece, Professor Dahlia Remler of CUNY, has a fascinating and timely blog post, Bridgegate: The Case of the Missing Ethical Research Review, asking this very question, and then suggesting the need for aligning human subject protections better with the risk … Continue reading →

Posted in Research and Evalation | 2 Comments

Maybe Judges Should Assign Literary Reading to Litigants — and to Themselves

Posted on October 3, 2013 by richardzorza

A great article today online in the NYT Mind blog on the impact of reading literary fiction. Reading Chekhov for a few minutes makes you better at decoding what other people are feeling. But spending the same amount of time … Continue reading →

Posted in Judicial Ethics, Research and Evalation | Comments Off on Maybe Judges Should Assign Literary Reading to Litigants — and to Themselves

Fascinating UK Project on Making Outcome Data Easily Available Might Offer Models

Posted on September 6, 2013 by richardzorza

Here is a fascinating description of a UK project that makes re-offending data available to non-profits working in the justice system. This flagship initiative allows charities to access real data on offending rates. It works like this; a charity that … Continue reading →

Posted in Research and Evalation | 1 Comment

Illinois Access to Justice Bill Has Several Interesting Aspects

Posted on August 21, 2013 by richardzorza

The recently passed and signed Illinois Access to Justice Act has received attention mainly as the second civil Gideon pilot, but this is only one of the things the bill does that are worth paying attention to. The Bill does … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Counsel, Pro Bono, Research and Evalation | 1 Comment

Tools for SRL Courtroom Observation Project

Posted on August 4, 2013 by richardzorza

I am delighted to be able to post the excellent instruments used in the Brooklyn Family Court SRL observational study, which is part of the Justice Index Project of the National Center for Access to Justice. As you may know, … Continue reading →

Posted in Research and Evalation, Self-Help Services | 1 Comment

Should We Think of Legal Insurance as a Health Care Benefit

Posted on June 24, 2013 by richardzorza

The recently published randomized research on the impact of having health insurance raises a fascinating question about whether we should start to think about we might think of legal insurance as a health benefit. The research itself, very well summarized … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Counsel, Medical System Comparision, Research and Evalation | 2 Comments