Civil Legal Aid Research

Measuring justice – and the effectiveness with which justice is delivered – is difficult but important. To help address those needs, NLADA created LegalAidResearch.org, a research database providing free access to reports and other documents about evidence-based practices and research on the impact of civil legal aid.

LegalAidResearch.org was developed by NLADA with funding from the Public Welfare Foundation and significant editorial contributions from the National Center for Access to Justice at Cardozo Law School, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Access to Justice, the California Administrative Office of the Courts, and the Self-Represented Litigants Network. It is maintained and updated by NLADA with funding from the Public Welfare and Kresge Foundations.

Housing information from over 250 sources, LegalAidResearch.org features:

• Hundreds of resource listings from as far back as the 1970s, with free downloads of many full text documents and convenient links to others
• Publications from numerous organizations and journals in the United States and internationally
• Works from hundreds of academics, attorneys, court officials, and practitioners
• Research from universities, think tanks, and governments
• Commentary, video, audio, websites, reviews, and more
• User-friendly browsing with advanced capability allowing for search by multiple categories, including case type, who is served, how services are provided, geography, and other topics

The site helps practitioners, researchers and others in a variety of fields to:

• Make existing research accessible and understandable to civil legal aid programs, pro bono programs, bar associations, state access to justice commissions, researchers, funders, and policy makers
• Advance evidence-based practices and research on civil legal assistance
• Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of state justice systems
• Enhance the ability of civil legal aid programs to deliver just results for clients
• Promote calculated risk-taking and study innovations in civil legal aid, work that is essential to develop new models of service
• Illustrate the impact of civil legal aid, including the not-so-easily measured but still critical benefits such as client empowerment, self-determination, and environmental improvements in rental properties
• Identify research needs, inspire research partnerships, and connect interested parties to existing research institutions

For more information, contact Radhika Singh Miller at [email protected].