Last week I had a double conference weekend in DC. The first was with front-line lawyers and executive directors at legal aid groups and public defender officers. The second was with academics and researchers, who are studying the access to justice crisis & movement towards solutions.
One call I heard: we need more collaboration between these 2 groups!
We need researchers working on “What Works” to address and resolve the justice crisis. We need to scope & carry out research projects together.
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We need court leadership involved in research together. This call came from DC Chief Judge Anna Blackburne Rigsby. Court leaders don’t know exactly how their court is actually performing & what impact they are having on people’s lives.
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More research can document what people’s experiences, burdens, and outcomes are. This can feed into a change management loop with court leadership, to help them understand the needs for improvement.