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The ABA’s activities include the Resource Center for Access to Justice Initiatives, http://www . americanbar .org/groups/legal_aid_indigent_defendants/initiatives/resource_center_for_ access_to_justice .html, Standing Committee on Legal Aid & Indigent Defendants, http:// www .americanbar .org/groups/legal_aid_indigent_defendants .html, and National Project to Improve Representation for Parents Involved in the Child Welfare System, http://www . americanbar .org/groups/child_law/what_we_do/projects/parentrepresentation .html .
n Immigrant Services – Immigrant Justice Corps, http://justicecorps .org/our-story/, in New York City, a new model of legal assistance and representation for immigrants facing detention and deportation, is being replicated in other cities .
n Holistic Models – Some organizations combine civil legal aid with indigent defense services to resolve civil and criminal legal problems, improve lives and reduce engagement with the criminal justice system . See Community Oriented Defender Network, http://www .nlada100years . org/member-resources/defender-resources/community-oriented-defender-cod-network and Bronx Defenders, http://www .bronxdefenders .org/who-we-are/ .
3. Community Based Legal Empowerment Movement – The global legal empowerment movement values individual legal services, but prioritizes systemic reform, including expanding the capacity of communities to advocate for themselves:
n Community Rights – Namati, http://namati .org/about/our-mission/, the Open Society Foundations, www .opensocietyfoundations .org, and others are working to promote legal empowerment of disenfranchised communities by relying on community based paralegals to help communities organize and advocate to protect their rights and interests around the globe . Some organizations prioritize the roles of “paralegals” in group representation, while also emphasizing individuals’ need for legal services that enable people to help themselves . The movement is about “strengthening the capacity of all people to exercise their rights, either as individuals or as members of a community .” https://www .opensocietyfoundations .org/projects/legal-empowerment . Some organizations focus on building power in the U .S ., sometimes prioritizing a policy reform agenda, see, e.g., Make the Road New York, http://www .maketheroad .org, or emphasizing an area of policy, for example, employment, see, e.g., Interfaith Worker Justice, http://www .iwj . org/network/workers-centers . A focus on the need to build group power and to advocate for group rights and systemic reform is implicit, and sometimes explicit, in driving the work of many organizations . See, e.g., Black Lives Matter, http://blacklivesmatter .com/; New York Immigration Coalition, http://www .thenyic .org/what-we-do .
n Lay Advocates Movement, including Navigators, Court Advocates, Limited Licensed Legal Technicians (LLLTs), Legal Hand, McKenzie Friends – Bar associations, courts, task forces, academics, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and for profit companies are urging and testing new roles that involve differing levels of training and supervision, specified categories of services, that are set both in and beyond the courtroom, in nonprofit and for profit employment settings, as an exception to traditional “unauthorized practice laws” that forbid nonlawyers from practicing law . In New York, “navigators” provide moral and informational support in court hallways and courtrooms, http://www .courts .state . ny .us/courts/nyc/housing/rap .shtml, “Legal Hand trained community volunteers” provide guidance under attorney supervision in poor communities, http://www .courtinnovation . org/legal-hand, and “court advocates” are the subject of model legislation that would place supervised nonlawyers in advocacy roles in eviction and debt collection courtrooms . http:// accesstojustice .net/2015/03/31/steps-in-new-york-underline-speed-of-acceptance-of- roles-beyond-lawyers/ . Washington State authorized LLLTs to provide designated services
Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice