Legal Aid Research and Studies

This section includes research reports related to legal aid, as well as sample methodologies and tools for the conduct of such studies. The types of research presented include legal aid needs assessment studies, evaluations of various elements of legal aid systems and delivery models, impact assessment studies and statistical reports containing data relevant to legal aid.

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Methodologies for Legal Aid Research

Researching Legal Aid, 2005, by R. Moorhead

Diagnostic Tool on Basic Assessment of a Legal Aid System, by Justice Initiative and Spangenberg

Access to Justice Report Guidelines, 2002, by the Open Society Justice Initiative

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Research into Criminal Legal Aid

Needs assessment

Bulgaria: Study on Criminal Legal Aid and Related Tools, 2004

Lithuania: Study on the Status of Legal Assistance in Assigned Criminal Cases, 2003

Poland: Report on Monitoring of Access to Legal Aid Paid by the State, 2002, by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights

Evaluation of Systems and Models of Delivery

Selected Evaluations of State Indigent Defense Systems in the US

US: Indigent Defense Services in the State on Nevada: Findings and Recommendations, 2003, by Spangenberg

Evaluation of Public Defender Offices

US: Study of Federal Public Defender Effectiveness, 2007, by NBER

Evaluation of the Public Defender Service in England and Wales, 2007 by Lee Bridges, Ed Cape, Paul Fenn, Anona Mitchell, Richard Moorhead and Avrom Sherr

Evaluation of Early Intervention (Duty Solicitor) Models

Research on Non-Criminal Legal Aid

Needs Assessments

Canada: The Legal Problems of Everyday Life, 2007 by A. Currie

Canada: The Legal Aid Crisis: Time for Action, 2000, by M. Backley

England and Wales: Litigants in Person: Unrepresented Litigants in First Instance Proceedings, 2005, by R. Moorhead and D. Sefton

Needs Assessment and Prioritization on Legal Services in England and Wales, 1999, by S. Orchard

Paths to Justice in the Netherlands: The Study Report and Related Materials, 2003-2004

New Zealand: 2006 National Survey of Unmet Legal Needs and Access by Robyn Nicholas

US: Agenda for Access: the American People and Civil Justice, a Report on the Comprehensive Legal Needs Study, 1996, by ABA

US: Documenting the Justice Gap in America: The Current Unmet Civil Legal Aid Needs of Low-Income Americans, 2005, by Legal Services Corporation

US: The Washington State Civil Legal Needs Study, 2003, by the Washington State Supreme Court

Evaluation of Different Delivery Models

England and Wales: Quality and Access: Specialist and Tolerance Work under Civil Contracts, 2004, by R. Moorhead and others

US: The Report on the Assessment of the Management of the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy, 1999, by Spangenberg

Impact Assessments

Impact of Legal Aid: Ecuador, 2003 by the World Bank

Statistical Reports

Report on European Judicial Systems, 2006 by Council of Europe

Legal Aid in Canada: Resource and Caseload Statistics, 2006-2007 by Canada's national statistical agency

OTHER SELECTED RESOURCES

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