Return to the Office: Examining Institutional Efforts of the Office for Access to Justice for Future Administrations

Abstract

The silent closure of the Office of Access to Justice (ATJ) at the turnover from the Obama to the Trump Administration in 2016, set off alarm for proponents of increasing access to legal services for those who could not afford it through direct means. With only 14% of low-income Americans receiving adequate legal attention for problems they reported and millions of Americans getting turned away from receiving aid due to a lack of resources, the closure seemed far too premature. The harsh reality of the circumstance follows a trend that has been occurring since the late 1900’s to cut back on legal aid, often motivated by political agenda despite the fact that equal justice is a value cemented in the founding Constitution of the nation.Moreover, what the ATJ represents is a return to federal responsibility to a national crisis. The collaborative office takes an institutional design approach to dealing with the civil justice gap which pertains to the difference between those who need and receive aid. As of now, the civil justice needs are met in a “patchwork” composure of pro bono work, legal programs, clinics, the LSC and more, however, missing in the patchwork is a leading coordinative head. This thesis evaluates the measures that ATJ took from the time it ran (2010 - 2016) and offers policy suggestions based on historical research as well as an evaluation of academic literatures, government documents, court decisions, and nationwide studies. With a primary focus on the legal service efforts of assigned legal counsel , pro bono (market based), LSC funding, research, and nonlawyer services & out of court resources, this thesis poses policy responses built on Obama-era mechanisms that can lead to a strengthened ATJ and overall effort to close the justice gap. The recent Biden administration has already invited the ATJ back into budgeting efforts, however, to see it stay will take innovative efforts from federal policymakers.