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I L T A N E T . O R G
A
ccess to Legal Remedy is one of the
four pillars of the LexisNexis Legal
& Professional definition of the Rule
of Law. It describes the ability of any
person to use the legal system to get
redress for legal grievances, to advocate for themselves
and their interests. Yet because of systemic bias in the legal
system, access to remedy is still unavailable to many people
from diverse backgrounds.
The United States
criminal justice system is the
largest in the world and, as
written, U.S. law is essentially
color-blind. But despite federal
laws intended to provide
equal access, systemic racism
continues to persist throughout
the judicial system. This has
led to devastating social and
economic consequences for
individuals from diverse
backgrounds. African
Americans are incarcerated
in state prisons at five times
the rate of whites; black men
face disproportionately harsh
incarceration experiences compared with prisoners
of other races; higher rates of incarceration for black
juveniles reinforce the school-to-prison pipeline.
These issues are underscored by the World Justice
Project Rule of Law Index 2020, which in its civil justice
category ranked the U.S. at just 109 out of 128 countries
in terms of access to justice and 115 out of 128 in terms of
absence of discrimination.
Complex but interlinked circumstances contribute to
this seemingly self-perpetuating state of affairs, including
socio-economic inequalities, lack of diversity in the legal
profession, and conscious or inadvertent bias.
Federal legislative changes have been introduced
with the goal of supporting individuals from lower socio-
economic backgrounds. However, these changes have
not yet had much of an impact for two main reasons:
a communications gap between the federal legislature
and the individuals they are designed to help, and a lack
of resources for impacted
individuals.
Given the persistence of
these problems, it's clear that
top-down attempts to make
a difference are not sufficient
in themselves. We also need
initiatives that bridge existing
gaps by addressing issues
at the grassroots level. To
maximize their effectiveness,
these initiatives should
combine community, legal
and technology perspectives.
Such programs can build on
existing innovations – such as
the free app Upsolve, which
helps people file for bankruptcy
on their own – or use legal databases as the foundation
for developing tools, training and information that will
increase the opportunity to remedy any grievance.
There's no single magic bullet. It takes multiple
steps and many different, practical actions to eliminate
any systemic problem. While one project on its own can't
alter the status quo, the legal profession can build real
momentum and achieve lasting change by collaborating
with cohort groups and other industry players to address
some of the smaller, everyday examples of inadvertent
"It's clear that top-
down attempts to
make a difference
are not sufficient
in themselves."
