Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers

Abstract

This publication originated over half a century ago, in 1968, as the Urban Law Annual, focused entirely on issues surrounding land use, urban development, and other legal concerns of urban communities. The scope broadened in 1983 when the Journal expanded and became the Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law to encompass a broader range of topics while still emphasizing urban communities and land-use law.

In 1999, the Journal once again broadened its scope to become the Washington University Journal of Law & Policy. The new Journal was designed as a symposium-based publication, committed to bringing together communities of scholars through a mutual and collaborative student and faculty process; to emphasizing interdisciplinary and multicultural visions of the law; to exploring the implications of technology and the consequences of economic globalization; and to influencing law and social policy. Over the past two decades, the new Washington University Journal of Law & Policy has been enormously successful and has met its initial goals many times over.

One unique tradition of the Journal are volumes dedicated to “Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers,” specifically emphasizing interdisciplinary and multi-cultural visions of law and lawyering, with the goal of influencing law and social policy.3 This volume marks the thirteenth Access to Justice volume published by the Journal of Law & Policy since the first volume in fall 1999. Like the prior Access to Justice volumes, the articles and essays in this volume are written by prominent practitioners, academics, and authors, from diverse backgrounds in areas such as civil liberties, elder abuse, policing, the economics of poverty, racial justice, conflict resolution, and clinical legal education, who share a commitment to improving access to justice for all.