Addressing the Failures of the U.S. Civil Legal System

Abstract

When people seek and receive legal counsel from community advisors, attorneys, family, friends, mental and physical health professionals, agency staff, limited licensed professionals, courts, or self-help materials, such advice needs to be framed and presented in ways that can be heard and acted upon. The transfer of legal information must coincide with the context in which the recipient’s legal needs arise. It is not enough for public and private sector legal service providers to simply offer legal information in the traditional way; the method of assistance delivery must account for the most vulnerable individuals’ and populations’ legal capacity and legal consciousness. Broadly speaking, our justice system fails to proactively respond to the full range of legal needs people present, resulting in a “significant gap between the main services provided by justice systems and the services best suited to meeting the everyday legal and justice needs of society.” This article presents innovative, effective justice interventions, both upstream and just-in-time, that will educate, motivate, and improve positive outcomes for legally vulnerable groups. As it stands, justice interventions must be reconstructed, and the dual lenses of legal capabilities and legal consciousness inform how we can upgrade our self-help infrastructure.

Keywords: legal consciousness, legal capabilities, legal interventions, legal vulnerability, barriers to justice, access to justice, communication theory, power of nudges, inclusive design, marketing the law, legal self-help, law and technology, technology tools, neuroscience, community messaging

JEL Classification: K36, K10, K30, K40