For information about creating and supporting access to justice commissions, visit the American Bar Association’s website dedicated to access to justice commissions, which includes state-by-state comparisons of existing commissions and the following additional helpful information

• considerations for launching a new access to justice commission
• hallmarks of an effective access to justice commission
• access to justice commission self-assessment materials
• links to many commissions’ strategic plans
• information on staffing access to justice commissions.

For an example of a recently adopted commission, informed in part by the JFA initiative, see the Michigan Supreme Court Justice for All Commission.

For general guidance on making the most of your commission meetings, see NCSC’s Planning for and Leading Engaging and Effective Meetings Webinar.

Like many organizations and businesses, access to justice commissions across the country are increasingly looking internally at how they might strengthen commitments to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Visit the ABA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Center for guidance, resources, and examples for the legal profession. See also, NCSC’s Racial Justice Resource Center for a wealth of resources on racial justice and the court system, including a Blueprint for Racial Justice.

Sources of potential data and information to inform coordinated planning include:

• Legal needs studies. For examples, see the ABA’s library of Needs Assessments and Impact Studies (ABA)
• Publicly available datasets from prominent government, non-profit, and commercial sources to better understand the population characteristics and vulnerabilities in the jurisdiction. For an introduction to multiple sources of relevant data and research, visit the Research & Data page of LSC’s website.
• Geospatial analyses of needs, services, and technological, social, and economic infrastructure. For examples of informative uses of GIS mapping, see the Self-Represented Litigation Network’s list of Mapping and GIS Resources. For examples of two mapping projects that informed access to justice priorities in those states, see Louisiana’s Justice for All Story Map and Alaska’s Justice Ecosystem Story Map.

For more information, generally, about the importance of assessments for Access to Justice Commissions, see the ABA’s Framework for Outcome Evaluation of Commission Projects.

For examples of jurisdictions that have gained meaningful feedback by conducting robust community listening sessions, see the Community Listening Project conducted by the DC Consortium of Legal Services Providers and the Colorado Access to Justice Commission’s Listen and Learn Report.

The ABA’s Resource Center for Access to Justice Initiatives is a good place to look for information about joint fundraising efforts, including examples from other states. The NCSC website also has a page dedicated to funding of access to justice efforts focused on federal funding case studies. Finally, NLADA has a helpful toolkit on funding civil legal aid.

Although no longer active as a staffed organization, Voices for Civil Justice maintains a library of valuable research, tips, and tools on communicating effectively about civil legal aid and access to justice, including the All Rise for Civil Justice Toolkit. The ABA also has a library of Communications and ATJ Messaging Resources, including examples of effective messaging and videos.

For an example of a comprehensive and centralized library of forms with extensive supporting materials and programs, see the forms of the California Judicial Branch. For examples from a state court that serves far fewer litigants and has less dedicated funding, see the Alaska Court System’s self-help forms.

NCSC has a library of webinars and supporting materials. Topics covered include: Accessibility for litigants with limited English proficiency, low literacy and people with disabilities; form design; and plain language.

NCSC has additional plain language resources, including an interactive plain language legal glossary.

See also NCAJ’s Language Access Resources and the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System’s Guidelines for Creating Effective Self-Help Information.

NCSC has an informative webinar on document assembly and automation.

Many states now have examples of effective automated forms. For a few examples see:

• Document Assembly: Replicable TIG Projects
• Forms created by Suffolk Law's Legal Innovation and Technology Lab in cooperation with the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission
• The California Judicial Branch has automated forms for many of its standardized forms. For an example see, “Fill Out Forms to Start a Small Claims Case”
• The automated forms entered into the Self-Represented Litigation Network’s 2021 form competition (not all links are active)

For information about efforts to incorporate user feedback into the form design and review process, see:

• User-Informed Legal Design: A Practical Guide, by the Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project
• NCSC’s webinars on Forms Review and Revision and User Testing

For an example of a comprehensive PDF directory of legal services providers organized by geography and case type see the 2023-2024 Referral Director, Legal Services and Other Resources for Low-Income Texans.

For an example of an online directory that includes organizational profiles with information about eligibility and case types, see the Directory of Public Interest Organizations in Philadelphia.

For an example of a relatively simple directory search tool that allows users to search services by county and case type, see the State Bar of Michigan’s Legal and Law Related Programs by County.

For an example of a website that matches user answers with automated and targeted referrals and legal information, see the LawHelp Minnesota Guide. For an example of a centralized intake hotline, see Northwest Justice Project’s CLEAR hotline.

Additional background information and tools regarding centralized referral systems include:

• Online Triage and Intake: A Toolkit for Legal Aid Organizations (LSC)
• Online Intake and Triage: Replicable TIG Projects (LSC)

For an example of training tools for community partners assisting with referrals, see the LawHelpMN Guide: Trusted Intermediaries as Users and Facilitators.

The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service maintains a library of helpful Pro Bono Resources to support efforts to increase pro bono participation. For questions and further information, reach out directly to the Standing Committee using the link at the bottom of their home page.

Resources for jurisdictions looking to build, expand, or improve limited scope representation, include:

• The ABA’s resources on the topic, including a list of state rules on unbundling and a Handbook on Limited Scope Legal Assistance.
• The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System’s Unbundled Legal Services Resources

Examples of local efforts to support limited scope representation include:

• A Limited Scope Representation Toolkit created by the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice, the Chicago Bar Foundation, Justice Entrepreneurs Project, The Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, and The Chicago Bar Association
• Comprehensive Limited Scope Representation Resources created by the Louisiana State Bar Association Access to Justice Commission

Additional resources and examples can be found on the Self-Represented Litigation Network’s Unbundling Page.

Access to justice commissions should encourage commission members to stay engaged with relevant national forums, committees, and conferences and to report back on promising new projects and practices. National resources include:

• The ABA/NLADA Annual Equal Justice Conference
• The ABA’s Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense and the ABA’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono & Public Service
• The ABA’s Pro Bono News and Information Page
• LSC’s Model Practices and Innovations Page
• LSC’s Events Page, which includes information about upcoming conferences like the Innovations in Technology Conference

For an example of an insightful discussion about impact litigation (and other systemic advocacy), see the D.C. Access to Justice Commission’s “Systemic Advocacy” chapter in Delivering Justice: Addressing Civil Legal Needs in the District of Columbia (pp. 58-63). For examples of one provider’s robust impact litigation efforts, see Columbia Legal Services’ Resource Library.

Other resources on impact litigation include:

• The Legal Impact Network (Shriver Center on Poverty Law)
• NLADA’s Strategic Advocacy Initiative

To learn more about state and national efforts to secure a civil right to counsel, see the ABA’s Civil Right to Counsel Resources and the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel.

There are many valuable resources for jurisdictions considering building or expanding self-help centers, including NCSC’s 2023 report, Court-Based Self Help Centers: National Survey Findings, Recommendations, and Best Practices (with Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law & Justice). For state-specific examples of self-help center resources and best practices, see:

• The California Judicial Branch’s Self-Help Program Operations Resources, including staff training materials
• The New York State Court’s Best Practices for Court Help Centers: A Guide for Court Administrators and Help Center Staff Inside and Outside New York State

Additional information and resources can be found under the Self-Help Centers Topic on the Self-Represented Litigation Network website.

Resources for jurisdictions looking to expand or improve services by navigators and other professionals who are not lawyers include:

• The Justice Lab’s (Georgetown Law Center) Nonlawyer Navigators in State Courts: An Emerging Consensus and Update
• The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System’s Allied Legal Professional Resources (IAALS, University of Denver)
• An Evaluation Framework for Allied Legal Professionals: Assessing Improvements in Access to Justice (NCSC, State Justice Institute)

For an example of a court-based navigator program see New York City Housing Court’s program page. For an example of community partnerships using trained non-lawyer services, see Alaska Legal Services Corporation’s Community Justice Worker Program.

For examples of work to better understand community resources and relationships, see:

• The Self-Represented Litigation Network’s list of Mapping and GIS Resources, including Alaska’s Justice Ecosystem Story Map and Louisiana’s Justice for All Story Map
• The DC Consortium of Legal Services Providers’ Community Listening Project
• Columbia Pubic Health’s Social Network Analysis Resources

For general information about building community relationships, see:

• The University of Kansas’ Community Toolkit
• The Urban Institute’s Community Engagement Methods: Fostering Partnerships for Community Engagement, Community Voice and Power Sharing Guidebook

For examples of programs and tools created to assist community partners in identifying, preventing, and assisting people with legal issues see:

• The Minnesota Justice for All Project’s Report, Minnesota’s LawHelpMN Guide: Trusted Intermediaries as Users and Facilitators (also an example of coordinated referral)
• Alaska Legal Services Corporation’s Community Justice Worker Program (also an example of a non-lawyer navigator program)
• The Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission’s Community Partners Eviction Training
• The Alliance for Equal Justice’s COVID-19 Legal Issues Checklist
• Legal Link’s Legal First Aid Training

Medical legal partnerships are one example of a well-developed and replicable community-legal collaboration. Additionally, in many jurisdictions, domestic violence shelters, advocates, and lawyers have decades of experience working in partnership to effectively assist survivors. These models can be used as a basis for learning and building collaborations in additional communities and areas of the law.

Both the ABA and the NLADA have research and tools worth considering when designing ADR programs. For an example of one jurisdiction exploring best practices in ADR, see Lubbock County’s Mediation and Mental Health Best Practices Handbook. For an example of a diversion program, see Alaska’s Early Resolution Triage Program.

The following resources are available for jurisdictions looking to develop or improve education for judges and staff:

• NCSC’s Procedural Fairness Resources
• NCSC’s Judicial Curriculum for Cases Involving Self-Represented Litigants
• Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System’s Ensuring the Right to Be Heard: A Guidebook for Trial Judges in Cases Involving Self-Represented Litigants

In addition, the Judicial Branch of California has created many resources to support judges and staff in working effectively with self-represented litigants, including Handling Cases Involving Self-Represented Litigants: A Benchguide for Judicial Officers and Procedural Fairness Report and Assessment Tool, both of which have been adapted for use in other jurisdictions.

Examples of simplification efforts and resources include:

• Improving appearance rates by adopting best practices for remote hearings (see NCSC’s Remote Proceeding Toolkit), offering alternative court hours (see NCSC’s Alternative Court Hours Toolkit), and other efforts that ease barriers to appearance (see NCSC’s Appearance Rate Resources)
• Simplifying and modernizing service of process rules and forms (see NCSC’s Service Modernization Brief)
• Simplifying hearings in high-volume courts, for example through Informal domestic relations trials and other family law simplification efforts
• Creating user-friendly options for e-filing by self-represented litigants (see NCSC’s report, Self-Represented E-Filing: Surveying the Accessible Implementations)
• SJI’s Family and Civil Justice Reforms
• NCSC recommendations for Kansas, Nebraska, and Vermont