About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

42 Loy. L. A. L. Rev. 949 (2008-2009)
Fulcrum Point of Equal Access to Justice: Legal and Nonlegal Institutions of Remedy

handle is hein.journals/lla42 and id is 971 raw text is: THE FULCRUM POINT OF EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE: LEGAL AND NONLEGAL INSTITUTIONS OF REMEDY Rebecca L. Sandefur* Equal access to justice would mean that different groups in a society would have similar chances of obtaining similar resolutions to similar kinds of civil justice problems. If people had equal access to justice, a society's institutions of remedy would work to equalize how they handled their civil justice problems and to ensure that similar problems were resolved similarly, even when different kinds of people-whether rich or poor, men or women, of any race or ethnicity--experienced them. When justice scholars and practicing attorneys address the problem of equalizing access to civil justice, they often begin by thinking about expanding access to law. But, when members of the public confront problems that raise issues in civil law, they do not share the same law-centric perspective of these attorneys and academics. In the United States and other developed nations, most civil justice problems are never taken to law. When one examines how people actually handle their civil justice problems, one observes both a widespread resignation to these problems and an enormous variety of attempted remedies, a minority of which involve the explicit use of law. A comparative analysis of the design and function of both legal and nonlegal institutions of remedy for civil justice problems reveals potential solutions to the problem of equalizing access to justice in an unequal society. By stepping back from law, we can expand and equalize access to substantive justice by selectively redesigning institutions of remedy so that they are remedial and give members of unequal groups more common and more equal experiences with their justice problems. This innovative approach relies on and bolsters the notion that access to justice is for everyone. Assistant Professor of Sociology and Assistant Professor (by courtesy) of Law at Stanford University. This paper was presented at the Access to Justice: It's Not for Everyone Symposium held at Loyola Law School Los Angeles, California, on February 6, 2009. Parts of the empirical analysis were made possible by Professor Pascoe Pleasence and the staff at the Legal Services Research Centre who generously shared data. 949

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most