Office for Access to Justice

Office for Access to Justice Organizational Chart

The Office for Access to Justice (ATJ) works to break down barriers to the founding principle and enduring mission of the Department of Justice: equal justice under law.  Its mission is to ensure access to the promises and protections of our civil and criminal legal systems for all communities.  The ATJ aims to achieve this by promoting access to courts and legal systems through legal assistance and counsel; pursuing data-driven, stakeholder-informed, and innovative approaches to judicial process; and by promoting integrity, efficiency, accountability, fairness, and reform of legal systems with the goal of creating a more holistic and equitable approach to justice. 

ATJ’s vision is a world in which fair and efficient legal systems deliver just processes and outcomes, promote confidence in the justice system, secure public safety, and meet the critical legal needs of the American people.

The ATJ serves as the Federal Government’s central authority on access to justice matters, promotes inclusive and equal justice for all, and helps to solve limitations of legal representation throughout the criminal and civil legal systems.  The ATJ plans, develops, and coordinates the implementation of access to justice policy initiatives of high priority to the Justice Department and the Executive Branch.  The ATJ leads Federal Government efforts in cross-agency, State, local, tribal, and third-party collaborations protecting the rights for low- and middle- income and underserved communities within America’s legal systems.

The ATJ also directs and staffs the Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable (LAIR), which fosters innovative interagency collaboration among more than 28 Federal agency members and facilitates non-governmental partnerships to more effectively support underserved individuals and address access to justice issues throughout the Federal Government. 

Additionally, the ATJ houses, among other initiatives:  the Department of Justice’s Language Access Program, which provides support and resources across the agency to ensure that linguistically marginalized communities have equal access to justice, and the Department of Justice’s Pro Bono Program, which coordinates opportunities for attorneys across the Federal Government to engage in pro bono work.  The ATJ also promotes strengthened rule of law by serving as an authority on access to justice issues before international organizations and assists with the U.S. Government’s efforts to implement UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, ensuring equal access to justice for all, and building transparent institutions. 

The ATJ works to advance new statutory, policy, and practice changes that support development of quality indigent defense and civil legal aid delivery systems at the State and Federal levels; promote less lawyer- and court-intensive solutions to legal problems; engage stakeholders across both governmental and non-governmental organizations; enhance language access throughout the justice systems; and expand innovative strategies to close the gap between the need for, and the availability of, quality legal assistance. 

The work of the Office for Access to Justice is guided by three guiding principles:

• Expanding Access. We expand access to legal systems by increasing the availability of legal assistance, supporting public defense, and eliminating barriers that exclude people based on economic, demographic, or geographic factors.

• Accelerating Innovation. We support research, data, and innovative strategies to improve fairness and efficiency in legal systems and to ensure Justice Department services and programs incorporate modern, evidence-based practices to further equal access to justice.

• Safeguarding Integrity. We promote policies and reforms that improve the accountability, fiscal responsibility and integrity of legal systems and process.