LAIR Listening Session on Building an Evidence Base for People-Centered Access to Justice Through Federal Programs

June 27, 2024
12:30 - 2:00 p.m. ET

Register for Event (Deadline to Register is June 21)

The White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable (LAIR) will host a virtual listening session on Thursday, June 27, 2024, at 12:30-2:00 pm ET. LAIR invites public input on the role of data to expand access to justice for people who interact with federal programs to resolve legal problems and protect their rights. The session will focus primarily on civil issues, such as housing, health care, family matters, public benefits, consumer protection, and victim services, while recognizing that many issues involve both civil and criminal justice.  

Why Is LAIR Hosting This Listening Session?

The 2021 Presidential Memorandum directs LAIR to, among other things, “advance relevant evidence-based research, data collection, and analysis of civil legal aid and indigent defense, and promulgate best practices.” LAIR is therefore gathering practices from federal agencies that involve evidence-based approaches to advance access to justice, as well as perspectives from the public, to inform its 2024 annual report and future activities.

What Does LAIR Mean by Federal Agency Data for Access to Justice?

LAIR’s working framework for federal agency data for access to justice includes qualitative or quantitative data that the executive branch federal agencies collect to develop, implement, and/or evaluate policies and programs related to the following endeavors:

• Legal and other assistance – Ensure that people have adequate assistance to navigate agency processes or other legal proceedings when resolving legal problems. For example, an agency might use data and research methods to evaluate the impact of legal services provided by a federal grantee.

• Burden reduction and simplification – Ensure that agencies have easy-to-navigate processes that do not place unreasonable burdens on the people using them to resolve legal problems and that yield desired outcomes. For example, an agency may use its administrative data related to public benefits applications to identify “pain points” for applicants and to address those pain points to improve the application process.

• Communication access – Ensure that agencies communicate clearly and effectively with the public about how to navigate federal programs, services, and activities to resolve legal problems. For example, an agency may evaluate its notices to see if they are easy to understand and are accessible to people with limited English proficiency and disabilities.

What Does LAIR Want to Learn About from You?

LAIR invites public input on the following topics and questions.

Types of federal agency data that inform access to justice work:

• What types of federal agency data (including specific data sets) are instrumental in advancing the understanding of access to justice issues, furthering access to justice policies and programs, or supporting your work to advance access to justice in your community?

• Which federal agency data are underutilized or difficult to access or use for these purposes and why?

• Which federal agency data are used effectively for these purposes and how?

Collection and uses of data by federal agencies:

• What are some examples of federal agencies using data effectively to advance access to justice policies and programs?

• What are the key gaps in the collection, analysis, evaluation and sharing of access to justice data by federal agencies?

• How might federal agencies better collect data and build evidence effectively to advance access to justice?

How Can I Share My Feedback?

You can register by Friday, June 21 and identify the topic you wish to speak on. Depending on the number of registrants, we may not be able to accommodate all registrants and may limit the speaking time to 3-4 minutes per speaker. We will provide additional information to speakers after the registration period.

How Can I Request Reasonable Accommodations to Participate?

The session will offer live captioning via CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation). If you need any additional accommodations, please contact Todd Venook at todd.venook@usdoj.gov at your earliest opportunity.

Privacy Act Statement for Event Registration

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552a(e)(3), this Privacy Act Statement serves to inform you that the information on this form is collected pursuant to 28 CFR § 0.33. The primary purpose for soliciting this information is to allow the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office for Access to Justice (ATJ) to register you for the relevant event and to contact you for future ATJ events and initiatives.

The information provided may be used in accordance with the routine uses listed in the system of records entitled “JUSTICE/DOJ-003, Correspondence Management Systems (CMS) for the Department of Justice,” including to Members of Congress when they request information on behalf of an individual subject, to the General Services Administration and National Archives and Records Administration for records management inspections, for civil or criminal law enforcement purposes, for judicial or administrative proceedings which may be made available to the news media or the public, to another federal agency for a related-personnel matter or the performance of official business, to others working on an assignment to accomplish an agency function, to the White House for activities related to official or ceremonial duties of the President, to others as mandated by federal statute or treaty, or as necessary to respond to an incident or breach. DOJ system of records notices can be found on the DOJ website at: https://www.justice.gov/opcl/doj-systems-records.

Providing this information is voluntary and choosing to be contacted for future events is optional and you may opt-out of future communications at any time by emailing Todd.Venook@usdoj.gov.