Research

In 2022, the Duke Center on Law & Tech conducted a research study with the aim of learning more about legal innovation that increases access to justice (Duke IRB #2022-0480).

First, we reviewed troves of podcasts, research studies, articles, and interviews related to justice tech. We then interviewed founders (n=16) of justice tech startups, investors or potential investors in justice tech (n=5), people who had a legal problem and sought to resolve that problem without help from an attorney (n=7), and legal professionals and public service professionals (n=17). 

All interviews and focus groups were conducted remotely via Zoom in summer 2022, with one researcher asking questions and another taking notes; interviews were not recorded for confidentiality purposes.

Most people in the United States do not have access to legal help to solve important problems that affect their daily lives. We want to learn more about the impact of well-designed legal services that use technology to reach more people and lower costs compared to the traditional model where one lawyer serves one client.

For the purposes of this research, we focused on justice tech as “companies and programs that create technology solutions to help people navigate legal matters with tech solutions that foster hope, independence, and self-empowerment and contribute to a fairer legal system”(Justice Tech Association, 2022).

Findings of our study will be released in 2023. Preliminary findings will be shared at ABA TECHSHOW on March 3, 2023.

Jeff Ward

ward@law.duke.edu

Principal Investigator

 

Kelli Raker

kelli.raker@law.duke.edu

Study Coordinator