Prof. Ron Staudt notes two problems in the modern legal community with a single solution. First, complexity of the legal system, costliness of lawyers’ services, and educational barriers prevent low-income individuals from effectively accessing our court more often than not. Second, by neglecting to train students in practical, modern workplace technologies, law schools are failing to meet needs of the 21st century law student. Prof. Staudt proposes that law schools can provide more valuable educations to their students while helping low-income individuals gain greater access to courts. By training students in the use of document assembly services, and having students serve as court-house guides for low-income litigants, law schools can provide the practical education sought by their students while helping to resolve the justice gap for low-income litigants.
Ronald W. Staudt, White Paper: Leveraging Law Students and Technology to Meet the Legal Needs of Low-Income People, Chicago-Kent College of Law (2007).
