Access to Justice Lab

The Access to Justice (A2J) Lab is a unique, immersive, and interdisciplinary 2 credit course open to second and third year Haub Law students (see prerequisites below). In the A2J Lab, law students will work collaboratively (with Pace Seidenberg computer science and design students) to design the prototype (model) for an innovative technology product/app to address a real-world legal access to justice problem. The course is structured as a legal design “lab” and students are taught to implement a human-centered problem-solving (design-theory-driven) approach to legal problems and innovation. Due to the course’s interdisciplinary nature, it will meet once a week for two hours synchronously (live), but over Zoom. Widespread deficiencies and inequities in meaningful access to legal representation and the courts to secure the essentials in life – housing, food, education, custody, freedom, etc. - are well and extensively documented. Using legal technology to address A2J is a rapidly growing field and involves developing tech tools to better educate the public about legal rights, services and court processes, to create self-help tools and tools to perform basic legal tasks, to help track and manage data, etc. Legal employers want law graduates to be comfortable using these tools, and in some cases to help innovate to use tech to improve A2J or practice. (Law students in similar courses have designed self-help chat bots and FAQ platforms to educate clients about legal rights and court processes, automatic messenger services to increase attendance at court appearances, online guides for eviction defense, etc.) This course will likewise introduce Haub Law students to A2J tech applications, present them with a real world community A2J problem, and guide them in designing a possible tech solution. Throughout the course, students will be guided to better understand the problem, generate ideas for designing, testing and refining their solution, and ultimately to create and present a prototype, model, or module implementing their solution. Law student participants will prepare a short final written paper describing the problem and solution. Due to the course’s small size, a prerequisite and permission from the Professor is required. Prerequisites include: any previous Haub Law clinic (except corporate clinic), a public service externship (summer or academic year) experience, or the Access to Justice Seminar. For Permission: please email Professor Diamond (ediamond@law.pace.edu) a resume and a short paragraph explaining your interest in the course.