Access to Justice in the Age of COVID-19: A Roundtable Report September 2021

Access to Justice

in the Age of COVID-19

A ROUNDTABLE REPORT

SEPTEMBER 2021

LEGAL AID INTERAGENCY ROUNDTABLE

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“This Nation was founded on the ideal of equal justice under the law. Everyone in

this country should be able to vindicate their rights and avail themselves of the

protections that our laws afford on equal footing. Whether we realize this ideal hinges

on the extent to which everyone in the United States has meaningful access to our legal

system. Legal services are crucial to the fair and effective administration of our laws

and public programs, and the stability of our society…

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has further exposed and

exacerbated inequities in our justice system, as courts and legal service providers have

been forced to curtail in-person operations, often without the resources or technology

to offer remote-access or other safe alternatives. These access limitations have

compounded the effects of other harms wrought by the pandemic. These problems

have touched the lives of many persons in this country, particularly low-income people

and people of color.

With these immense and urgent challenges comes the opportunity to strengthen Access

to Justice in the 21st century. Through funding, interagency collaboration, and

strategic partnerships, the Federal Government can drive development of new

approaches and best practices that provide meaningful access to justice today, and

into the future, consistent with our foundational ideal of equal justice under the law.”

* * *

PRESIDENT JOSEPH R. BIDEN

Memorandum on Restoring the Department of Justice’s Access-to-Justice Function

and Reinvigorating the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable

May 18, 2021

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U.S. Department of State (State)

U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury)

U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)

U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI)

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)

U.S. Department of Education (ED)

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS)

National Science Foundation (NSF)

U.S. Digital Service (USDS)

Domestic Policy Council (DPC)

Office of the Vice President (OVP)

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Legal Services Corporation (LSC)

Social Security Administration (SSA)

ROUNDTABLE

MEMBERS:

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LETTER FROM

THE CO-CHAIRS

____________

Dear Mr. President:

Under your leadership, this Administration is committed to advancing equity and equal

opportunity for all. As you have made clear since Day One, this requires both ambitious

and creative policy, and an unrelenting, government-wide focus on translating that policy

into real impact.

A critical part of this focus is the May 18, 2021 Presidential Memorandum on Restoring

the Department of Justice’s Access-to-Justice Function and Reinvigorating the White

House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable (Roundtable). The Memorandum recognizes

that we must constantly strive to ensure that everyone in this country is able to vindicate

their rights and avail themselves of the protections and benefits our laws afford, on equal

footing. This highlights our nation’s urgent need for a modernized justice delivery system

that is accessible to all and for innovative and collaborative approaches across government

to ensure the effectiveness of Federal relief efforts. You called upon an unprecedented

number of agencies to unite in a government-wide approach to advancing these goals. We

are honored to lead this effort as Co-Chairs of the re-invigorated Roundtable.

In response to your directive that the Roundtable first examine the devastating impacts of

the COVID-19 pandemic on access to justice in the civil and criminal legal systems, we

present you with the enclosed report. It discusses the manifold ways in which the pandemic

compounded existing equity gaps. It describes how the pandemic made more widespread

and more acute the life-changing events that people too often face without adequate legal

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help—like evictions, workplace discrimination, domestic violence, and incarceration. And

it explores how, as courtrooms and non-profits were forced to curtail operations, our justice

system struggled to meet the public’s needs, which interfered with countless programs

intended to help the country respond and recover.

And yet, this report also captures multiple areas of promise, including the novel efforts

agencies undertook to address urgent needs and to help our legal systems bounce back.

Agencies across the Federal Government marshalled funding, forged partnerships, and

launched initiatives in order to provide access to programs and the courts amidst

unpredictable circumstances. These efforts are inspiring and hold lessons the Federal

Government can use to help build back an improved and crisis-resilient justice system that

meets the demands of the twenty-first century. This report thus serves as an important

inflection point at which we take stock of the pandemic’s toll on access to justice and frame

our agenda going forward.

The pandemic has provided a new sense of urgency and purpose for the Roundtable to

meaningfully address the justice gap and make Federal resources more accessible. Thank

you for prioritizing this work, and for setting this high bar for your Administration. It is

an honor to lead this initiative on your behalf and to submit this report to you.

Dana Remus Merrick B. Garland

WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL ATTORNEY GENERAL

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

____________

I. FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE ROUNDTABLE .................................................................................................. 7

II. THE PANDEMIC'S IMPACT ON AMERICAN JUSTICE ............................................................................ 13

III. INNOVATIONS .................................................................................................................................................. 16

A. INNOVATION STRATEGIES ........................................................................................................................ 16

1. Leveraging Federal Funding ........................................................................................................................ 16

2. Expanding Access to Technology and Virtual Services .............................................................................. 18

3. Pioneering Strategic Collaboration & Partnerships ..................................................................................... 22

B. EMERGING AREAS OF FOCUS ................................................................................................................... 23

1. The Civil Legal System ............................................................................................................................... 23

2. The Criminal Legal System ......................................................................................................................... 38

3. International Systems and Sustainable Development Goal 16 .................................................................... 40

IV. LOOKING AHEAD ............................................................................................................................................ 43

A. CONTINUED WORK TO IDENTIFY SOLUTIONS ................................................................................... 43

1. Equitable Expansion of Technology ............................................................................................................ 43

2. Legal Representation in Emergency Situations ........................................................................................... 44

3. Ensuring Partnerships Are in Place Before an Emergency .......................................................................... 45

B. STRATEGIES FOR CONTINUED ROUNDTABLE REVIEW ................................................................... 45

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“Making real the promise of equal justice under law was the founding

principle of the Department of Justice and is the mission for which it must

always stand. Because we do not yet have equal access to justice in America,

the task before us is urgent. It will require innovation, collaboration, and

leadership across all levels of government and beyond, in the spirit of

common purpose that has defined the very best initiatives in our country’s

history.”

ATTORNEY GENERAL MERRICK B. GARLAND

“As we continue to face the challenges of COVID-19, it is more important than

ever to ensure meaningful access to the legal system. Securing access to lawyers

and the courts is essential for addressing the many convergent crises of the

pandemic—including the threat of evictions, job loss, poverty, and domestic

violence. All across the country, legal service providers and other public

servants on the front lines are leading this work and helping people find a way

through some of the hardest times in life. We must support those efforts by

finding innovative, pragmatic, and effective strategies to make our legal systems

more transparent, accessible, and fair to all.”

WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL AND ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT

DANA REMUS

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FIRST PRINCIPLES

OF THE ROUNDTABLE

____________

Every individual relies on laws and policies to safeguard their rights and advance public

welfare. But the fact that a law or policy is on the books does not automatically translate

into impact.

Building codes exist, but buildings are not always up to code. Laws and regulations

enshrine worker protections, but employers do not always follow them. Lawmakers enact

emergency benefits programs, but bureaucratic hurdles make access difficult for those who

need it most. Our Constitution guarantees the right to a fair criminal trial, but not every

trial is conducted fairly.

Bridging this disconnect between the promise and reality of our laws often requires a ruling

from a judge, appeal of an agency decision, or pursuit of some other legal measure. But

not everyone has an attorney or the expertise required to navigate those processes. The

right to counsel in civil proceedings is rare, which leaves most people who need a lawyer

without one when they stand on the brink of eviction, are the victims of consumer fraud,

or are forced to deal with numerous other potentially life-changing events. And while the

Constitution guarantees a right to counsel in most cases when someone is charged with a

crime, that counsel may not have sufficient time or resources to provide robust

representation.

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The result is an unmistakable justice gap felt by tens of millions of people who call America

home – especially communities of color and low-income communities.

Access to justice efforts – in their many and

growing forms across all sectors of society and

levels of government – are a demonstrated and

critical part of the solution. The goal of these

efforts is to expand the delivery of laws, policies,

and programs to serve people’s greatest needs.

This might mean making sure that there are

sufficient lawyers and other legal professionals

in place to handle the existing case load in

courtrooms. It might mean applying

technology, simplifying processes, or

distributing self-help information to make

access easier. And it might mean something as

simple as translating a document or form into a

language that’s understood by its likely

audience.

The bottom line is that access to justice efforts are relevant to ensuring the efficacy of

virtually all government and civic initiatives – including relief efforts critical to mitigating

the devastating impact of the pandemic. Efforts to address crises through Federal

programs, grants, and initiatives are only successful if those resources are actually received

by those for whom they were intended. Legal services play a critical role in broadening

the accessibility of Federal relief programs and making them accessible to the people who

need them most.

“When equal access to justice is

denied, the effects reverberate beyond

courtrooms, and across sectors of

society, with risks of children being

removed from families, residents losing

homes, debt collectors garnishing

wages, victims not obtaining safety, or

vulnerable people losing freedom. The

Roundtable is essential to promote

partnership across government to

bridge these justice gaps, and to

pursue the foundational goal of equal

justice for all.”

______

ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL

VANITA GUPTA

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Through this initial report and future reports, the Roundtable will demonstrate how access

to justice tools and approaches can be used to advance these goals across government.

Long before the pandemic hit, low-income individuals, people of color, people with limited

English proficiency, and people with disabilities faced systemic barriers to accessing legal

assistance and the courts. The additional and devastating impact of the pandemic,

particularly on communities that struggled before the pandemic, cannot be overstated. The

death toll and disruption of the pandemic have exacerbated longstanding challenges with

housing insecurity, access to employment, medical debt, and access to civil and criminal

court systems and government programs.

To help expand the role of the Federal Government in addressing the justice gap, President

Biden issued a Presidential Memorandum on May 18, 2021. In it, he distilled the

challenges before us in these terms:

“The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has further exposed and

exacerbated inequities in our justice system, as courts and legal service providers have

been forced to curtail in-person operations, often without the resources or technology to

offer remote-access or other safe alternatives. These access limitations have compounded

the effects of other harms wrought by the pandemic. These problems have touched the lives

of many persons in this country, particularly low-income people and people of color.”

To meet these challenges, the President set forth two basic directives.

The first was to reaffirm the role of the Department of Justice as a leader of efforts across

government and beyond to secure meaningful access to justice for all. This includes

outlining its own plans to expand its access-to-justice function, and to embed its purposes

into Departmental operating structure, which are the subject of a separate Attorney General

report to the President.

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The President’s second directive calls

for the White House Counsel and

Attorney General to reconvene and

reinvigorate the Roundtable.

The White House Domestic Policy

Council and the Department of

Justice first convened the Roundtable

nearly a decade ago to improve

outcomes across Federal programs by

incorporating civil legal aid. The

Roundtable’s early accomplishments

prompted President Barack Obama to

issue a Presidential Memorandum in

September 2015 to elevate the

interagency effort as a White House

initiative, officially establishing the

Roundtable.

The Roundtable examined creative, evidence-based solutions for access to justice and their

intersection with Federal program effectiveness. This in turn highlighted the power of

access-to-justice interventions in delivering superior outcomes across a wide variety of

Federal program areas, including:

• Preventing homelessness and improving access to housing;

• Strengthening family stability;

• Providing clear paths to employment;

• Enhancing public safety and helping crime victims;

• Protecting consumers;

• Improving health care; and

“We can enact the best privileges and

protections into law—but we cannot make them

real unless people have access to counsel and a

fair day in court. This is particularly true for

communities that often face disparities in our

justice system, including low-income

communities and communities of color. The

Roundtable will play an integral role in

expanding access to justice and exploring ways

to assist individuals who are at risk of eviction,

job loss, domestic violence, poverty, and other

outcomes that could be addressed through timely

and affordable access to counsel and the courts.”

______

DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL

DANIELLE CONLEY

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• Meeting the needs of special populations, including veterans and

servicemembers; members of Tribal communities; people with disabilities;

people with criminal histories; immigrants; and disaster survivors.

The Roundtable’s November 2016 Report detailed the many ways that, by adding an

access-to-justice focus, agencies were able to advance their missions and enhance program

impact.

Ultimately, President Biden’s decision to recommission and reinvigorate the Roundtable

reflects a commitment to restoring and expanding the government’s leadership role and

responsibility in advancing access to justice through the power of the Executive Branch. It

also reflects this administration’s understanding that access to justice is an essential

component of effective government policy and service delivery, particularly in addressing

major national challenges.

Since its launch, participating agencies have committed to thoughtful and expedient

preparation of this report and to developing the Roundtable’s agenda, through research,

interagency dialogue, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement. For instance, in July,

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta and Deputy White House Counsel Danielle

Conley launched the expanded interagency effort and convened the first meeting of the

Roundtable. On August 11, 2021, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, White House

Counsel Dana Remus, and Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta convened a listening

session, together with five leaders and 33 administration officials, to discuss access to

justice challenges and solutions during the pandemic.

The same day, Attorney General

Merrick B. Garland and Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta convened over 35 State

Chief Justices to discuss the national housing and eviction disparities, as well as potential

solutions.

Our review showed that the Federal Government has helped drive innovations that may

hold promise beyond the pandemic. Many of these innovations are still being assessed –

and critically, some innovations may have further contributed to the very justice gaps that

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they were designed to address. But the creativity involved in expanding access to legal

information, self-help services, counsel, and the courts during the pandemic may inspire

Federal agencies in preparing for emergency response in the future, while laying the

groundwork for broader, more sustainable reforms.

Informed by lessons learned, the Roundtable will continue to expand upon promising

models of innovation, critically evaluate shortcomings, and develop justice delivery

mechanisms that are more resilient.

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II.

THE PANDEMIC’S IMPACT

ON AMERICAN JUSTICE

____________

Over the past year, our country has faced multiple challenges, including the worst

pandemic in more than one hundred years. Many Americans have been pushed into

poverty and lost their homes, their jobs, and even their lives. For many, the impact of

COVID-19 was made more acute by the inability to access urgent relief programs because

of the longstanding justice gap – which grew worse during the pandemic.

Even before the pandemic, a 2017 Legal Services Corporation (LSC)

study showed that

86% of the civil legal problems reported by low-income Americans received inadequate or

no legal help, and that 71% of low-income households had experienced at least one civil

legal problem in the last year – not only minor or secondary problems, but also issues as

crucial as health care, housing conditions, disability benefits, veterans’ benefits, and

domestic violence.

Notably, this figure only includes civil legal problems that are

reported in the first place, which are estimated to represent only about 20% of all civil legal

challenges.

And a central reason for that lack of reporting ultimately relates to one of the

single most important issues in access to justice: most Americans – particularly low and

moderate-income Americans – do not recognize when the problems they encounter have

potential legal solutions in the first place.

While LSC-funded civil legal aid is

supplemented by a constellation of other nonprofits, pro bono programs, clinics, and other

services, these services nevertheless average out to provide approximately one attorney per

ten thousand lower-income Americans.

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The pandemic drastically exacerbated the need for legal help and strained the resources

that did exist. In a June 2020 LSC survey, Kentucky Legal Aid reported that the number

of unemployment claims filed since the start of the pandemic was 3,471% higher than the

prior year.

Southeast Louisiana Legal Services reported a 670% increase in requests for

legal help with unemployment matters and an almost 200% increase in eviction cases.

Meanwhile, another LSC survey found that 95% of grantee legal service providers reported

a dramatic increase in need for legal assistance with evictions, including “illegal lockouts,

utility shutoffs and foreclosures.”

The survey also found increased need in the areas of

income maintenance and benefits administration – such as problems with the rollout of

stimulus checks, unemployment benefits, and consumer debt relief – as well as problems

addressing domestic violence.

While the pandemic exacerbated structural inadequacies in the civil justice system, it

nearly crippled the criminal justice system, which was foundationally unprepared for the

pandemic’s impact. This is in part because so many criminal justice interactions – from

law enforcement to court proceedings to incarceration – involve close physical

interaction and little room for delay.

Public defenders reported haphazard or absent safety protocols and crowded court hallways

and courtrooms.

The disparities of COVID-19 infection rates led to the risk that juries

might have decreased representation from a cross-section of the community.

Meanwhile,

trials were halted and statutory deadlines for indictment were lifted, requiring those

incarcerated prior to trial – people who were not convicted of any crime – to choose

between a guilty plea or the risk of possible infection in custody.

While defense counsel

and public defenders across the country had varying policies on remote versus in-person

appearances, they reported increased difficulty in adequately representing clients without

close in-person contact. Video visits caused severe limitations to discovery review with

incarcerated clients.

Meanwhile, access to counsel became increasingly difficult as

prisons and jails established barriers to legal visitation.

Some facilities at times barred

legal visitation, resulting in what was effectively a total erosion of the ability for some

defendants to communicate with counsel.

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Prisons and jails were severely impacted by the virus. Incarcerated people have been

infected by the coronavirus at a rate more than five times higher than the nation’s overall

rate.

The inability to socially distance is expected in congregate settings. This limitation

was further compounded by issues of overcrowding, insufficient medical care or staff, the

overrepresentation of vulnerable populations, and a lack of early access to personal

protective equipment and sanitization supplies.

As the pandemic depleted already strained legal services resources, the need for those

resources only grew more urgent. As the remainder of this report will illustrate, numerous

Federal programs, policies, and initiatives were established or expanded in an effort to

address the unique challenges of COVID-19. Yet their success continues to depend on

whether they are actually accessible to the communities they are designed to serve.

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III.

INNOVATIONS

____________

Over the past 120 days, the Roundtable has surveyed and studied dozens of innovations

designed to address the access-to-justice crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. This

review revealed the critical role that access to justice plays in achieving virtually every

major programmatic and policy objective salient to COVID-19 recovery – and the need

for continued support of access-to-justice work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and

beyond.

A. INNOVATION STRATEGIES

Our review points towards three categories of innovation for further study and

consideration: (1) leveraging Federal funding; (2) advancing evidence-based research and

technology; and (3) expanding strategic collaboration.

These strategies build upon the basic approaches that have been developed and tested by

the Roundtable and its members over the past decade, which took on elevated relevance

during the pandemic.

1. Leveraging Federal Funding

Federal relief funds offered an important lever for access-to-justice innovation during the

pandemic. Specifically, Congress enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic

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Security (CARES) Act,

the Consolidated Appropriations Act,

and the American

Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

Roundtable departments and agencies, along with other government partners, created and

expanded numerous programs to assist individuals facing eviction, foreclosure, job loss,

and other harms.

Examples include:

• The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) disbursed

COVID-19-related grant funds, which were administered by states to improve

housing stability through civil legal aid. Many legal aid organizations used state

and local disbursements of Coronavirus Relief funds, Community Development

Block Grant COVID-19 funds, and Emergency Solutions Grant COVID-19 funds

to expand their homelessness and eviction prevention services. For instance, some

legal aid organizations launched partnerships with courts to create eviction

diversion programs and created tenant right-to-counsel programs.

• The CARES Act provided $50 million in supplemental funding to the Legal

Services Corporation (LSC) for legal aid to prevent, prepare for, and respond

to COVID-19.

By April 20, 2020, LSC had awarded 191 COVID-19 Response

grants to its 132 grantees for pandemic-related legal aid.

• The Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program

supported justice system stakeholders. Congress created the Paycheck Protection

Program to help fund up to eight weeks of payroll costs and benefits, and to help

small businesses keep their workforce employed during the pandemic. SBA

disbursed Paycheck Protection Program funds to public defender offices and legal

aid organizations and providers.

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• The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) used supplemental ARPA funds to

help fund legal services. The VA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families

Program seeks to help homeless veteran families find housing and avoid

homelessness.

2. Expanding Access to Technology and Virtual Services

Many court systems transitioned to virtual services to allow litigants to resolve legal

problems, negotiate settlements, file documents, and conduct hearings remotely.

However, in many cases, the transition to digital services created additional challenges and

inequities that frustrated access to legal help and the courts. For example, people in areas

of the country without broadband access, computers, or smart phones often struggled to

access counsel and the courts before the pandemic. The shift to an almost entirely virtual

justice delivery system left many of these individuals without access to vital resources and

proceedings. Moreover, virtual court appearances and meetings posed significant

challenges for the effective representation of clients in criminal proceedings, where

witnesses and juries often could not appear in a physical courtroom for trials.

Federal, state, and local government leaders must continue to engage with civil legal aid

providers, the criminal defense bar, and policymakers to assess how to make the shift

towards digital service delivery more accessible. The Roundtable will continue to explore

this issue through its member agencies. Many agencies are starting to explore strategies to

elevate what works and mitigate the negative consequences of remote proceedings.

Examples of Federal support for virtual services included:

• The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) developed access-

to-justice recommendations for all virtual Federal agency adjudications.

This

collection of recommendations offers best practices to facilitate full and fair access

to adjudicative proceedings for historically underserved groups. Recognizing that

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video teleconferencing may not be appropriate in all circumstances and must be

legally permissible, ACUS identified factors for agencies to consider when

determining whether to conduct remote hearings, including “whether [video

teleconferencing] can be used without adversely affecting case outcomes or

representation of parties” and whether its use “would affect costs, productivity, wait

times, or access to justice.”

• AmeriCorps’ three largest national service programs helped their access-to-

justice and legal aid grantees provide virtual legal assistance during the

pandemic.

Each of AmeriCorps’ major anti-poverty programs – AmeriCorps

State and National, AmeriCorps VISTA, and AmeriCorps Seniors – has provided

volunteers to courts and legal aid service providers. AmeriCorps made a number of

policy changes, such as clarifying when teleservice is allowed, to enable grantees to

prioritize COVID-19 response and adapt their programs to the pandemic.

Many

court and legal aid grantees – such as Illinois JusticeCorps, Equal Justice Wyoming,

and Montana Legal Services Association – took advantage of these policy changes

to transition to virtual services.

• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) expanded its use of

virtual platforms to provide information and facilitate access to the

discrimination charge process. EEOC expanded its use of technology to reach

populations in rural and remote areas and to provide training and technical

assistance on pandemic-related accommodation requests and requests for

information. EEOC also expanded its use of technology to provide continued access

to the discrimination charge process and to conduct virtual interviews, mediations,

and Federal hearings.

• The Department of Interior (DOI) funded pilot projects to assess best practices

on virtual communication and access to Tribal court hearings. DOI funded

technology improvements for Tribal courts to provide remote hearings and services,

many of which may continue after the pandemic in rural and remote areas. DOI

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also funded several pilot projects to assess these innovative tools and new

communication formats.

• The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)

developed virtual technical assistance and guidance about virtual services for

victims of crime. This technical assistance included trainings on trauma-informed

legal practice in virtual court, protecting survivor privacy, and tips for lawyers and

clients participating in remote hearings (in eight languages).

OVW also supported

courts across the country in providing virtual access for emergency requests, time-

sensitive hearings, and victim services.

• DOJ created a centralized online Civil Rights Reporting Portal to ease the

burden on victims filing complaints, including members of the Asian American

and Pacific Islander community who have been targeted with bias-related

incidents throughout the pandemic. Released in June 2020, the Civil Rights

Reporting Portal is now available in the top five languages spoken by the limited

English proficient community – including Spanish, Traditional and Simplified

Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

The new portal was publicized to the

civil justice community, civil rights organizations, and social service organizations.

• DOJ-led Federal Government Pro Bono Program (FGPBP) provided virtual

assistance during the pandemic.  The DOJ Pro Bono Program signed up for “D.C.

Represents,” a local legal services project to promote pandemic-related pro bono

activities, and committed to staffing a dozen legal clinics as the program transitioned

to remote legal help. Many Federal agencies – including the Department of Health

and Human Services (HHS), VA, Department of Labor (DOL), Federal Trade

Commission (FTC), Department of State, Environmental Protection Agency,

Department of the Navy, HUD, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),

Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and others – joined DOJ in recruiting

attorneys to staff the clinics and provide legal assistance. 

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• DOJ and the Department of Defense (DOD) increased their participation in

Know Your Rights community outreach events and spoke at virtual civil legal

aid conferences throughout the pandemic. Since March 2020, DOJ’s

Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative (SVI) has conducted over 30 virtual

trainings, presentations, and outreach events on servicemember rights for members

of the military and their families, military legal assistance attorneys, clinics, and

interagency partners. Through collaboration with DOD’s Yellow Ribbon Program,

SVI has also provided virtual events for servicemembers and their families to ensure

that they are aware of their Federal employment and financial rights.

• DOD’s legal assistance programs provided civil legal assistance, including

virtual assistance, to current and former members of the armed forces and

eligible family members. These free legal services spanned a range of civil legal

issues, including family law matters and protection from consumer scams and

predatory debt collectors.

• The National Science Foundation (NSF) continues to support research that will

assist with pandemic response and improve information gaps in our civil legal

system. Among other things, NSF is supporting a project examining the impact of

the COVID-19 pandemic on state courts nationwide, including the ways in which

state courts have relied on remote operations.

In addition, NSF is supporting the

creation of the first-ever online civil justice data commons aimed at creating more

transparent and efficient civil legal systems.

• The Social Security Administration (SSA) offered claimants virtual options for

appearing at administrative hearings and receiving and reviewing evidence

related to their claims.

SSA now gives claimants the option of appearing at

administrative hearings by telephone or online video. SSA provides information to

each claimant or their representative about what it means to appear online and the

associated technology requirements, and conducts outreach calls with self-

represented claimants to ensure they understand their hearing options.

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3. Pioneering Strategic Collaboration and Partnerships

• DOJ worked with courts, legal aid providers, and public defenders, to monitor

state court closures and help provide adequate notice and access to individuals

with limited English proficiency and limited internet access. Through numerous

outreach meetings with civil legal aid attorneys and public defenders, court

interpreters, non-profit organizations, and for-profit platform vendors, the Civil

Rights Division’s Federal Coordination and Compliance Section regularly assessed

how the pandemic was affecting state court systems.

• DOJ worked with legal aid providers and public defenders to identify

pandemic-related enforcement issues. On July 28, 2021, Assistant Attorney

General Kristen Clarke met with and expanded the Civil Rights Division’s close

relationship with legal aid providers and public defenders, and specifically engaged

on pandemic-related issues, such as addressing the spread of COVID-19 in prisons

and jails. DOJ continues to engage with legal service lawyers and public defenders

on pandemic issues as part of ongoing enforcement activities, including

investigations and monitoring settlements.

• DOJ conducted extensive outreach to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on people

with disabilities. The Outreach Committee of the Civil Rights Division’s Disability

Rights Section surveyed 67 Protection & Advocacy Organizations (P&As), which

provide legal support to historically underserved people with disabilities to help

them navigate the legal system. The P&As described COVID-related challenges in

their communities, including concerns about reasonable accommodations and return

to work, school reopening policies, hospital visitation policies, and evictions from

group homes.

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released an enforcement

compliance bulletin reminding landlords, consumer reporting agencies, and

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others of their critical obligations to accurately report rental and eviction

information.

The CFPB’s bulletin is one of many tools that is widely

disseminated to the civil justice community in support of the CFPB’s ongoing

commitment to a fair and equitable recovery.

B. EMERGING AREAS OF FOCUS

The Roundtable also identified emerging areas of focus in three key contexts: (1) the civil

legal system; (2) the criminal legal system; and (3) the international system as it relates to

America’s commitment to the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development Goal 16. This section describes innovation across each context and

highlights common trends.

1. The Civil Legal System

Within the civil legal system, the Roundtable identified five key areas of focus that

emerged during the pandemic: eviction and foreclosure prevention; access to health care;

access to benefits; consumer protection; and immigration.

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a. Evictions and Foreclosures

Civil legal services are essential to helping tenants avoid eviction and secure rental

assistance. They can also make the difference for homeowners unable to keep up with their

mortgage payments, who with legal help may be better able to prevent foreclosure.

Examples of Federal agency efforts to address eviction and foreclosure through enhanced

legal services and solutions included:

• White House Summit on Eviction Prevention and Diversion.

The White

House, in collaboration with the American Bar Association, the Legal Services

Corporation, and National Conference of Bar Presidents, convened local

government, judicial, legal, and community leaders from 46 cities to develop

community-specific eviction diversion programs. Recognizing that preventing

evictions requires local strategies to encourage alternatives to evictions, this

convening worked on solutions to provide vulnerable families with access to

“Legal aid lawyers have long been the underfunded, underrecognized heroes for

defending the rights and economic well-being of the most vulnerable tenants. As we race

to provide emergency rental assistance it must be understood that strengthening support

for legal aid and legal service attorneys is a critical ingredient to effective eviction

diversion policies and the equal access to justice required to stave off a potential eviction

crisis while building a more humane national policy on evictions for the future.”

______

GENE SPERLING

SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT AND AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN COORDINATOR

THE WHITE HOUSE

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counsel, divert evictions away from court, and connect renters and landlords to

available resources.

• The CFPB developed tools that homeowners, renters, and landlords can use to

identify funding and resources, including the Rental Assistance Finder Tool.

The CFPB’s targeted outreach and demonstrations included legal aid intermediaries

and a broad array of direct service providers.

• The CFPB engaged in multiple rulemaking and guidance initiatives to assist

civil legal aid providers and the courts, and support self-help approaches that

could keep people in their homes. The CFPB issued a final rule in 2021 to help

ensure consumers have time to explore their options before foreclosure referral and

to allow mortgage servicers to get borrowers into affordable mortgage payment

plans faster.

The 2021 rule also ensures that borrowers will be able to find contact

information for housing counselors. The CFPB issued plain-language compliance

aids to assist legal aid providers in describing the rule to their clients. It also issued

guidance to help legal aid providers understand COVID-19-related compliance

issues, such as language access requirements, and a compliance bulletin urging

servicers to dedicate sufficient resources and staff to meet borrowers’ needs during

the surge in demand.

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• The CFPB developed a Housing Portal to connect homeowners and renters

struggling with housing insecurity with resources, including legal help.

The

portal includes links and guidance for finding a local attorney.

• HUD announced an Eviction Protection Grant Program to support legal aid

providers assist tenants at risk of eviction.

Posted in July 2021, the purpose of

the Eviction Protection Grant Program is to support experienced legal aid providers

to offer legal assistance at no cost to low-income tenants at risk of or subject to

eviction. HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research is making $20 million

in grant funds available for services in areas with high rates of evictions or

prospective evictions, including rural areas.

• HUD published data and analysis to encourage the use of eviction diversion

programs. HUD’s research division provides housing research and market data

used by a wide array of legal and housing advocates. HUD has produced articles

describing tenant legal needs, articles describing the importance of local and U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moratoria, and other reports used

“Thanks to ERAP funds creating the Texas Access to Justice Foundation’s new

partnership with the Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs and Texas’

legal aid programs, we launched the first ever statewide Texas Rent Relief and Texas

Eviction Diversion Program to keep Texans housed. CFPB’s Rental Assistance

Finder Tool is invaluable to our legal aid navigator and attorney outreach efforts to

help eligible Texans know how to apply for rental assistance to pay their landlords,

and how to obtain lawyers when problems escalate, and legal representation is

needed.”

______

BETTY BALLI TORRES

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TEXAS ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOUNDATION

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by policymakers and legal aid providers.

HUD has partnered with DOJ to amplify

and identify best practices for eviction diversion programs.

• The Secretaries of HUD and Treasury, along with the Attorney General, wrote

a letter to governors, mayors, county executives, and chief justices and state

court administrators urging more actions to prevent evictions.

When the U.S.

Supreme Court blocked the CDC’s order establishing the Federal eviction

moratorium on August 26, 2021, Secretary Fudge, Secretary Yellen, and Attorney

General Garland called on state, local, and court leaders to issue their own

moratoria, stay evictions while rental assistance applications are processed, and use

emergency rental assistance payments and state and local fiscal recovery funds to

enhance tenant access to legal representation.

• DOJ wrote to all State Supreme Court Chief Justices and State Court

Administrators urging them to adopt eviction diversion strategies and include

legal assistance.

On June 24, 2021, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta

issued a letter encouraging state court leaders to consider adopting concrete

strategies to raise awareness of rental assistance and facilitate litigants’ access to

these funds, including by: requiring landlords to apply for rental assistance before

filing; modifying summonses and other forms to alert litigants to the availability of

eviction diversion programs and rental assistance; and partnering with community-

based organizations and legal services providers to offer assistance and increase the

chance for successful diversion. The letter encourages a comprehensive approach,

including “a combination of rental assistance, mediation, social services, and legal

assistance,” and lists possible sources of Federal funding.

• The Attorney General issued an emergency call to action to the legal

community. Responding to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate a court

order blocking the CDC’s eviction moratorium, Attorney General Merrick B.

Garland called on the legal community to help address the ongoing housing and

eviction crisis. Citing the U.S. Census Bureau’s recent survey revealing that more

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than six million Americans are behind on their rent and roughly half of them fear

they could be evicted in the next two months, he urged the legal community to help

applicants access the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, volunteer with local

legal aid providers, and support local courts in implementing eviction diversion

programs. He also encouraged Federal Government attorneys to consider

participating in the Federal Government Pro Bono Program to take on housing

cases. Leaders across the legal community – including law school deans, the

Association of Pro Bono Counsel, the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance, and the

Corporation for National and Community Service, among many others – have been

answering the call, issuing joint statements in support of the Attorney General’s

message and mobilizing collective action.

• LSC conducted a national study about unmet legal needs relating to evictions.

This Congressionally-directed study, titled The Effect of State & Local Laws on

Evictions, investigated legal practices related to eviction and the extent of the

country’s unmet legal needs.

The study included a survey of legal aid providers

that will inform ongoing reform efforts by cataloguing novel eviction prevention

programs, interventions, and practices being implemented by practitioners, courts,

and policymakers.

• LSC launched a series of web-based data tools and virtual events about eviction

laws and the access-to-justice implications of the pandemic. These new tools

included an eviction tracker to monitor case filings around the country, and a

comprehensive database of state and local eviction laws and processes built in

partnership with Temple University’s Center for Public Health Law Research.

LSC also hosted a series of virtual events and podcast discussions with information

from legal aid providers, business leaders, members of Congress, state Supreme

Court Justices, and academics.

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•

Treasury guidance clarified that critical funding streams could be used to

support eviction diversion plans, including counseling, navigators, legal

services, and court programs. Per Treasury’s guidance, states and localities, in

partnership with their court systems and legal aid providers, can tap two sources of

Federal support to fund their eviction diversion and housing stability efforts:

ARPA’s $350 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds and

$46.5 billion in Emergency Rental Assistance Program dollars.

Treasury

strongly encouraged partnerships with courts to prevent eviction, and made clear

that allowable services include legal services related to eviction proceedings and

maintaining housing stability.

“Nearly all the 50 or so metro area teams participating in this [White House Summit] to

head off evictions include legal aid providers. And that’s critical to the success of our

efforts. None of the policy initiatives we have been talking about – the eviction moratoria,

eviction diversion programs, or distribution of rental assistance – none of those policy

initiatives are self-executing. The success of those initiatives requires assistance to ensure

that the benefits Congress, state and local governments intend to distribute in fact reach the

tenants and landlords who are the intended beneficiaries. Legal aid programs provide that

assistance.”

______

RON FLAGG, PRESIDENT, LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION

WHITE HOUSE SUMMIT ON EVICTION PREVENTION, JUNE 30, 2021

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• Treasury guidance clarified that the Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) can

support legal services to help prevent foreclosure. The Homeowner Assistance

Fund, a critical component of the ARPA, provided nearly $10 billion to states, the

District of Columbia, territories, and Tribes to help homeowners impacted by the

pandemic. Treasury guidance made clear that HAF can fund legal services related

to foreclosure prevention or displacement. It can also be used to assist individuals

with mortgage payments, homeowner’s insurance, utility payments, and other

specified purposes.

b. Healthcare

When someone faces a civil legal problem, such as eviction, the denial of healthcare

benefits, or unemployment, it can interact with other factors and affect an individual’s long-

term health. These potential stressors may have an outsized impact on underserved

communities – including people of color, low-income individuals, and individuals with

disabilities, who often experience deep-rooted disparities in the health care system.

“When we talk about Veterans’ legal challenges, by definition we’re talking about their health

care and well-being. Our legal clinics and Medical Legal Partnerships integrate legal

assistance into healthcare for Veterans and their families in order to fully address their needs

and well-being – needs that are only amplified during the pandemic. Providing full access to

justice and legal services for Veterans takes a unified, inter-agency effort, from the Federal level

down to state, city, and community level – grassroots where Veterans work and live. We are

grateful to be part of the Roundtable which supports legal services as part of holistic health for

Veterans and other vulnerable populations.”

______

U.S. SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS DENIS R. MCDONOUGH

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Medical-legal partnerships, which introduce legal services into traditional medical settings,

may help healthcare teams more effectively treat patients and address underlying issues

and stressors that could worsen a patient’s health. For example, studies show that lawyers

embedded in the healthcare system have helped patients access benefits and reduce their

medical debt, avoid utility shutoffs, improve preventative care, and decrease inpatient

readmissions.

To be sure, medical-legal partnerships do not address all of the underlying

issues and disparities in our health care system. However, the Federal Government should

continue to explore these partnerships to mitigate civil legal problems, and their resulting

health consequences, whenever possible.

The VA and HHS have long recognized the importance of access to justice in addressing

health conditions. Well before the pandemic, these agencies used a variety of strategies to

encourage legal aid providers to collaborate with health care teams.

For example:

• HHS Health Resources and Services Administration funded the National

Center for Medical-Legal Partnership to train health centers on legal aid

during the pandemic. The National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership provides

training to help lawyers integrate their expertise into health care settings in order to

help health centers address the legal problems at the root of many health inequities.

During the pandemic, the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership developed

and hosted national trainings for health centers to review social determinants of

health and provided guidance relating to the provision of legal services.

• HHS-funded Health Centers partnered with legal organizations to assist

patients. During the pandemic, at least 163 federally-funded health centers across

the United States have deployed medical-legal partnerships.

In 2014, HHS’s

Health Resources and Services Administration revised its rules to allow federally

qualified health centers to use funds for non-clinical services that improve health or

access to medical care.

During the pandemic, 40 percent of medical-legal

partnerships linked to health centers have used this funding to support legal services

for patients.

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• HHS’s healthcare outreach programs included legal aid programs among their

grantees. HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) funds the

Connecting Kids to Coverage program, which supports efforts to reach out to

families with children eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance

Program and helps get them covered. Additionally, the Navigator program supports

assistance for consumers who are shopping for and enrolling in coverage through a

Health Insurance Marketplace. In 2021, grant awardees included several legal aid

programs.

• VA helped address homeless veterans’ health needs with legal aid. According

to VA annual surveys, civil legal needs are the top area of unmet need for homeless

veterans every year.

To assist in meeting the needs of homeless and other

veterans, 31 Veterans Health Administration facilities have forged medical-legal

partnerships to connect veterans to legal services alongside VA healthcare.

Some

medical-legal partnerships in VA facilities have collaborated with the National

Center for Medical-Legal Partnership to develop an implementation guide for VA

medical centers that is designed to assist in scaling and sustaining these

partnerships.

• VA encourages medical facilities to provide space for legal services

organizations. Since the pandemic began, the VA Office of General Counsel has

hosted bi-monthly COVID-19 medical-legal partnership calls to provide

technical assistance, training, and support to more than 170 VA legal clinics, and to

make a wide array of resources available for legal service providers supporting

veterans.

• VA researchers assessed the health benefits of legal aid to veterans. The VA

National Center for Homelessness Among Veterans conducted surveys of VA-

hosted legal clinics and a study on VA medical-legal partnerships.

Survey

findings showed the range of veterans’ civil legal needs and the valuable role legal

aid clinics provide in screening and connecting veterans with mental health and

substance use disorder treatment. The survey also suggests that because clients may

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need more and longer interventions to address their legal needs, VA-housed legal

clinics require greater resources and expansion.

c. Public Benefits

The pandemic generated an unprecedented need for government assistance, including

rental and mortgage assistance, child tax credits, unemployment benefits, and utilities

payments. At the same time, applying for benefits became even more challenging in the

expanded virtual environment – particularly for people with limited or no access to the

internet or limited English proficiency. The result was that some pandemic assistance

programs did not reach eligible individuals – including those who most needed the benefits,

and who the benefits were expressly designed to support.

Many Federal agencies relied on legal aid partners to help disseminate information through

trainings, simplified application processes, self-help tools, and other resources to help

people understand eligibility requirements and complete applications.

Examples of agencies’ efforts to help people learn about and obtain assistance include:

• The CFPB developed and disseminated consumer education materials that

have been widely used by legal aid and community organizations to help secure

benefits. These resources are used by legal aid and other community organizations

to help people obtain stimulus and Advanced Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments.

For example, the CFPB issued a guide to Economic Impact Payment resources.

On June 21, the CFPB announced additional education materials to help low- and

moderate-income families learn about the Advanced Child Tax Credit and released

these materials in six languages.

CFPB also conducted a series of outreach

webinars in June and July 2021 on the Advanced Child Tax Credit for community

and legal aid partner organizations working with hard-to-reach populations.

• DHS’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) partnered with the

American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (ABA YLD) to launch the

Disaster Legal Services program. FEMA worked with the ABA YLD to provide

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free legal aid through local volunteer attorneys to assist survivors of severe

wildfires, storms, tornadoes, and floods with their disaster-related legal needs,

including requests for benefits and assistance, housing and insurance law problems,

tax issues, consumer fraud, and family law matters such as child custody and

guardianship issues.

• DOL Civil Rights Center conducted trainings and outreach to civil legal aid

providers to better assist people with limited English proficiency in accessing

unemployment insurance. Specifically, the Civil Rights Center provided training

to civil legal aid providers on the legal requirements for providing services and

information to individuals with limited English proficiency applying for

unemployment insurance.

• DOL workers’ compensation claimants used a new electronic filing and service

system and received virtual trainings in its use. DOL’s workers’ compensation

appellate adjudicatory boards provided electronic filing options to improve access

for the mostly self-represented people with workers’ compensation claims, as well

as special training sessions in using the virtual system. Similarly, the Mine Safety

and Health Division provided remote hearings and increased remote capacity to

meet confidentially with whistleblowers so that miners with complaints could still

enforce their rights.

• DOL Wage and Hour Division focused on education and enforcement of new

and existing pandemic-related worker protections. The Wage and Hour Division

conducted outreach and pursued enforcement of paid leave requirements. The

Division also launched an Essential Workers Essential Protections Initiative, which

has hosted more than 500 events for over 22,000 participants since April 6, 2020,

and provides Know Your Rights education programs about existing worker

protections.

• DOL Women’s Bureau announced a new funding opportunity to help low-

wage women workers. The new $1.5 million grant program, Fostering Access,

Rights and Equity (FARE), calls on states to develop partnerships with community-

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based organizations and other non-profits including legal aid organizations to

conduct outreach to women workers to help them understand and exercise their

rights and benefits in the workplace, including as they relate to working during the

pandemic.

d. Consumer Protection

Even before the pandemic, 68 million Americans had debt in collections, with the greatest

share of debt delinquency in southern communities and communities of color.

A 2020

study by The Pew Charitable Trusts found that debt collection lawsuits are dominating

national courts and, in some states, the number of debt claims more than doubled between

2014 and 2018.

The Pew study estimates that fewer than 10 percent of defendants in debt collection

lawsuits have legal representation, in comparison to nearly all plaintiffs.

Moreover, 95

percent of debt cases are resolved in favor of collectors, and 90 percent of debt cases end

in a default judgment against the defendant.

This two-tiered system has disproportionate

effects on historically underserved communities: in some cities, the rate of judgment in

mostly Black communities is more than double the rate in predominantly white

communities.

Defendants in debt collection lawsuits who have access to counsel are

more likely to challenge unsubstantiated cases against them, reach a settlement, and even

win their cases, avoiding long-term financial and psychological consequences.

Federal agencies charged with protecting consumers have continued their work during the

pandemic, and have approached their tasks with renewed urgency to combat fraud and

educate the public about consumer protection.

Federal efforts to protect consumers included:

• The FTC hosted 15 virtual listen and learn sessions with legal aid

organizations. Participants discussed the consumer and financial issues that people

in their area are facing, how best to reach consumers during the pandemic, and how

to distribute FTC resources to people who need additional information. For

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example, in 2020, the FTC experienced a nearly 3,000% increase in the number of

reports about identity theft related to government benefits, especially

unemployment insurance identity theft. In addition, reports about tax identity theft

increased substantially, with many reports relating to stimulus payments.

The FTC developed new messaging on IdentityTheft.gov to help individuals, legal

aid providers, and other community organizations learn how to report and recover

from this type of fraud.

• The FTC Community Advocate Center on ReportFraud.ftc.gov helped legal

aid organizations report problems.

In March 2021, the FTC launched the

Community Advocate Center, an online resource, to assist providers of free or low-

cost legal services with reporting fraud and other unlawful practices to the FTC.

Development of the initiative followed a series of focus groups with input from

LSC, the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, the National Consumer Law

Center, and the National Association of Consumer Advocates. The Community

Advocate Center helps organizations provide community members with specific

advice to report fraud and get their money back.

e. Immigration

In immigration proceedings, the stakes are high – legal representation can make the

difference between someone safely remaining in the United States or being deported and

potentially separated from family. Immigrants with limited English proficiency are

particularly vulnerable and face significant hurdles in understanding and navigating the

immigration court system. Further, immigrants and non-citizens experience a host of

related legal needs outside of the immigration courtroom, including intimate partner

violence and child custody disputes.

These wide-ranging needs require a holistic and comprehensive response, particularly in

light of the pandemic’s toll. The Justice Department, together with key Roundtable

partners, have a unique opportunity, if not obligation, to explore a comprehensive approach

to meeting the needs of immigrant populations.

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Numerous Roundtable departments and agencies have already found promising ways to do

so through collaboration and innovation. For example:

• DHS’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) permits

filing flexibilities for all applicants and petitioners, including those seeking

visas, citizenship, and asylum, and provides remote interviews and call-in

options. Since March 2020, USCIS has relaxed certain deadlines and signature

requirements in recognition of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For example, USCIS allows anyone submitting an immigration benefit form or

document to use an electronic reproduction of an original signature rather than an

original signature. This includes, but is not limited to, those submitting asylum

applications. USCIS conducts video-facilitated asylum and naturalization

interviews and uses available technologies, including mobile devices provided by

USCIS, to ensure that the officer, applicant, interpreter, legal representative, and

witness(es) can fully and safely participate in the interview. USCIS also provides

call-in options for attorneys and/or authorized representatives, as well as

interpreters.

• DOD and DHS USCIS launched remote interviews and oaths of citizenship

during the pandemic. DOD Military Departments collaborated with USCIS to

conduct hundreds of remote interviews and oaths of citizenship for active duty

personnel at overseas military installations who were unable to travel due to

COVID-19-related travel restrictions.

• DOJ conducted virtual outreach and trainings to immigration legal services

providers. The Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section

(IER) conducted virtual outreach to immigrant service providers, including

organizations providing legal services to asylees, refugees, and other immigrant

workers. For example, since January 2020, IER has conducted 27 virtual

presentations specifically geared toward asylee and refugee service providers,

covering topics such as documentation to establish a worker’s legal right to work.

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2. The Criminal Legal System

While the pandemic had a widespread

impact on an already-burdened civil court

system, by many accounts, the criminal

legal system was even harder hit by the

COVID-19 pandemic. There are over 2

million people incarcerated in the United

States in crowded and congregate jails,

prisons, and detention centers –

environments that are highly susceptible to

rapid spread of the virus. Meanwhile, court

closures halted trials and other proceedings

and temporarily eliminated statutory

deadlines. Meaningful access to counsel

was cut off for many defendants due to

restrictions on visitation and

communication.

While we must continue to evaluate additional data, early reports suggest that the pandemic

also exacerbated the long history of racial disparities in our criminal justice system.

Notably, as some jurisdictions began to reduce incarcerated populations in March of 2020

in response to the pandemic, the proportion of African-American people incarcerated

increased.

At the same time, certain jurisdictions explored innovative ways to safely reduce the

incarcerated population and reduce the risk of virus transmission, including through

temporarily paused cash bail;

expanded access to free communication for those

incarcerated;

reduced and waived fees;

and the elimination of incarceration for

“technical violations,” like failing to check-in on probation and parole.

“The pandemic sharply curtailed pretrial

access to counsel, a right that is inextricably

linked to the legitimacy of our criminal justice

system. Throughout the pandemic, lawyers

reported uneven and limited availability of

phone and video calls, and difficulty accessing

their clients during critical stages of their

case. These hurdles, along with other aspects

of the pandemic, created significant

challenges in preparing for cases and

building trust with clients.”

DAVID PATTON

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FEDERAL

DEFENDERS OF NEW YORK

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Examples of Federal innovation in the criminal legal system included:

• DOJ, in consultation with CDC and HHS, prepared guidance on the use of

ARPA funding to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in confinement facilities

and maintain access to counsel and the courts. The guidance was distributed to

public health authorities and eight local jurisdictions with the largest populations.

The guidance clarified that ARPA funding may be used for video conferencing

technology and other measures to support attorney/client purposes and court

appearances; to detect, diagnose, trace, and monitor COVID-19; and to develop

policies and practices to safely reduce the incarcerated population.

• DOJ’s Bureau of Prisons (BOP) enabled virtual visitation. Under the CARES

Act, BOP authorized inmates to conduct visitation through video teleconferencing

and telephonically, free of charge. To ensure that inmates maintain community ties,

BOP also increased inmate telephone minutes from 300 to 500 per calendar

month.

• DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) administered the Coronavirus

Emergency Supplemental Funding Program. BJA made these funds available to

local and state criminal justice partners to support the reopening of the criminal

justice system, eliminate case backlogs, support diversion and alternatives to

incarceration, and improve jail operations. In FY20, BJA awarded grants to 1,828

jurisdictions to help state and local courts protect the right to counsel and other rights

guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment.

• DOJ Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Program helped assess the

capacity of courts to maintain operations during the pandemic. From May to

September 2020, 172 active BJA adult drug courts and veterans’ treatment courts

participated in the COVID-19 impact virtual interview. The results gave DOJ data

to develop future policies that will support innovative strategies to keep courts open

and ensure equitable access to court-related services.

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• DOI funds Tribal justice systems, including legal aid providers, public

defenders, and guardians ad litem. DOI Indian Affairs assesses the needs of

individual Tribal justice systems and provides funding to 348 Tribal Courts for

personnel and infrastructure. The three most requested personnel positions have

been public defenders, guardians ad litem, and Indian Child Welfare Act attorneys.

Since March 2020, DOI has funded free trainings hosted by innovative Tribal

Courts, designed to strengthen trial skills for judges, prosecutors, and public

defenders, focusing specifically on domestic violence, violence against women,

opioids and narcotics, child welfare, juvenile truancy and delinquency, and

expungement.

3. International Systems and Sustainable Development Goal 16

In September 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development to end extreme poverty and take action on climate change and inequality.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development set forth 17 Goals and 169 associated

targets to achieve the agenda.

Goal 16 – and specifically, target 16.3 – recognizes that access to justice is essential to

promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. Target 16.3 calls

on countries to “[p]romote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure

“Access to justice is critical for every American, but in Indigenous communities it has been

historically neglected, underfunded and under-resourced. The COVID-19 pandemic only

exasperated this lack of infrastructure, funding and support in communities across the country.

The re-launch of the Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable is a welcome collaboration as we work

to address the unique challenges that Native people face in receiving legal aid.”

______

U.S. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR DEB HAALAND

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equal access to justice for all.” Unlike past global anti-poverty efforts, which primarily

focused on developing countries, the 2030 Agenda applies to every country, including the

United States.

The Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

offered significant leadership in developing and adopting the 2030 Agenda.

Examples of ongoing efforts to advance the Sustainable Development Goals during the

pandemic included:

• USAID rule of law funding and technical assistance activities quickly pivoted

to working with partner countries to tap technology to support courts and

justice systems around the world. USAID worked to apply its resources to

remedying and preventing pandemic related legal problems and addressing related

justice issues. For instance, in Moldova, court automation and infrastructure

provided by the USAID Open Justice Program enabled courts to hold digital, remote

hearings; and in Kosovo, the USAID Justice System Strengthening Program

assisted with the country’s first online hearings and supported the Kosovo Judicial

Council in preparing protocols to guide additional remote hearings.

• USAID supported technological innovations to improve legal aid through its

rule of law assistance. In Colombia, due to the rise in gender-based violence

during COVID-related lockdowns, the USAID Justice for Sustainable Peace

program developed a “legal app” with a panic button to report gender-based

violence, request assistance, and obtain information and referral pathways to

services. USAID also issued its Gender and COVID-19 Guidance,

which

addresses barriers to access to justice and legal services for women, advises on how

to make court systems remote and monitor their accessibility, and helps local legal

aid organizations develop strategies to provide legal services to women. USAID

also produced guidance to address legal problems and justice needs related to the

pandemic, in part through the use of accessible online platforms and other

technologies.”

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“In working to facilitate access to justice around the world, we believe the Roundtable initiative

is an effective model for how governments can do so by integrating legal and other supportive

services and partnering with civil society and non-governmental actors.”

______

SAMANTHA POWER

ADMINISTRATOR OF THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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IV.

LOOKING AHEAD

____________

A. CONTINUED WORK TO IDENTIFY SOLUTIONS

It has been nearly 18 months since our country entered a state of national emergency, but

we continue to collect information and assess the full scale of its impact on access to justice.

It is clear that the justice gap has all too often prevented emergency relief and Federal

Government programs from reaching the individuals who need them most.

Much remains to be learned about the benefits and unintended consequences of innovations

developed to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Areas of further focus for the Roundtable

will include:

1. Equitable Expansion of Technology

Since the onset of the pandemic, Federal agencies have embarked upon an unprecedented

effort to develop technologies that enable virtual access to services, information, and

proceedings. Further research is needed to fully assess the impact of these innovations on

access to justice.

Specifically, there is a need for an assessment of how new technologies impacted those

without access to counsel, as well as those without access to computers, smart phones, or

broadband services. While use of these technologies is intended to expand access to

government services and proceedings, there is a risk that they perpetuate – or even

exacerbate – existing disparities.

Page 44 of 53

For example, the shift to remote hearings often eliminated barriers like lack of

transportation, lack of childcare, and the inability to take time off of work, which reduced

default or non-appearance rates.

However, remote appearances can create difficulty in

communicating with counsel and have been linked to higher pretrial bail amounts and to

witnesses being perceived as less credible.

These early studies suggest that technical

innovations in the criminal legal system must be reviewed carefully to assess outcomes and

impact over time. There is also a need for a data-driven, comprehensive analysis to ensure

that technology is employed in a manner that strengthens, rather than undermines, each

person’s constitutional and statutory rights.

2. Legal Representation in Emergency Situations

The pandemic has made clear that it is critical to have strong partnerships between pro

bono providers and legal services organizations. Forging those partnerships will help

enable a swifter and more robust access to justice network to be deployed in crisis

moments.

The need for an immediate response to crisis was perhaps most apparent during the wave

of evictions that stemmed from the pandemic. As discussed in this report, the pandemic

exacerbated the affordable housing crisis, and placed many Americans in jeopardy of

losing their homes. Federal programs were immediately leveraged to mitigate the harms

of this crisis, but hurdles to accessing those programs underscored even further the need

for counsel.

Additional study of the response to the eviction crisis is needed, both to identify successful

measures so they can be replicated and to identify areas for improvement. To be clear, as

the pandemic continues, the need for legal services to combat evictions is ongoing. But

even so, it is critically important to begin an assessment so that the legal services

community can be better equipped to confront future crises.

Page 45 of 53

3. Ensuring Partnerships Are in Place Before an Emergency

The pandemic has underscored the critical and dynamic role of legal services in protecting

the most vulnerable amidst crisis. That role is essential not only in traditional legal

proceedings, but across different contexts, including in the areas of health, housing,

employment, and public benefits. Strengthening partnerships with the legal services

community in these sectors can provide real help to those most in need. As discussed in

the report, for example, the pandemic highlighted that medical-legal partnerships can help

patients access benefits and reduce medical debt, which can ultimately mitigate civil legal

problems down the line.

Going forward, it is essential to determine how we can embed such partnerships across

other Federal programs that impact health and safety. This requires careful study of the

benefits of medical-legal partnerships during the pandemic, as well as an assessment of the

need for meaningful partnerships in other areas. Anticipating the need for specific

partnerships and ensuring that those partnerships are in place – before emergencies hit –

can help leverage the impact of legal services and enable a more robust and rapid response.

B. STRATEGIES FOR CONTINUED ROUNDTABLE REVIEW

Roundtable agencies have enormous opportunities to expand access to justice – and, at the

same time, achieve the broader goals of Federal programs – by using funding, training, and

other resources to increase access to legal assistance and the courts. Recognizing that most

parties in civil litigation are self-represented, this work must include a focus on navigators

and self-help models, and explore how to expand access to counsel where feasible.

DOJ’s Office for Access to Justice and the initial Roundtable pioneered an approach to

integrating legal aid into the work of agencies, especially in cross-cutting areas of

responsibility, such that it could be helpful in fulfilling agencies’ missions. The

Roundtable will recommit to that strategy and help facilitate legal assistance to navigate

essential Federal resources, like emergency rental assistance and the child tax credit.

Page 46 of 53

Federal funding is particularly critical to support innovative methods for the expansion of

access to legal assistance and related services across Federal agency initiatives and

programs.

In addition, the Roundtable’s collaboration revealed the need to transcend silos,

particularly in light of the interconnected nature of legal needs across the many fields of its

member departments and agencies. Evictions can lead to homelessness, which is

connected to poverty and higher rates of arrest. A criminal conviction can cause the loss

of benefits, immigration status, housing, and other Federal assistance. Children in foster

systems encounter the juvenile justice system at disproportionately high rates. And

medical needs are often inextricably linked to civil legal needs. The Roundtable has an

opportunity to break down silos between different agencies and departments responsible

for tackling discrete elements of a problem and work toward identifying collaborative

solutions. The Roundtable will also work to expand upon this approach to help the larger

ecosystem of public and civil-society actors embrace access to justice as a means of

achieving their own goals.

These themes are just several among many that the Roundtable may consider. The

Roundtable will also remain open to perspectives about other potential priorities,

particularly as departments and agencies reflect on the findings of this report and prepare

for a post-pandemic future.

The reinvigoration of this interagency Roundtable effort represents a critical step toward

improving access to Federal programs, counsel, and the courts. Collaborative innovation

will be required to meet the task of establishing equal access to justice – and embodies the

essence of our country at its best.

Page 47 of 53

V. ENDNOTES

____________

More than 40 million Americans have been infected with the COVID-19 virus and more than 653,000 have died

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