PRESS RELEASE: Multi-State Training Launch Marks Five Years of Community-Based Justice Work
Expansion of Arizona and Utah justice worker networks poised to deliver free civil legal help to 15,000+ individuals with unmet need in the next year
From the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary to state-level commissions across the nation, “community-based justice work” has taken hold in the United States like never before. Today, this growing national movement asks us to rethink how and by whom legal help is delivered. Defined by the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System as the “training and certifying [of] individuals working at community-based organizations to offer legal advice and services in certain case types,” justice work has emerged as a key solution to the country’s astronomical access to justice crisis. Authorized via state supreme courts, these unique models typically require the modification of, exemption from, or waivers to long-standing unauthorized practice of law restrictions. With a ripple of jurisdictions from coast to coast now exploring this disruptive service model, one thing is for certain: justice work is here to stay.
As regulators, organizations, and legal innovators alike continue to meet this moment and reassess the lawyers-only model to legal help, Innovation for Justice (i4J) centers its past in charting the many futures of community-based justice work. Jointly housed at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business, i4J partners with communities on the front lines of the access to justice crisis in co-designing legal service innovations that are relational, upstream, and right-sized. Standing on the shoulders of decades of legal empowerment work by the Global Majority, i4J is proud to commemorate this Fall as five years in its campaign to advance community-based justice work in Arizona and Utah. Across these five years of intentional collaboration, i4J has centered 1,000+ voices in developing community-based justice worker initiatives under a broader vision of Community Legal Education, where “legal power is accessible, usable, and shapeable by everyone.”
“[O]ur work has shown that another way is possible
and that our profession’s future lies in the community law school.”
This five-year anniversary aligns with a parallel celebration: i4J’s launch of four simultaneous community-based justice worker cohorts in the domestic violence/family law, housing stability, and medical debt practice areas. Upon their launch, these advocates will join an existing group of i4J-trained community-based justice workers at the national vanguard of legal service innovation. “A new chapter in justice-making is here, and it’s a privilege to be in service of our states’ community-based justice workers in leading the path forward,” said Gabriela Elizondo-Craig, Project Lead at Innovation for Justice. “In building a new home for legal knowledge, our work has shown that another way is possible and that our profession’s future lies in the community law school.”
Made possible through cross-institutional partnerships with the Arizona Administrative Office of the Courts and the newly launched Community Justice Advocates of Utah, i4J’s Fall 2024 cohorts represent its largest advocate enrollment to-date. Building on its experience training and launching advocates at 36 participating organizations across both states, i4J is now poised to have a multi-state network of 80 participating community-based justice workers by the end of 2024 and 140 advocates by 2025. By a conservative estimate, this future network of advocates has the potential to serve 15,600 clients with free civil legal help in the next year and 27,300 in 2 years time.
Contact Antonio M. Coronado, Community Legal Education Lead, at antonio@innovation4justice.org to schedule an interview. To learn more about community-based justice work at i4J, visit our Community Legal Education webpage via https://www.innovation4justice.org/education/community. To learn about our five-year celebration and to register today, visit our webinar event page via https://www.innovation4justice.org/upcoming-events/cbjw-5-years.
About Innovation for Justice: Innovation for Justice (i4J) is the nation’s first and only cross-discipline, cross-institution, and cross-jurisdiction legal innovation lab. Housed at both the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business, i4J applies design- and systems-thinking methodologies to expose inequalities in the justice system and create new, replicable, and scalable strategies for legal empowerment. i4J’s participatory action research engages lived-experience experts and diverse stakeholders in the nonprofit, government, and private sectors to advance fair and equitable dispute resolution through systems-level change at both service and policy levels. Learn more at innovation4justice.org.
About the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law: The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law is the first law school in the nation where you can earn a degree at any stage of your education, from undergraduate through doctoral. Ranked #18 in the nation for practical training, University of Arizona Law provides you with every possible resource to transform your passions and skills into a fulfilling career. We have a 100-year history of graduating successful lawyers and leaders. Because of our influential and accessible faculty, supportive student community, and home at one of the nation's top research universities, we are uniquely poised to prepare you for success. For more information, visit law.arizona.edu.
About the David Eccles School of Business: The Eccles School is synonymous with “doing.” The Eccles experience provides a world-class business education with a unique, entrepreneurial focus on real-world scenarios where students put what they learn into practice long before graduation. Founded in 1917 and educating more than 6,000 students annually, the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business offers nine undergraduate majors, four MBAs, eight other graduate programs, a Ph.D. in five areas and executive education curricula. The School is also home to more than 20 institutes, centers and initiatives, which deliver academic research and support an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation. For more information, visit eccles.utah.edu or call 801-581-7676.
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