Can a Little Representation Be a Dangerous Thing?

Authors

Colleen F. Shanahan, Columbia Law SchoolFollow
Anna E. Carpenter, The University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of LawFollow
Alyx Mark, Wesleyan University Department of GovernmentFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Abstract

Access to justice interventions that provide a little representation, including nonlawyer representation and various forms of limited legal services, may be valuable solutions for low- and middle-income Americans. However, a thoughtful approach to improving access to justice efforts should recognize that a little representation may have risks. In particular, one potential risk of a little representation is that while it provides assistance with a discrete legal need in a specific moment, the nature of the assistance is incompatible with challenging the law. As a result, individual litigants do not have the benefit of legal challenges in their own cases and our legal system develops devoid of law reform that reflects the needs of low- and middle-income litigants.

Disciplines

Law | Law and Society | Legal Profession

Comments

Copyright © 2016 Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law.

Recommended Citation

Colleen F. Shanahan, Anna E. Carpenter & Alyx Mark, Can a Little Representation Be a Dangerous Thing?, 67 Hastings L. J. 1367 (2016).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2340