Lawyers Can Help Revitalize Neighborhoods

Results from the First Field Study of AI for Legal Aid

Legal tech researchers discuss their recent field study of generative artificial intelligence (AI) for legal aid on Talk Justice. Colleen Chien and Miriam Kim authored a paper on their research, “Generative AI and Legal Aid: Results from a Field Study and 100 Use Cases to Bridge the Access to Justice Gap [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4733061],” which was published in April. The co-authors wanted to advance the conversation around generative AI for access to justice with data. Bréyon Austin, a participant in the study, also offers her perspective.

Lawyers Can Help Revitalize Neighborhoods

Guests from a successful St. Louis collaboration discuss Legal Services of Eastern Missouri’s (LSEM) Neighborhood Advocacy Program on Talk Justice. There are 24,000 vacancies and abandoned properties in St. Louis. LSEM was inspired by Legal Aid of Western Missouri’s Adopt-a-Neighborhood program in Kansas City to start their own revitalization project. In 2018, they launched the Neighborhood Advocacy Program to start tackling the legal problems that create lingering neighborhood blight.

Putting AI to the Test for Legal Services

Legal tech experts discuss their research and experiments with generative artificial intelligence (AI) for legal services on Talk Justice. Executive Director of the Legal Design Lab Margaret Hagan talks about her research into whether AI is worth the hype for access to justice. Lawyer and NYU professor Sateesh Nori shares his experience with utilizing AI for housing legal services.

John Grisham on Storytelling and Justice

Bestselling author and lawyer John Grisham joins LSC Board Member Robert Grey for a conversation on how his journey from small-town lawyer to big-time author influenced his philanthropic priorities and made him an advocate for access to justice. Grey, who serves as president of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, interviewed Grisham at a D.C. forum for LSC’s 50th anniversary on April 9.

Upsolve’s New Student Debt Relief Tools

Guests from the online bankruptcy service Upsolve and Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA) discuss a new, free web resource for people struggling with student debt on Talk Justice. PLA received funding from a 2023 LSC Technology Initiative Grant for the project and brought on Upsolve to develop the tools. Their goal is to raise awareness of available debt relief programs and provide guided assistance for qualified borrowers to pursue student debt elimination.