Policy Practicum: Justice By Design

Legal aid groups, government agencies, and state courts offer free help to people experiencing housing, debt, family, and other major life problems. This policy lab will examine how to make this legal help more accessible, trusted, and impactful. How can more people be aware and empowered to use legal help, especially in a more equitable way? Students in this policy lab will research and design national strategies for making legal help and government services more discoverable, user-friendly, and trustworthy. Students will conduct user research, technology experiments, and legal research to identify what specific initiatives might make legal help more engaging and impactful. The students will be able to explore a range of new kinds of innovations from technology, to community partnerships, to service design--and help justice organizations make a coherent strategy for increasing uptake and engagement with their public services. This class is open to Stanford Law students, and available for cross-registration for graduate and undergraduate students from across campus. We encourage students from outside the Law School to apply. Students will be working together in small teams. Grading will be based on presentations, written assignments, class participation, and group work. CONSENT APPLICATION: To access the consent application for this course, go to link SLS Registrar https://registrar.law.stanford.edu/ and then click SUNetID Login in the top right corner of the page. See application for deadline and instructions. Cross-listed with Design (DESIGN 271).