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LAW, JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT WEEK 2020 | Access to Justice and Technology: A People-Centered Approach

November 19, 2020

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This roundtable explores the role of technology, alongside the use of people-centered approach, in improving access to justice.

Access-to-justice-and-technology is more relevant than ever, given the current epidemiological status. COVID-19 has impaired almost every aspect of the world, including the justice sector. Facing unprecedented disruptions to the functioning of justice systems, the global countervailing efforts have turned to the innovative uses of technology. Moreover, with many government COVID-relief actions requiring access to the justice system, using technology to deliver access justice in a timely, fair, and effective manner is more important than ever.

Nevertheless, too often, justice systems fail to recognize the psychological and behavioral aspects of the public experience and their encounters. Often, justice reforms are designed with a focus on the legal procedures and technology, without sufficiently detailing the underlying societal issues. Thus, even when using innovative technology, the desired justice objectives are rarely achieved as the user experience often fails to become a key design component. With that said, in an effort to rethink justice reforms, the roundtable will investigate ways to step away from the legacy mindset of the past so as to advance towards people-centered approach.

Particularly, the roundtable discusses (i) underlying causes, conditions, and natures of justice barriers and (ii) innovative and technological solutions to optimize the user experience and the overall delivery of justice.

SPEAKERS

Haerang Lee

Judge, Suwon District Court, South Korea
Haerang Lee is a judge of South Korea since 2011. She holds an LL.M from Georgetown Law Center, and an MA, BA from Seoul National University, College of Law. She has been a panel Judge in the Civil Division of the court for 4 years, in the Criminal Division of the court for 3 years and in the Administrative Division of the court for 3 years in South Korea. Her master’s thesis is “A Study on Remedies in the U.S. Administrative law -Focused on Special Statutory, General Statutory and Nonstatutory Review”.

Margaret Hagan

Director, Stanford University, The Legal Design Lab
Margaret Hagan is the Director of the Legal Design Lab at Stanford University, as well as lecturer in the Institute of Design (the d.school). She is a lawyer, and holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, a DPhil from Queen’s University Belfast, an MA from Central European University, and an AB from University of Chicago. She specializes in the application of human-centered design to the legal system, including the development of new public interest technology, legal visuals, and policy design. Her research and teaching focuses on the development and evaluation of new interventions to make the legal system more accessible.

Rebecca Sandefur

Faculty Fellow, American Bar Foundation
Rebecca L. Sandefur is Professor in the The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University and Faculty Fellow at the American Bar Foundation. Her research investigates access to civil justice from every angle. In 2013, Sandefur was The Hague Visiting Chair in the Rule of Law. In 2015, she was named Champion of Justice by the National Center for Access to Justice. In 2018, she was named a MacArthur Fellow for her work on inequality and access to justice. She is currently Editor of Law & Society Review.

Francesca Daverio (Moderator)

Co-Task Team Leader, Access to Justice and Technology project, Legal Vice Presidency, World Bank
Francesca Daverio is a Senior Counsel and Special Assistant to the Senior Vice President and Group General Counsel at the World Bank's Legal Vice Presidency. Previously, she worked with the Legal Operations Policy Practice Group of the World Bank. She provides legal advisory service on matters pertaining justice, gender, diversity and inclusion, and Bank operations policy. She is a specialist in international and comparative law, with a particular focus on insolvency and debt restructuring. Prior to joining the Bank, she practiced with a law firm specializing in international and corporate law for several years.