Justice Worker Lab
The Justice Worker Lab produces and supports empirical, public-facing research to inform the design, development, and understanding of community justice worker training, programs, and regulation.
Justice workers help ordinary people to know, use, and shape the laws and legal institutions that impact their lives. Like social workers and public health workers, justice workers are on the frontlines, and often have lived experience in the communities they serve. We prioritize community-engaged and policy-relevant empirical research focused on people-centered access to justice solutions that work to democratize the law and access to legal help.
People
Matthew Burnett
Co-Founder and Co-PI, Justice Worker Lab
Matthew Burnett is Director of Research and Programs for the Access to Justice Research Initiative at the American Bar Foundation (ABF), a visiting scholar with the Justice Futures Project at Arizona State University, and an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center.
Rebecca L. Sandefur
Co-Founder and Co-PI, Justice Worker Lab
Rebecca L. Sandefur is Professor in and Director of the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University and a Faculty Fellow at the American Bar Foundation.
James Teufel
Senior Researcher, Justice Worker Lab
James Teufel is a Senior Researcher for the American Bar Foundation’s Access to Justice Research Initiative and a Visiting Scholar at Arizona State University’s Justice Futures Project.
Research Projects
State Court Leadership Views on Expanding Authorized Justice Workers (2025-26)
Funder: Arizona State University
Justice Worker Lab Researchers: Rebecca L. Sandefur (Co-Principal Investigator), Matthew Burnett (Co-Principal Investigator), James Teufel (Co-Principal Investigator)
Collaborating Researchers: Elizabeth Chambliss (Co-Principal Investigator), Alyx Mark(Co-Principal Investigator)
Evaluation of Justice Worker Models for Disaster Legal Assistance in Indian Country (2024-2026)
Funder: Legal Services Corporation/Alaska Legal Services Corporation
Awardee: American Bar Foundation
Justice Worker Lab Researchers: Matthew Burnett (Co-Principal Investigator), Rebecca L. Sandefur (Co-Principal Investigator), James Teufel (Co-Principal Investigator)
Bridging the Rural Justice Gap: Innovating & Scaling Up Access to Justice in Alaska (2023-2025)
Funder: National Science Foundation
Awardee: University of Minnesota
Justice Worker Lab Researchers: Matthew Burnett (Co-Principal Investigator)
Increasing Access to Justice through Expanded Roles Beyond Lawyers (2014-17)
Funder: Public Welfare Foundation
Awardee: American Bar Foundation
Justice Worker Lab Researchers: Rebecca Sandefur (Co-Principal Investigator)
News
3 Questions To Guide Research On Justice Worker Movement
September 5, 2025
Legal leaders and organizations are increasingly supporting justice worker programs — trained nonlawyers who help expand access to civil legal services — as a scalable, sustainable way to address America’s access-to-justice crisis.
The Justice Worker
June 4, 2025
Rebecca Sandefur’s mission is to provide help to tens of millions of Americans in solving their legal problems.
Legal experts tackle barriers to civil justice at ASU conference
March 8, 2024
The Access to Justice and the Future of Justice Work Conference brought 150 legal experts and advocates together at ASU.
ABF’s Access to Justice Researchers Join in $1 Million Grant from the National Science Foundation
September 21, 2023
Researchers from the American Bar Foundation (ABF) received a $1 million NSF grant to scale up Alaska Legal Services Corporation’s Community Justice Worker (CJW) program.
Their project will develop training, credentialing, recruitment, supervision, and evaluation of justice workers serving remote Alaska Native communities in Bethel and Kodiak, with the aim of creating a replicable, sustainable model for rural legal access.
We Can't Rely On Lawyers For Every Justice Need
March 20, 2022
A federal case in New York challenges rules barring trained nonlawyers from giving basic legal help, arguing that expanding community justice workers is essential to ensuring equal access to justice.
Exploring new ideas about civil justice reform
February 22, 2022
ASU professor says changes needed to make legal aid more accessible, affordable to more people
Publications
Burnett, Matthew and Rebecca L. Sandefur, “Justice Work as Democracy Work: Reimagining Access to Justice as Democratization,” 76 South Carolina Law Review 833 (2025).
Rebecca L. Sandefur and Matthew Burnett, Building Successful Justice Worker Programs: Emerging Insights from Research and Practice, 41 Alaska Law Review 23-44 (2024).
Sandefur, Rebecca L. and Matthew Burnett. “Justice Futures: Access to Justice and the Future of Justice Work." In Rethinking the Lawyer’s Monopoly: Access to Justice and the Future of Legal Services, edited by David Engstrom and Nora Freeman Engstrom. (Forthcoming).
Matthew Burnett and Rebecca L. Sandefur, A People-Centered Approach to Designing and Evaluating Community Justice Worker Programs in the United States, 51 Fordham Urb. L.J. 1509 (2024).
Burnett, Matthew and Rebecca L. Sandefur. 2022. “Designing Just Solutions at Scale: Lawyerless Legal Services and Evidence-Based Regulation." Public Law, 19 (102).
Rebecca L. Sandefur and Emily Denne. 2022. "Access to justice and legal services regulatory reform." Annual Review of Law and Social Science 18: 27-42.
Rebecca L. Sandefur, Thomas M. Clarke, and James Teufel. 2021. “Seconds to Impact? Regulatory Reform, New Kinds of Legal Services, and Increased Access to Justice.” Law and Contemporary Problems 84:69-80.
Rebecca L. Sandefur. 2020. “Legal Advice from Nonlawyers: Consumer Demand, Provider Quality and Public Harms,” Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties 16: 283-314.
Rebecca L. Sandefur and Thomas M. Clarke. 2016. “Designing the Competition: A Future of Roles Beyond Lawyers? The Case of the USA.” Hastings Law Journal 67:1467-1492.
Events
Access to Justice and the Future of Justice Work Conference
Wednesday, February 28 - Friday, March 1, 2024
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Access to Civil Justice, Regulatory Reform, and Just Solutions
February 17-18, 2022
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Justice Worker Research Network
The Justice Worker Research Network is a global network of empirical scholars convened by the Justice Worker Lab. Historically, law and society scholars have focused empirical research attention on attorneys and non-advocacy lay participation in formal legal proceedings (e.g. jurors, court interpreters, etc.). Growing recognition and authorization for justice workers demands an equally rich research field. The Justice Worker Research Network aims to facilitate more robust research and scholarly engagement to address this gap through community-engaged and policy-relevant empirical research focused on people-centered access to justice solutions that support democratizing the law and accessing legal help. To request to join the Justice Worker Research Network, please complete this online form.