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
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)
Publications
Burnett, Matthew and Rebecca L. Sandefur, “Justice Work as Democracy Work: Reimagining Access to Justice as Democratization,” South Carolina Law Review (Forthcoming 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.