People-Centered Justice, Marginalization, and Empowerment
Failures of access to justice do more than just leave people’s legal problems unresolved. They also deny people the ability to exercise their rights and hold institutions accountable, disproportionally burdening already marginalized communities. This webinar will consider legal empowerment as a people-centered justice framework, exploring people-centered justice, marginalization, and empowerment through the justice experiences of children and people with disabilities. Panelists will discuss existing evidence as well as gaps in evidence that affect our understanding how people-centered justice can inform more effective approaches to justice policy and practice.
Presenters:
Jennifer Davidson
Professor and Executive Director, Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures at the University of Strathclyde
Professor Jennifer Davidson is the Executive Director of the award-winning Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, which works to reveal and help resolve the structural barriers to children in adversity reaching their potential. Jennifer seeks to drive meaningful and sustainable change with and for children, supporting the implementation of effective government policy to reach children’s day-to-day lives. Drawing on children’s human rights and the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, she works closely with governments and international agencies, most recently as lead of the Global Working Group on SDG 16 Justice for Children, and as a member of the high-ambition multi-sectoral Justice Action Coalition. She was founder and Director of the Centre for Excellence on Children’s Care and Protection in Scotland, she co-founded the Observatory of Children’s Rights, and previously led a series of international projects implementing the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children.
Abigail Moy
Managing Director, Namati
Abigail Moy is Managing Director at Namati, an international organization that advances justice by building a movement of people who know, use, and shape the law. At Namati, Abigail led the launch and growth of the Grassroots Justice Network, the world’s largest community of justice defenders, representing 4000+ organizations from 190 countries. Prior to joining Namati, Abigail worked with access to justice programs at the World Bank, The Asia Foundation, Fundación Soros-Guatemala, and Timap for Justice. She clerked in the Northern District of Illinois, served in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the United States Department of State, and worked in the New York office of White & Case, LLP. Abigail was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, and holds a master’s degree in law and development from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Qudsiya Naqui
Assistant Professor of Law, University of the District of Columbia David A. Clark School of Law
Qudsiya Naqui is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. Her work aims to center disability justice as a tool to catalyze transformative cultural, legal, and policy change for a more just, accessible, and equitable society. Prior to joining UDC, Professor Naqui served as Senior Counsel in the Office for Access to Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she developed the first-ever federal learning agenda on access to justice to drive evidence-based policymaking across federal agencies. Prior to federal service, she was an Officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts Courts and Communities project, where she led empirical research on the intersection of courts and technology. Professor Naqui also leverages media-making to advance civic engagement. She created, produces and hosts Down to the Struts, an acclaimed podcast about disability, design, and intersectionality. Professor Naqui was recently selected as a 2025-2026 USC Annenberg Innovation Lab Civic Media Fellow. Her work has appeared in Vox, Oxford University Press, the UCLA Law Review, and the Disability Visibility Project. She holds a JD from Temple University Beasley School of Law and a BA in political science and human rights from Barnard College.
Moderator:
Director of Research and Programs for the Access to Justice Research Initiative, American Bar Foundation
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. Prior to joining the ABF, Matthew was Senior Policy Officer at Open Society Foundations (OSF), where he worked to advance access to justice and legal empowerment through research, advocacy, litigation and grantmaking in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the United States. Earlier in his career he helped to launch and led the Immigration Advocates Network and served as law clerk to Justice ZM Yacoob of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Matthew’s research on access to justice has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, the World Bank, and Canada’s International Development Research Centre. He currently serves as an advisor to the National Center for Access to Justice and is co-founder, with Rebecca Sandefur, of Frontline Justice and the Justice Worker Lab.