Claire Johnson Raba, Access to Justice Scholar

Claire Johnson Raba

Access to Justice Scholar

ABF Researcher

Claire Johnson Raba is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, where her empirical legal research is focused on the impact of the civil legal system on low-income borrowers and communities. At the intersection of big data, emerging legal technologies, consumer protection, and racial and social justice, her scholarship is directed at substantively improving the experiences of self-represented litigants in state courts. Claire is co-PI on debt collection studies funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts Civil Court Modernization Project and the Debt Collection Lab at Princeton University, and she created and teaches the Access to Justice and Legal Technology Lab at UIC Law.

Research Focus

Johnson Raba will investigate consumer defendant engagement with the civil legal system and the impact of debt collection lawsuits on financial stability. Qualitative research will explore how unrepresented consumer defendants perceive civil courts and debt collectors during litigation, and in partnership with legal aid programs, will provide referrals for unbundled technology-supported legal assistance. Quantitative research will link anonymized big data sets to study the intersection of debt collection cases and indicia of financial stability.