Research
Exploring where law, society and culture meet.
For over 70 years, we’ve conducted rigorous, groundbreaking research used worldwide to help ensure that the law embodies principles like dignity, fairness and justice.
Learning and Practicing Law
Advancing research on legal education and practice, the ABF investigates how the law is practiced both in legal and non-legal settings, including a focus on legal careers and the evolving paths of legal professionals.
Protecting Rights and Accessing Justice
Innovative research through the ABF examines the roles that laws have around the world, with a special focus on protecting vital rights and the ways that people from different communities can access the justice system.
Making and Implementing Law
The ABF analyzes the diverse ways laws are created and practiced in the U.S. and around the world, not just by legal professionals, but also by those who enforce the law and put it into action.
Recent Research Publications
Displaying 12 Results Out of 311
- Articles
Legal Advice from Nonlawyers: Consumer Demand, Provider Quality, and Public Harms
2020
Rebecca L. Sandefur
- Articles
Paying Down the Civil Justice Data Deficit
2016
Rebecca L. Sandefur
- Articles
What We Know and Need to Know about the Legal Needs of the Public
2016
Rebecca L. Sandefur
- Articles
A People-Centered Approach to Designing and Evaluating Community Justice Worker Programs in the United States
2024
Matthew Burnett and Rebecca L. Sandefur
- Reports
Accessing Justice in the Contemporary USA: Findings from the Community Needs and Services Study
2014
Rebecca L. Sandefur
- Videos
The "Paradox of Procedure": Why More Rules Might Reduce Access to Justice—And How Market Tools Can Help
2026
William H. J. Hubbard
- Newsletters
Our Court: A New History of the United States Supreme Court
Fall 2025
Christopher W. Schmidt
- Books
Speaking for the Dying Life-and-Death Decisions in Intensive Care
2019
Susan P. Shapiro
- Books
Court on Trial: A Data-Driven Account of the Supreme Court of India
July 2023
William H. J. Hubbard, Aparna Chandra, and Sital Kalantry
- Articles
Assessing the Risks of Risk Assessments: Institutional Tensions and Data Driven Judicial Decision-Making in U.S. Pretrial Hearings
October 2024
Sino Esthappan
- Articles
The Policing Machine: Enforcement, Endorsements, and the Illusion Of Public Input
June 2025
Sino Esthappan
- Articles
Justice Work as Democracy Work: Reimagining Access to Justice as Democratization
July 2025
Matthew Burnett and Rebecca L. Sandefur