Findings from University of Tulsa Has Provided New Data on Society and Law (Trial and Error: Lawyers and Nonlawyer Advocates)

Politics & Government Week

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Politics & Government Week -- New research on Legal Issues - Society and Law is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, by VerticalNews editors, research stated, "Nonlawyer advocates are one proposed solution to the access to justice crisis. Theory and research suggest that nonlawyers might be effective, yet scholars know very little, empirically, about nonlawyer practice in the United States."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Tulsa, "Using data from more than 5,000 unemployment insurance appeal hearings and interviews with lawyers and nonlawyers who represent employers in these hearings, this article explores how both types of representatives develop expertise and what this means for effectiveness. We find judges play a critical role in shaping nonlawyer legal expertise and nonlawyers develop expertise almost exclusively through 'trial and error.' We find evidence that while experienced nonlawyers can help parties through their expertise with common court procedures and basic substantive legal concepts, they are not equipped to challenge judges on contested issues of substantive or procedural law in individual cases, advance novel legal claims, or advocate for law reform on a broader scale."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "These findings have implications for future access to justice research and interventions."

For more information on this research see: Trial and Error: Lawyers and Nonlawyer Advocates. Law and Social Inquiry-Journal of the American Bar Foundation, 2017;42(4):1023-1057. Law and Social Inquiry-Journal of the American Bar Foundation can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A.E. Carpenter, Univ Tulsa, Law, Coll Law, Tulsa, OK 74104, United States. Additional authors for this research include A. Mark and C.F. Shanahan.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/lsi.12252. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, North and Central America, Society and Law, Legal Issues, University of Tulsa.