PILOT PROJECTS
The NCCRC strongly supports pilot projects that measure the effect of providing counsel in various kinds of civil cases.
Below are some of examples of pilot programs (many of which, the NCCRC assisted).
General
- Developing Civil Right to Counsel Pilot Projects: A Resource for Designing and Implementing Effective Programs (2012) (Pilot program case studies presented in the appendices).
- In California, the Sargent Shriver legislation established a set of civil right to counsel pilots through the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act in 2009 (see more in our bibliography).
Housing
- In D.C., providers launched a pilot providing representation to tenants in eviction cases involving subsidized housing in 2015.
- In San Francisco, providers ran a Right to Civil Counsel Pilot Program starting in 2012 and passed a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction in 2018.
- In Massachusetts, providers completed a comprehensive eviction pilot in 2012.
- In Hennepin County, Minnesota providers ran a housing representation program since the early 2000’s. In 2021, Minneapolis (the county seat of Hennepin County) passed a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction and Minnesota later passed a limited statewide right to counsel for tenants in living in public housing for alleged breach (expanded in 2024 to reach tenants in Rental Assistance Demonstration Housing).
Domestic Violence / Intimate Partner Violence
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In Iowa, a “two-year panel study” looked at the impact of legal representation in protection order, custody, child support, and dissolution cases on the “safety, psychological well-being and economic self-sufficiency outcomes for women who experienced IPV…”
- In Wisconsin, Winnebago County ran a pilot to provide representation to survivors of domestic violence in family law cases.
Child Welfare
- Mississippi ran county-level pilots to measure the impact of providing counsel to parents in child welfare cases. In 2024, Mississippi passed a right to counsel for parents facing termination of parental rights cases.
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Washington State ran a pilot project providing counsel for parents in dependency (abuse/neglect) and termination of parental rights cases. This later became the Parents Representation Program.
Immigration
- In New York City, a universal representation program provides universal representation to all detained immigrants.
“…[A]dvocates have created pilot projects that are designed, from the ground up, to generate hard statistical data illustrating both the importance and the challenges of expanding a civil right to counsel.” – Washington Appleseed, Developing Civil Right to Counsel Pilot Projects: A Resource for Designing and Implementing Effective Programs (2012) (The NCCRC’s, John Pollock, served on the Project Team for this report).
