The Winter 2019 issue of Dædalus, a publication of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences focuses on how the U.S. can address the access to justice gap. “Access to Justice”–the first open access issue of Dædalus–features twenty-four essays that examine the national crisis in civil legal services facing poor and low-income Americans: from the challenges of providing quality legal assistance to more people, to the social and economic costs of an often unresponsive legal system, to the opportunities for improvement offered by new technologies, professional innovations, and fresh ways of thinking about the crisis.

The collection of essays represents a deep cross-section of ideas from leading experts in the field, including Harvard Law School alumni and faculty.

Lincoln Caplan ’76, journalist and author who writes about law and public affairs, and Lance Malcolm Liebman ’67, William S. Beinecke Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, edited the issue. Caplan also wrote the essay, The Invisible Justice Problem.

John G. Levi LL.M. ’73, Chair of the Board of the Legal Services Corporation and a Partner at Sidley Austin, co-authored the Introduction.

Robert H. Frank ’64, H. J. Louis Professor of Management and Professor of Economics at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University: How Rising Income Inequality Threatens Access to the Legal System.

Tonya L. Brito ’89, Jefferson Burrus-Bascom Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School: The Right to Civil Counsel.

D. James Greiner, Honorable S. William Green Professor of Public Law and Faculty and Director of the Access to Justice Lab (A2J) at Harvard Law School: The New Legal Empiricism & Its Application to Access-to-Justice Inquiries.

Andrew M. Perlman ’96, Dean and Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School: The Public’s Unmet Need for Legal Services & What Law Schools Can Do About It.

Sameer Ashar ’96, Vice Dean for Experiential Education and Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law: Access to Power.

Shani M. King ’99, Professor of Law and Director of the Center on Children and Families, University of Florida Levin College of Law:  The Center on Children & Families.

Luz E. Herrera ’99, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Experiential Learning at Texas A&M University School of Law: Community Law Practice.

Kenneth C. Frazier ’78, Chairman and CEO of Merck & Co, Inc: Why Big Business Should Support Legal Aid.

Fern A. Fisher ’78, Special Assistant for Social Justice Initiatives to the Dean at the Maurice A. Deanne School of Law at Hofstra University, and retired Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for the New York City Courts and Director of the New York State Access to Justice Program: Why Judges Support Civil Legal Aid.

Robert W. Gordon ’71, Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and Chancellor Kent Professor Emeritus of Law and Legal History and Professor (Adjunct) of Law at Yale Law School: Lawyers, the Legal Profession & Access to Justice in the United States: A Brief History.