Talk Justice An LSC Podcast

This episode was originally published on May 28, 2024. Guests from a successful St. Louis collaboration discuss Legal Services of Eastern Missouri’s (LSEM) Neighborhood Advocacy Program on Talk Justice. There are 24,000 vacancies and abandoned properties in St. Louis. LSEM was inspired by Legal Aid of Western Missouri’s Adopt-a-Neighborhood program in Kansas City to start their own revitalization...

This episode of Talk Justice  explores an Ohio county’s efforts to bring service providers together to ensure that families in crisis receive the help they need. The “No Wrong Door” model is already making big impacts in Washington County, Ohio, where the Family and Children First Council (WCFCFC) is building partnerships that raise awareness of community resources. Legal Aid of Southeast and Cent...

This episode of Talk Justice  spotlights “justice buses” in Florida, Louisiana and Oklahoma that bring legal help to communities in need, especially in the wake of natural disasters. The guests describe these vehicles, also called Mobile Intake Units, as gamechangers for supporting their local communities and raising awareness.  When lawyers have wheels, legal help can meet clients where they are.

This episode of Talk Justice highlights one Texas nonprofit law firm’s efforts to build artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots. Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA) developed three different chatbots to improve internal efficiency, centralize information needed by lawyers, and make legal information more easily accessible for the public. Listen to learn more about LSLA’s AI Chatbot Project, and discover a co...

Talk Justice explores the legal battle of a Colorado-born woman with no birth certificate, the roadblocks people without identification and other vital documents experience and how attorneys at civil legal services organizations can help. Legal services attorneys from Louisiana and Colorado discusses how this work supports veterans, survivors of domestic violence, unstably housed people and those...

Holocaust survivor and longtime leader of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky (AppalRed), John Rosenberg, joins Talk Justice this week. LSC President Ron Flagg speaks with Rosenberg about his memories of Nazi Germany, becoming a lawyer in the United States, working for the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and eventually earning the trust of his Eastern Kentucky communi...

Kellye Testy, the executive director and CEO of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), joins Talk Justice. AALS is a non-profit membership organization, to which 174 law schools belong. Testy spoke to Cat Moon about opportunities for students to contribute to access to justice, the need to integrate evolving technologies into legal education, and degree programs that offer more flexible p...

American Bar Association (ABA) President Michelle Behnke appears on Talk Justice to discuss America’s 250th anniversary, legal deserts, artificial intelligence (AI), promoting civics awareness among the general public, and building support for civil legal services.

Equal Justice Works CEO Verna Williams discusses her prior experience as a law dean, her work engaging law students and young lawyers in public interest and the inspiration she draws from their passion. As the nation’s largest post-graduate legal fellowship program, Equal Justice Works deploys students and lawyers to legal services organizations across the country. Since its founding in 1986, Equa...

The leader of the Colorado Access to Justice Commission discusses their “Listening Tour” initiative on the latest episode of Talk Justice. Elisa Overall shares about the wide-reaching 22-stop tour and its findings, which were published in a December 2025 report.

Chief Justice Steven R. Jensen appears on Talk Justice with LSC President Ron Flagg. They speak about his path to South Dakota’s Supreme Court, the national Conference of Chief Justices, efforts to promote public interest law, access to justice initiatives and the challenges facing state courts. Jensen, who is currently serving his second term as chief justice, was first appointed to the South Dak...

Guests discuss hot topics expected at the upcoming 26th Innovations in Technology Conference (ITC) and findings from a new justice tech report. Themes of navigating the changing tech landscape, expanding self-help resources, innovating with artificial intelligence (AI) and knowledge-sharing between organizations emerged in the guests’ discussion of ITC and the report, “The Next Frontier: Harnessin...

Leaders from faith organizations and mission-driven nonprofits discuss the connections between faith communities and legal services on Talk Justice. For many, faith provides guiding principles, like the instruction to help those in need. The Salvation Army recently launched their Faith and Community Based Organizations’ Disaster Training. LSC developed a Faith Community Outreach Toolkit to help fa...

Innovative programs that leverage unlicensed practice of law reform to create new pathways to justice for domestic violence (DV) survivors are featured in this episode of Talk Justice. Community Justice Advocates of Utah manages the Certified Advocate Partner Program, which trains Victim Advocates at organizations throughout Utah to provide limited-scope legal help to DV survivors as they pursue c...

A recent report from LSC's Rural Justice Task Force, “Justice Where We Live: Promising Practices from Rural Communities,” dives into a multitude of programs and approaches that address the biggest challenges to accessing civil justice in rural America. One issue is the scarcity of attorneys in rural areas, often called “legal deserts.” This episode highlights three programs working to create a pip...

Legal technologists discuss a recent survey that found that legal aid attorneys are adopting AI at a faster rate than other legal professionals on Talk Justice. In May of 2025, Everlaw partnered with the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, Paladin and LawSites to conduct a survey of 112 legal aid professionals. The survey formed the basis of the report, “The AI Advantage: How Technology Can...

This rebroadcast of the November 26, 2024 episode of Talk Justice features a panel discussion about wraparound services for veterans who are struggling with substance use disorders, mental and behavioral health challenges, brain injuries and cognitive impairment, or who have been charged with nonviolent offenses. The guests share about a rehabilitative treatment court program, civil legal services...

Leaders of nonprofit law firms discuss their disaster response work for major storms and floods in Texas, North Carolina and Louisiana on Talk Justice. The conversation was recorded at a briefing for the U.S. House of Representatives, where these local leaders educated Congressional staff on the importance of providing legal services in the aftermath of natural disasters. Robert Doggett, Executive...

Lawyers discuss how to keep legal services human-centered in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) on Talk Justice. In May, Amanda Brown authored the piece “Using Technology to Maximize Human Interaction." She wrote that while legal services organizations are increasingly looking to AI to lower the burden of certain tasks, human interaction between attorneys and clients must not be lost for the...

Small business owners and a lawyer discuss how free legal services can create opportunities for entrepreneurs on Talk Justice. Joshua Danrich, the 16-year-old entrepreneur behind the brand Mr. Fresh, had the idea at just 10 years old. His mother, Shay, had a business background and decided to help her son pursue his dream. Now, Mr. Fresh products are being sold by Walmart. Along the way, they need...

Twenty years after the disaster, a Louisiana lawyer tells how Hurricane Katrina changed civil legal services forever on Talk Justice. Southeast Louisiana Legal Services is the largest nonprofit civil legal aid provider in the state, serving 22 parishes from seven offices, with the largest office in New Orleans. In 2005, before tragedy struck, Laura Tuggle had been a staff attorney in SLLS’ housing...

Corporate counsels discuss the private sector’s role in expanding access to civil legal services for Americans who cannot afford an attorney on Talk Justice. This conversation was recorded at LSC’s Detroit forum on July 15. The guests discuss how collaboration, innovation and leadership are key to expanding access to justice, and how private businesses can contribute to efforts to provide civil le...

Legal experts discuss the critical role civil legal services play in addressing the legal needs of older Americans on Talk Justice. Last year, LSC-funded legal organizations assisted more than 312,000 Americans age 60 and up with their legal problems. Issues surrounding wills, power of attorney and advance directives are common for aging Americans, and seniors are often targeted for scams and frau...

A doctor and lawyer discuss the success of medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) on Talk Justice. They describe how MLPs support communities, improve patient outcomes and help to alleviate the burden on the health system. By allowing medical and legal professionals to collaborate and address the root causes of health problems that have legal solutions, MLPs promote a holistic approach to healthcare.

Stanford researchers discuss new data on legal services innovations in Arizona and Utah on Talk Justice. Five years ago, Arizona and Utah launched unprecedented experiments in legal services delivery. Now Stanford has published a report, “Legal Innovation After Reform: Five Years of Data on Regulatory Change,” which provides comprehensive data on what worked, what didn't and what it means for expa...