Proof Over Precedent

Proof Over Precedent

The Access to Justice Lab at Harvard Law School discusses the work of bringing credible evidence to lawyers, judges, and decision makers, to transform the U.S. justice system into an evidence-based field. We bring you weekly one-on-one interviews with experts in the area of access to justice -- researchers, lawyers, professors, law students, data analysts, research participants, and anyone who has an interesting role in this growing area.

Episodes

Episode 23: Innovative Approaches to Mental Health Hearings

November 18, 2025 • 29 mins
Rogers hearings allow Massachusetts judges to approve treatment plans for involuntarily committed individuals, but the process is criticized for its inefficiency and 99% approval rate. What if procedural reforms could improve outcomes? Replacing district court judges with administrative law judges to oversee hearings and substituting public defenders with mental health professionals as p...
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Episode 22: Exploring Involuntary Commitment and Legal Reforms

November 10, 2025 • 22 mins
In this "Student Voices" episode of Proof Over Precedent, HLS student Aarushi Solanki discusses involuntary commitment laws for psychiatric patients in Massachusetts, where the process of holding separate commitment and treatment hearings winds up denying patients access to timely treatment.
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Episode 21: What is the Impact of Legal Counsel at First Hearings?

November 3, 2025 • 66 mins
Can the presence of legal counsel at a criminal justice defendant's first court hearing transform their journey through the justice system? Two Texas counties examined this possibility in a now-completed A2J Lab study. Project researchers discuss the results in this Proof Over Precedent episode.
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Episode 20: Caught in the Web -- Government Websites and Accessibility

October 27, 2025 • 14 mins
Access to justice via government websites should mean ease of digital access to information. In this Student Voices episode of Proof Over Precedent, J.D. candidate Spencer Thieme argues for simple and inexpensive upgrades to state and federal government websites to improve accessibility for the nonlawyers and non-government workers.
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Episode 19: How to Grow from a Global Study Setback

October 20, 2025 • 26 mins
Early this year, the A2J Lab was expanding globally for the first time, bringing its mission to study access to justice to both Kenya and Tunisia when a federal stop work order abruptly shut down the project. In this episode of Proof Over Precedent, we have no study results to report about the project that intended to look at whether prompt access to quality representation affects legal ...
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Episode 18: No Money Down Bankruptcy, Part II -- Navigating Possible Solutions

October 13, 2025 • 20 mins
More bankruptcy cases were filed in 2024 than all other civil cases in federal court combined – a factor that should make access to the bankruptcy filing process a priority in the U.S., HLS student Joe Liberman argues in this Student Voices podcast. Part II of this series discusses potential reforms, including changing attorney fee structures, simplifying the bankruptcy process, and maki...
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Episode 17: The Inaccessibility of a Financial Fresh Start

October 6, 2025 • 21 mins
Is the financial reset system too difficult to navigate? In this “Student Voices” episode of Proof Over Precedent, HLS J.D. candidate Joe Liberman discusses the complexities and accessibility issues associated with "no-money-down" bankruptcy filings that often hurt the people who can least afford these particular filings.
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Episode 16: Can Community Diversion Program Help Repeat Offenders Rehabilitate?

September 29, 2025 • 32 mins
A recently launched A2J Lab study examines the effectiveness of an education and community resource-focused program at reducing recidivism among low-level offenders. The results could determine whether the program, already in practice for seven years in Toledo, OH, could be an affordable blueprint for other municipal court systems.
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Episode 15: Pro Se Problems -- Defining and Deploying Legal Knowledge

September 22, 2025 • 20 mins
In this “Student Voices” episode of Proof Over Precedent, HLS J.D. candidate Rachel Barkin discusses the challenges faced by pro se litigants in complying with civil procedure rules. While interpretation of legal language may be an obstacle, she argues that "deployability" is the more significant hurdle for self-represented litigants.
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Episode 14: Ethical Conundrums in Legal Research

September 15, 2025 • 45 mins
In this Proof Over Precedent episode, the third show in the 'Demystifying IRBs' series, host Jim Greiner meets with IRB expert Shannon Sewards to answer the tricky question: Who counts as a 'human subject'? Legal researchers need to know about IRBs and how they define ‘human subjects’ and IRBs need to know about legal research and the role of participants in the studies. ...
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Episode 13: Criminal Gideon, Civil Gideon, And Gender

September 8, 2025 • 15 mins
This "Student Voices" episode of Proof Over Precedent discusses the critical need for providing legal representation in civil cases—particularly those in which an individual's home, family, or safety is at risk. While the right to counsel already extends to criminal cases in both federal and state courts, it does not currently extend to civil cases, where the socioeconomic outcomes often...
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Episode 13: Criminal Gideon, Civil Gideon, And Gender

September 8, 2025 • 15 mins
This "Student Voices" episode of Proof Over Precedent discusses the critical need for providing legal representation in civil cases—particularly those in which an individual's home, family, or safety is at risk. While the right to counsel already extends to criminal cases in both federal and state courts, it does not currently extend to civil cases, where the socioeconomic outcomes often...
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Episode 12: Can Texts Help Secure Housing and Avoid Evictions?

September 1, 2025 • 46 mins
In this episode of Proof Over Precedent, host Jim Greiner talks with the A2J Lab’s Renee Danser about the recently completed pilot study referred to as the “Eviction Diversion Study.” The study aimed to combat housing security by providing legal information and resources to at-risk populations in the Houston area via text messaging.
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Episode 11: Breaking Legal Traditions -- Insights from Medicine's Evidence-Based Evolution

August 25, 2025 • 15 mins
In this "Student Voices" episode of Proof Over Precedent, HLS student Andrew Reed explores how the legal profession could benefit from adopting data-driven, evidence-based practices similar to those in medicine. The episode examines the historical transformation of medicine from tradition-based to science-based and discusses key lessons that law can learn. ...
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Episode 10: What is Human Subjects Research in Law?

August 18, 2025 • 52 mins
In this second episode in the Proof Over Precedent series on demystifying the institutional review board process in law, host Jim Greiner speaks again with IRB expert Shannon Sewards, this time to define human subjects research and differentiate it from medical research.
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Episode 9: Cellphone Bans: Courthouse Nuisance or Necessity?

August 11, 2025 • 17 mins
In this Student Voices episode of Proof Over Precedent, J.D. candidate Andrew Reed discusses courthouse cell phone bans including unintended consequences, potential solutions to cellphone disruptions, and an opportunity for empirical studies on the topic.
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Episode 8: Ethics in Research -- IRBs and the Common Rule Explained

August 4, 2025 • 40 mins
This week, in the first of a series of podcast talks demystifying IRBs, Proof Over Precedent host Jim Greiner talks with IRB expert Shannon Sewards about the importance of IRBs and the Common Rule in ensuring ethical research practices, particularly as it applies to legal research.
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Episode 7: Evaluating Online and In-Person Family Law Hearings

July 28, 2025 • 44 mins
Does the medium of family law cases -- online or in-person -- factor into procedural justice and the satisfaction of litigants in these cases? One U.S. court system wanted to find out. With the study a few months from completion, a third factor has emerged-- litigant choice.
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Episode 6: Online Courts Show Promise but Little National FTA Data

July 21, 2025 • 16 mins
Hypothetical situation (that was real for at least one person): You're issued a traffic ticket requiring appearance in a courthouse 400 miles away from your home. Do you a) absorb the travel costs and skip work to appear in court, b) pay the ticket fine online, if possible, to avoid the hassle, c) hire a lawyer to appear for you, if possible, or d) appear in court via Zoom, if available?...
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Episode 5: Can Simple, Affordable Ideas Improve Courts' Costly Failure-to-Appear Rates?

July 14, 2025 • 50 mins
Failure to appear in criminal cases can lead defendants to jail time, draining resources from police, courts, and taxpayer dollars. But the solution may be cheaper and easier than expected. A2J Lab Faculty Director Jim Greiner speaks with Alissa Fishbane, managing director at ideas42, about her research into informational gaps pertaining to court-related issues. ...
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