Paths to Justice Revisited

Professor Lawrence Friedman and Stanford Law School invite SLS affiliated faculty, visiting scholars, and students to a special lecture by Dame Hazel Genn on Tuesday, February 16th, at 4:30p.m. in Room 95. The lecture will be followed by a wine and cheese reception in the Faculty Louge.

Dame Hazel Genn is Dean of Laws, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies and co-director of the Centre for Empirical Legal Studies in the Faculty of Laws at University College London, where she is also an Honorary Fellow. She is a leading authority on civil justice and has published widely in the field. She is author of companion volumes Paths to Justice: What People Do and Think About Going to Law (1999), and, with Alan Paterson, Paths to Justice Scotland: What Scottish People Do and Think About Going to Law (2001), which report the findings of two major national surveys into public use of and attitudes to the legal system.

Paths to Justice Revisited
Since the publication of the Paths to Justice studies (England 1999; Scotland 2001) exploring citizens’ strategies for dealing with civil law problems and disputes, similar studies have been conducted in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Hong Kong. The lecture will discuss what we have learned comparatively about why people do or don’t go to law; what motivates the choices made; and the significance of the formal civil justice system to the resolution of justiciable disputes. It will also consider the ways in which the studies have (or have not) influenced access to justice thinking and policy around the world.

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