A 2014 America Bar Foundation study found 80 percent of people with a civil legal problem never seek help. While some are intimidated by the justice system and others don’t think they can afford an attorney, most simply don’t realize their problem might have a legal solution.

Meanwhile, our most vulnerable neighbors have legal problems that  ̶  when left unaddressed  ̶  put them in physical danger from abusers, adversely impact their health, keep them from working, and can even cause them to end up homeless.

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Led by Margaret Hagan, director of the Legal Design Lab at Stanford Law School’s Center for the Legal Profession, the group began with a question: “How do we get legal help to those who need it and who may not even know they need it?”

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The process ensured the answers would not come from the usual lawyer-first or court-first point of view. The Escambia Project team began by listening to what was important to community members, including those served by Pathways for Change. As Hagan noted, it was “not about setting up more traditional law offices or clinics and hoping that people would realize they have a legal need and then find their way to a lawyer.”