ADVOCATING FOR TRANSPARENCY IN NEW YORK CITY FAMILY COURT DATA

Her Justice supports women living in poverty in NYC by recruiting and mentoring lawyers to provide pro bono legal services that address individual and systemic legal barriers in the civil justice system. A challenge that Her Justice encounters in its policy work is the lack of transparency in court data, including litigant demographics, availability of language interpretation services for litigants, caseloads, lead times, and outcomes. Her Justice engaged the Capstone team to a) conduct an environmental scan of currently available mechanisms for data sharing in New York courts and in family courts in other states, b) submit a data request to the Office of Court Administration, and c) identify organizations that would benefit from the effort to increase court transparency. In its final report, the team summarizes its research and findings, offers recommendations for Her Justice, and includes a guide outlining how its research can be used as a base for further advocacy.