Lecture
Reaching the unreachable: access to legal aid for marginalised people
- Date
- Monday 24 June 2024
- Time
- Explanation
- Hybrid event (online and in-person at Radboud University Nijmegen)
- Location
- Online event
Overview
Why do marginalised people not seek legal aid? Why are legal avenues not relevant for most marginalised people? What are the barriers to justice that they experience? This presentation presents the results of a theoretical study (Olesen and Hammerslev 2021) and two empirical studies (Hammerslev and Nielsen 2021; Olesen and Hammerslev Fortcoming 2024) illustrating the importance of being able to name a problem in legal terms, to have a network of legal intermediaries to assist naming the problem in legal terms and having the resources to pursue a legal problem. These processes lie before the problems reach courts and municipal dispute resolving institutions. Yet, how can we organise legal aid institutions assisting marginalised people to get access to justice? The presentation looks into several successful and unsuccessful models of providing legal aid to reaching the unreachable.
Presenter bio
Ole Hammerslev is professor at the Sociology of Law Department, Faculty of Social Sciences at Lund University. He is internationally recognised for his contribution to the sociology of law, especially on legal professions, legal aid, and state transformations, but alsoon socio-legal methods and theory. He has also contributed to the development of Nordic sociology of law. Ole has been employed as professor of sociology of law at the University of Southern Denmark and the University of Oslo. He has been a member and chairman of The Danish Council for Independent Research, Social Sciences and the editor-in-chief of the Nordic Journal Retfærd. Nordic Journal of Law and Justice. He is Board Member of the Research Committee on Sociology of Law (RCSL) of the International Sociological Association (ISA) and Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law. His research covers a number of different areas within the sociology of law using insights from sociology of elites, education, political science and science, legal history and jurisprudence. A recurrent denominator is the legal profession as an entrance to examine elites, education and development of states and market. His research also engages with legal encounters focusing on the pre-dispute phase, i.e. how disputes emerge and transform into legal disputes. Ole has (co-) authored several books and over (co)written more than 100 articles and book chapters. His most recent works include: a co-edited book ‘Transformations of European Welfare States and Social Rights: Regulation, Professionals, and Citizens’ (Palgrave Macmillan) and a two-volume co-edited publication ‘Lawyers in 21st-Centuries Societies’ (Hart Publishing).
About the seminar series
Institutions for Conflict Resolution / Conflictoplossende Instituties (COI) is a research collaboration between Utrecht University, Leiden University, and Radboud University Nijmegen. As part of its activities, the COI research group organises seminars throughout the year for researchers interested in current and innovative topics relating to institutions for conflict resolution. The seminars feature international speakers who present their work, followed by Q&A and discussion. Themes include the evolving role of judges in preventing and resolving conflicts, the role of alternative avenues and non-public actors, and how societal challenges such as climate change or digitalisation affect institutions for conflict resolution. Seminars are hosted on a rotating basis at each of the three universities, and are delivered in a hybrid format: online and in-person, on campus at the host institution.