Collaborative Research: Lay Deployment of Professional Legal Knowledge

尽管理论上有相反的假设，但现代司法系统的结构是建立在这样一种假设之上的：个人可以获得和运用曾经是法律的专业人员专属领域的那种法律的知识。大量的研究集中在提供获得专业法律的知识的方法上。很少有人关注非专业人士是否以及如何将这些知识应用于例如小额索赔诉讼案件。这个项目将调查当知识获取的问题被消除时，外行个人是否以及如何能够部署专业的法律的知识。该项目在通过实地实验评估非专业法律的知识的运用方面具有创新性，这种方法可以阐明因果关系，但在法律的场所内很少使用。该项目在方法上也具有创新性，将多个学科关于认知和行动的见解纳入法律的咨询部署。实地实验包括两个比较：（一）自助援助包解决家庭法律的问题的法律的方面与提供代表从法律的专业人士，和（二）自助包涵盖良好的家庭管理做法与电话或面对面的家庭管理咨询。自助包将直接邮寄给外行人，以消除人们是否有机会获得法律的知识的问题。通过比较随机分组的个人与随机分组的专业和准专业援助的个人所经历的结果，调查人员将发现非专业人员是否以及如何部署专业的法律的知识。该项目涉及在非专业化环境中使用法律的知识的重要问题。调查人员将广泛传播其调查结果，确保其对相关决策者有用。该项目还将有助于对学者进行社会科学多学科方法方面的培训。

Despite doctrine that assumes to the contrary, the structure of the modern justice system rests on the assumption that individuals can both access and deploy the kind of legal knowledge that used to be the exclusive province of legal professionals. A great deal of research focuses on methods of providing access to professional legal knowledge. Little has focused on whether and how lay individuals can deploy such knowledge in, for example, litigating small claims court cases. This project will investigate whether and how lay individuals can deploy professional legal knowledge when questions of access to knowledge are eliminated. The project is innovative in evaluating the deployment of lay legal knowledge via a field experiment, a method that can illuminate causation and that has as yet been seldom used within legal sites. The project is also methodologically innovative in integrating insights from multiple disciplines concerning cognition and action into the deployment of legal advice. The field experiment consists of two comparisons: (i) a self-help assistance packet addressing the legal aspects of household legal problems versus an offer of representation from legal professionals, and (ii) a self-help packet covering good household management practices versus telephone or in-person household management counseling. The self-help packets will be mailed directly to lay individuals to eliminate the question of whether people had access to legal knowledge. By comparing the outcomes experienced by individuals randomized to the packets versus outcomes experienced by individuals randomized to professional and quasi-professional assistance, the investigators will discover whether and how lay individuals can deploy professional legal knowledge. The project addresses important issues concerning the use of legal knowledge in a deprofessionalized environment. The investigators will disseminate their findings broadly, ensuring it is useful to relevant policymakers. The project will also contribute to the training of scholars in multi-disciplinary methods in the social sciences.