The Administrative Conference of the United States and Legal Services Corporation are hosting a public forum entitled Assisting Parties in Federal Administrative Adjudication.

Millions of people each year navigate adjudication processes to access critical benefits and services administered by federal agencies or provided under federal programs. According to the Justice Gap study published by LSC earlier this year, 92% of the substantial legal problems facing low-income Americans—including problems accessing federally administered benefits—receive no or inadequate legal assistance.

The public forum, which will feature multiple panel presentations over the next several months, will examine ways to improve support for parties in adjudication processes in which they are frequently self-represented. 

The first panel of the forum, Expanding Access to Representation,  will be held on December 6, 2022 from 1:00 PM-2:00 PM Eastern.

This panel will examine why many parties, especially members of historically underserved communities, do not have professional representation and address whether and how self-representation impacts procedural fairness, substantive outcomes, and administrative efficiency.

Panelists will address potential strategies that public- and private-sector institutions can implement to expand access to representation in federal adjudication processes and challenges for implementing them. 

Richard Prebil, Supervising Attorney of the Veterans Advocacy Project at Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania will be one of the panelists discussing these issues.

Remarks:

• Ronald Flagg, President, LSC
• Andrew Fois, Chair, ACUS

Panelists:

• Nancy Griswold, Deputy Director, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, U.S. Department of Labor 
• Deedee Peterson, Executive Director, Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc.
• Richard Prebil, Supervising Attorney, Veterans Advocacy Project at Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania
• Ashley Tabaddor, Chief Counsel, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Moderator:

• Jeremy Graboyes, Acting Research Director, ACUS

You can register to attend the panel via Zoom at the link below. The  panel will also be livestreamed on LSC’s Facebook page on December 6 beginning at 1:00 PM.

Future panels in this forum will address ways to promote effective representation of parties by lawyers and nonlawyers and to expand services for self-represented parties. Dates and times of future panels will be released when the panels are finalized.

Register for the Panel (Zoom)