Erin Larkin

Erin Larkin, who recently became the first director of the D.C. courts' new Access to Justice unit, has long seen the ways that a lack of legal representation can hurt people in need.

Before she began working for the local court system three years ago, Larkin held roles that included prosecuting domestic violence cases in Massachusetts, directing the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project, serving as a policy attorney for the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and representing low-income immigrants at the nonprofit Ayuda.

The unit that Larkin now leads aims to boost court efforts to enhance access to justice. It includes the court system's pro bono manager, an Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator, and staff with the Court Navigator program, which helps people understand legal forms, what to expect in court and where to go for legal services.

Larkin first joined the D.C. courts in 2021 to manage the Family Court Self-Help Center, and then became a senior operations manager with the Superior Court clerk's office.

In an interview with Law360 as she starts her new position, she noted the staggering number of people who represent themselves in D.C., pointing to a 2019 report by the D.C. Access to Justice Commission. The report said that in 2017, pro se participation rates in Superior Court stood at 97% for plaintiffs in small estate matters in the Probate Division; 83% for plaintiffs and 93% for respondents in divorce, custody and miscellaneous cases in Family Court; and 75% for plaintiffs in housing conditions cases in the Civil Division.

The court "can't tell people what to do or advise them on the law," said Larkin, who began her new role last month. "But what we can do is a much better job of giving them the legal information they need."

The idea of a court unit devoted to access to justice had been in the works for years. Last year, the D.C. Courts' Joint Committee — a policymaking body made up of judges and the courts' executive officer — formally approved its creation, a court spokesperson said.

Larkin will oversee the unit's daily operations, as well as the planned Justice Resource Center, set to be a one-stop shop housed in the historic Recorder of Deeds building across from the courthouse.

She spoke to Law360 this week about the new court unit and her career.

What are the focus areas of your new role?

I'm going to be coordinating all of our initiatives, promoting them, and then working with internal and external stakeholders to identify where additional gaps are, and coming up with ways to fill those gaps.

The unit looks at all aspects of access to justice, including increasing pro bono representation and making it easier to connect people to legal services. We want to make the court process simpler, because in a lot of the areas — such as child custody or child support, or landlord-tenant matters, even probate court — the majority of the people who are coming into court are doing it without a lawyer.

I equate it to: Imagine if you hurt your leg, so you went into the ER and said you thought you broke your leg. And they said, "Well over there is the X-ray, why don't you go take an X-ray of your leg and bring it back to us and we'll see what we can do about it?" People are having to navigate a very complex system and do it themselves without the benefit of a lawyer.

What are examples of existing initiatives?

The court currently has two self-help centers: One in the family court and one in the probate court. We also have a Court Navigator Program, which helps people find where they're going in the court and explain the court procedures. That was in landlord-tenant and small claims, and we just expanded that to the probate department.

There are also opportunities for attorneys to volunteer their time. We want to make it easier for attorneys to do pro bono work at the court. For example, if they wanted to volunteer at one of our self-help centers, it's a limited slot of time that you go in. You do your three-hour shift, and you're able to help someone right there. But you're not taking on representation of the case, so you're not committing an unknown number of hours in the future.

We're also working to make it easier for people to volunteer, such as holding regular open houses that involve a tour of the whole courthouse and an opportunity to meet with judges in a particular area.

What are the plans for the new Justice Resource Center?

The idea is really to have it be a one-stop shop for all the resources people need — either legal services, social services, or D.C agency services — having a representative from those types of services in one location, so someone can just go to one place and get things taken care of. Instead of giving someone a flier and telling them to call organizations, it would be much easier to connect people right there when they're at the court, to legal or social services that may be impacting the claims they have, like housing or access to public benefits.

It's scheduled to open in 2027.

How have you seen people face barriers to access to justice throughout your career?

Before I came to the court, I worked for different legal service organizations. At Ayuda, I represented low-income immigrants in family law and domestic violence cases. In those cases, oftentimes, we just didn't have enough staff to take on all the cases of people who needed representation. They were facing language barriers and unfamiliarity with the U.S. justice system. And then sometimes when we would be representing people in court, the other party might not have a lawyer. So I saw firsthand how they would struggle with representing themselves in court, because the rules and the laws apply, regardless of whether or not you have an attorney; you still have to follow the rules, you're still held to the same standard. So I definitely saw what happens when someone doesn't have a lawyer, and what the needs were for low-income people who couldn't afford to hire a lawyer.

The other organization I worked with was the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project. I was their first executive director. It was created in 2008 to try to increase the number of pro bono attorneys who are working in family law cases in D.C. So I helped to build this organization that recruited, trained, supervised and mentored volunteer attorneys in family court in D.C. Again, I saw cases where people couldn't afford a lawyer. We would connect them with a pro bono attorney to help.

How did you first get interested in access to justice issues?

I think it's been a through line throughout most of my career. I started off as a prosecutor in the domestic violence unit of a court in Massachusetts, and working with victims there was, I think, what sparked it at first: seeing the need, and wanting to use my legal skills to help people.

After that I worked for Robinson & Cole LLP, also in Massachusetts, and we were doing mass tort litigation. Even though we were a large firm, we had this boutique practice area representing plaintiffs in mass tort claims. And so there again, it was kind of a David and Goliath situation where we were representing the people who were going up against the big companies.

And then when I moved back to D.C., I had heard that some people were interested in starting this program for pro bono lawyers, the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project. I volunteered my time and said, "Hey, I love organizing things." And so ever since then, I found my passion.

--Editing by Adam LoBelia.

All Access is a series of discussions with leaders in the access to justice field. Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.

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