Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer Deliver Remarks at the Convening of the Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable

Thank you, Attorney General Garland and White House Counsel Siskel, for convening us today. And thank you to all of the Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable members for working to realize the mission of this body.

I also want to recognize and give thanks to Rachel Rossi, Director of the Justice Department’s Office for Access to Justice; to Allie Yang-Green, LAIR’s Executive Director; to Kristen Clarke, the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; and to all the staff of the Office for Access to Justice (ATJ) who work behind the scenes helping to operationalize LAIR’s work. Their collective work and collaboration with LAIR partners and other stakeholders have been remarkable.

In the United States, access to justice remains out of reach for far too many people. Legal help for essential needs like housing, education, employment, and safety from violence are often elusive. Thanks to the collaboration of the 28 federal agencies that make up LAIR, our nation is actively addressing this challenge by strengthening federal programs to address basic human needs.

From its origin in 2012 through today, LAIR’s mission has remained critical for us all. Through interagency collaboration and stakeholder engagement, the 28 individual LAIR partner agencies — each with diverse missions, mandates, expertise, and tools — develop policy recommendations, advance evidence-based research, collect and analyze data, and promulgate best practices.

Over the past few years, LAIR’s work has promoted innovative efforts to expand access to legal assistance, from both lawyers and nonlawyers. Those efforts include promoting people-centered strategies for simplifying and reducing burdens to accessing federal administrative processes and government services; and creating tools, like the Federal Funding Opportunities online hub, that are working to ensure funding can better reach legal service providers to close justice gaps.

This year, LAIR took on the critical issue of data collection and research as a means for advancing equal access to justice. Every day, millions of Americans face legal problems. Using data to understand and illuminate the barriers Americans face in accessing justice is essential. This year’s report details member agencies’ use of data and research in developing, implementing, evaluating, and improving federal policies and programs that serve the public and help them resolve their justice problems.

LAIR’s work has also revealed the power of collaboration and the urgent need for this body to continue to advance our collective work to close the justice gap. Together, LAIR’s partner agencies can advance innovative strategies with comprehensive approaches that utilize their diverse and expansive expertise.

I’ve seen firsthand how LAIR’s work is valued and even replicated throughout the world. This past summer, I delivered remarks at the United Nations’ 2024 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, where I reaffirmed our country’s commitment to implementing U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 16 — to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels. I also represented the United States at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Access to Justice Roundtable held in Canada in October. In both forums, I recognized the leadership role of the United States in advancing access to justice, as well as how much we can learn from other governments and partners. I also highlighted the work of LAIR.  And it became clear to me — through meetings, conversations, and bilateral dialogues — how much stakeholders around the world look to what is happening here in the United States to set an example. I am proud that ATJ will continue to use Sustainable Development Goal 16 as an important tool to close the justice gap in the United States.

Today, as we highlight LAIR’s body of work in 2024, and celebrate the innovation this interagency partnership has advanced since its origins in 2012, we also join in renewed commitment to this work going forward. Your participation in LAIR’s work and your presence at this convening stands as a reaffirmation of this commitment to work collaboratively to mobilize resources and develop access to justice solutions.  

Thank you again to all of you. Your work on these issues is so vital and so energizing. With that, I’ll turn things over to Director Rossi. Thank you.