In many of our programs, the CLEAR Clinic provides pro se and limited-scope legal assistance in order to provide broad scale, community-oriented access to justice to people who would otherwise not have access to legal services. As one of our clients said, it can be “almost impossible” to find help for a small, seemingly simple legal need. Our legal system operates under a false assumption that people should be able to navigate these complex, obstacle-ridden, legalese-filled processes on their own, when both the data and the anecdotal evidence show us this is not the case. Accordingly, the CLEAR Clinic helps people navigate these systems and processes on a limited-scope basis, to allow us to assist as many people as possible with these “simple legal needs.” 

This model has the added benefit of empowering individuals to be more involved in their own advocacy and search for justice, as opposed to sitting by while a lawyer speaks on their behalf. It also allows us to think about access to justice as seeking a solution that feels just for the impacted community member, as opposed to seeking a specific remedy under the law. 

Low- and moderate-income people find barriers to justice at every turn. The U.S. civil legal system is a maze that can be almost impossible to navigate without help. We provide innovative, broad scale efforts to expand access to justice for all Oregonians.