Proof Over Precedent

Epizódy

• Episode 57: Libraries and AI—Partners for Accessible Justice? 22.06.2026 24min

  In this "Student Voices" episode, HLS student Grace Gao interviews Ari Scourtas, Product and Research Manager of the Library Innovation Lab at Harvard Law School, about making AI legal tools accessible for people facing digital barriers. The discussion covers legal AI's risks and opportunities for self representation and the expanding role libraries play in bridging the knowledge gap around AI.
• Episode 56: The Conflicting Sides of Police Procedural Protections 18.06.2026 21min

  This bonus episode of Proof Over Precedent looks at the access to justice issues around the Law Enforcement Officer Bill of Rights (LEOBR) statutes and contract provisions that grant police officers enhanced procedural protections during internal misconduct investigations. At odds are the tensions between public accountability and officers’ claims of needing protection from false accusations. HLS student Strong Ma proposes a randomized controlled trial to study the effects on investigation outcomes, civil litigation, and perceived fairness.
• Episode 55: Navigating Workplace Justice Through an AI Lens 16.06.2026 32min

  Workplace justice issues take center stage in this Proof Over Precedent "student voices" episode focused on Reclamo AI, an AI chatbot, developed to help workers--especially immigrant communities -- address wage theft and find local advocates. Joshua Medina, legal director for Pro Bono Net's JusticiaLab, shares insight on the transformation of the tool, including its efforts to protect user privacy and to avoid unauthorized practice of law.
• Episode 54: Will Clearing a Criminal Record Lead to Happiness (and Housing)? 08.06.2026 30min

  "My criminal record doesn't reflect who I am anymore." This sentiment overwhelmingly topped the list of reasons why expungement study participants wanted to clear their record that it seemed plausible to predict that clearing one's criminal record would lead to higher levels of life satisfaction. Likewise, it did not seem far-fetched to assume individuals without a criminal record would fare better in obtaining housing than those with one. In both cases though, the A2J Lab and Kansas Legal Services found surprising results to refute these assumptions.
• Episode 53: Expungement Expectations vs. Reality in Employment 02.06.2026 45min

  The A2J Lab's randomized control trial on expungement examined the uptake and obstacles of criminal record clearing while also looking into its effect on various socio-economic outcomes. This week's Proof Over Precedent episode gathers study researchers to discuss the "surprising and depressing" findings on expungement's effect on employment. They also dive into explanations for the stark difference between individuals' optimism and reality in the experiment.
• Episode 52: Study Exposes Complex Criminal Record Clearing Process 26.05.2026 48min

  Is the form-filling expungement process as easy for unrepresented individuals as some believe? In this week's Proof Over Precedent episode, host Jim Greiner welcomes the A2J Lab team involved in our long-running Kansas-based study looking at the current record-clearing process and its obstacles. The results offer clear evidence for what it takes for a successful expungement.
• Episode 51: How Lawyers and Rental Assistance Impact Eviction Cases 19.05.2026 48min

  Facing an eviction, a tenant has to decide if the added expense of an attorney is worth it for the possibility of avoiding an eviction judgment. In a discussion of a randomized controlled trial outside the A2J Lab, Faculty Director Jim Greiner talks with economists Aviv Caspi and Charlie Rafkin about when, why, and whether lawyers make a difference in evictions cases. The study coincided with a government emergency housing fund that expired during the RCT, which helped answer how lawyers can best make a difference as well.
• Episode 50: Pro Se Litigants, AI, and the Future of Legal Assistance 12.05.2026 39min

  State bar associations typically file more UPL complaints than consumers. Given the intended aim of protecting consumers, UPL may actually be serving more as an obstacle and less as a protection for consumers using generative AI in the legal space. That's the argument Wake Forest Law Professor and UPL expert Ellen Murphy makes in the latest Proof Over Precedent episode, where she identifies the legal industry's progress with AI regulation by state and how AI and human counseling may combine to be the strongest access-to-justice resource.
• Episode 49: AI and the Future of Legal Aid—Navigating Unauthorized Practice 04.05.2026 23min

  The low cost and accessibility of AI make it a potential game changer for pro se litigation and the future of affordable legal aid. But with the patchwork of state unauthorized practice of law (UPL) rules and no court resolution on AI's UPL liability, it also faces an uncertain future as a legal tool. HLS students tackle the issue in the latest Proof Over Precedent and distinguish between legal information and legal advice—a key to general-purpose AI's future in law.
• Episode 48: Legal Evolution from Auto Clubs to Access Barriers 27.04.2026 38min

  When the organized bar association faced financial strain during the Depression, it cracked down on low-cost legal service providers via auto clubs like AAA, contributing to today's access-to-justice gap. In this "How did we get here?"-style episode, HLS student Andrew Reed interviews Stanford Professor Nora Freeman Engstrom and University of Chicago Fellow James Stone about their research and the "revolution" taking place in many states to reform the legal profession.
• Episode 48: Legal Evolution from Auto Clubs to Access Barriers 27.04.2026 40min

  When the organized bar association faced financial strain during the Depression, it cracked down on low-cost legal service providers via auto clubs like AAA, contributing to today's access-to-justice gap. In this "How did we get here?"-style episode, HLS student Andrew Reed interviews Stanford Professor Nora Freeman Engstrom and University of Chicago Fellow James Stone about their research and the "revolution" taking place in many states to reform the legal profession.
• Episode 47: How Does Interrogation Room Design Impact Legal Outcomes? 23.04.2026 20min

  How likely would you be able to answer questions under duress seated in a hard chair in a windowless, flourescent-lit box of a room? What about in a larger space with natural lighting and comfortable seating? In this episode of Proof Over Precedent, HLS student Spencer Thieme discusses interrogation rooms and the effect of a physical environment on stress, memory, disclosure, and false confessions. She also considers potential randomized controlled trials for studying interrogation room design.
• Episode 47: How Does Interrogation Room Design Impact Legal Outcomes? 23.04.2026 20min

  How likely would you be able to answer questions under duress seated in a hard chair in a windowless, flourescent-lit box of a room? What about in a larger space with natural lighting and comfortable seating? In this episode of Proof Over Precedent, HLS student Spencer Thieme discusses interrogation rooms and the effect of a physical environment on stress, memory, disclosure, and false confessions. She also considers potential randomized controlled trials for studying interrogation room design.
• Episode 46: Upsolve in Depth—When does Legal Explanation Become Illegal? 20.04.2026 23min

  The role of trained nonlawyer volunteers is at the center of a back-and-forth court case between nonprofit Upsolve, Inc. and Letitia James, attorney general of the state of New York. This "Student Voices" episode tackles both the access to justice issues at stake for indigent defendants in debt collection cases, as well as New York's unauthorized practice of law statute governing the decision(s), including the most recent ruling by the New York District Court in March. When a service akin to legal and procedural translation is measured against the practice of law itself, it leaves access to justice in an uncertain state.
• Episode 45: Proof and Property—Is Civil Forfeiture a Just Practice? 13.04.2026 22min

  In this week's Proof Over Precedent episode, we look at civil forfeiture—law enforcement's seizing and relinquishing of property based on probable cause in a criminal connection—and the impact it has on individuals, including innocent third-party owners. With no guaranteed right to counsel for these cases, most individuals never challenge forfeitures; the barriers are simply too high. Limited research means the practice of civil forfeiture is ripe for a study that goes beyond its impact on potential for future crime and expands to due process.
• Episode 44: Chief Judge Wilson's Family Court Vision—Problem Solving the Present Over Punishing the Past 13.04.2026 24min

  In this "Student Voices" episode, HLS J.D. candidate Matthew Hohmann interviews Hon. Rowan Wilson, Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, about the challenges facing litigants in New York Family Court, a topic he focused on in his 2026 State of the Judiciary address. Hear about his holistic, long-range view in approaching family court cases.
• Episode 43: Navigating Child Custody Challenges From Behind Bars 06.04.2026 29min

  This week's "Student Voices" episode of Proof Over Precedent explores access to justice issues for incarcerated parents in the child welfare system. HLS student Mia Robertson looks at the process of removing a child from a home, working toward permanent placement and/or reunification, and the numerous barriers an incarcerated parent faces in custody cases, from an inability to show up for in-person hearings to a lack of reliable communication with an attorney (if they have counsel representation at all).
• Episode 42: Can Financial (and Other) Support Help Reduce Child Welfare Involvement in Neglect Cases? 30.03.2026 23min

  This week, Proof Over Precedent speaks with Melody Webb, Founder and Executive Director of the Mother's Outreach Network, a Washington, DC-based racial justice and anti-poverty organization that the Access to Justice Lab partnered with in its Mother Up pre-pilot study. Webb shares her vision for the study—which looks at providing Black indigent mothers with guaranteed income to support their children in an effort to reduce child welfare agency involvement—and offers perspective on the preliminary findings from the pilot.
• Episode 41: How Evidence-Based Research Could Transform the Child Welfare System 23.03.2026 56min

  A2J Lab Director and Professor Jim Greiner sat down with five A2J Lab staff members to discuss "Mother Up", a DC guaranteed income pre-pilot program with Mothers Outreach Network for Black mothers with recent CFSA involvement. The privately funded program explored how feasible it would be to conduct a larger study on the subject of guaranteed income, but this episode of Proof Over Precedent looks into why the Lab got involved with the program, how we gathered and analyzed data to apply to future evidence-leading studies, and what we're seeing with results so far.
• Episode 40: EmPwR Study–How Financial Support Means Family Support 16.03.2026 24min

  The Empower Parents with Resources Study is the largest randomized control trial of the effect of unrestricted cash gifts on child maltreatment in the United States. Researchers aim to find out if a reduction in financial stress equals a reduction in child welfare involvement. In this week's Proof Over Precedent episode, HLS J.D. candidate Julia Saltzman interviews researcher William Schneider, who explains the broad impact the study may have on families, caseworkers, and child welfare policy.