California Justice Gap Study

In 2019, the State Bar published the first-ever comprehensive study of California’s justice gap, examining the gap between people’s civil legal needs and the resources available to meet those needs. The study revealed that the justice gap was widespread, pervasive, and multifaceted. The 2024 California Justice Gap Study builds on that work by assessing the current justice gap for residents of California across all income levels and the availability of attorneys and legal services to meet legal needs. The report concludes with recommendations developed by the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission.

Read the 2024 California Justice Gap Report

Additional resources

• The California Justice Gap: Understanding California’s Unmet Civil Legal Needs
  In 2024, the State Bar partnered with NORC at the University of Chicago to survey over 6,000 California residents to document the current prevalence of civil legal needs and assess how well those needs are met. The report linked above was prepared by NORC for the State Bar and contains an analysis of survey results.
• The 2024 California Justice Gap: Significance Testing and N-Size Resource
  This resource contains additional information regarding significance testing and counts for all results reported in NORC’s report: The 2024 California Justice Gap: Understanding California’s Unmet Civil Legal Needs.
• California Justice Gap Survey instrument, codebook, and data
  The programmed survey instrument, codebook, and data files from the 2024 California Justice Gap Survey, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, are available for download.
• 2024 Legal Market Landscape Report
  This report is a State Bar–commissioned study of California’s $57.8 billion legal market, focused on understanding the “PeopleLaw” legal market (legal services provided to individuals and households seeking help with personal legal issues).

Related links

• 2019 Justice Gap Study

For any questions, please contact JusticeGapStudy@calbar.ca.gov.