From the South Carolina Law Review:
In contemporary market democracies, law reaches deeply into many aspects of daily life. Thousands of Americans every day find themselves facing troubles that emerge “at the intersection of civil law and everyday adversity,” involving work, finances, insurance, pensions, wages, benefits, shelter, and the care of young children and dependent adults, among other matters. Though these different types of problems affect different aspects of people’s lives and concern different kinds of relationships, they are defined by a central important quality: They have civil legal aspects, raise civil legal issues, have consequences shaped by civil law, and may become objects of formal legal action. This paper reviews what we know about the civil legal needs of the public. In so doing, it reveals key gaps in our knowledge.