Rebecca Sandefur

Rebecca Sandefur is a sociologist whose research on how legal services are delivered and consumed is informing emerging models for more equal access to civil justice. Although the outcomes of civil cases are potentially life-changing—including eviction, loss of custody of a child, wage garnishment, or loss of government or insurance benefits—one or more parties lack legal representation in more than three-quarters of cases filed in state civil courts today. Sandefur’s investigations of the civil justice needs of low-income populations are shedding light on the availability of civil legal aid services, the help-seeking behavior of individuals facing civil legal issues, and the impact of lawyers in civil cases. Rebecca Sandefur received a B.A. (1991) from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and an A.M. (1997) and Ph.D. (2001) from The University of Chicago. Before joining the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she is currently an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and the College of Law, she taught at Stanford University (2001–2010). She is also a Faculty Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation.