Virginia Legal Aid Assessment

Last registered on March 19, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Virginia Legal Aid Assessment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013071
Initial registration date
March 17, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
March 19, 2024, 5:23 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Winnie van Dijk
Affiliation
Yale University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
John Eric Humphries
PI Affiliation
Yale University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-03-04
End date
2024-05-06
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
Eviction, Housing
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Free legal assistance is available to income-eligible tenants facing eviction in Eastern Virginia through a regional legal aid provider. This organization is contacted by a small fraction of eligible clients. They hypothesize that low service take-up is due to a lack of awareness about the availability of services. This project is conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to assess whether mailing letters to tenants facing eviction about their impending court date and about legal aid increases service inquiries and service take-up, and whether it affects court outcomes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Humphries, John Eric and Winnie van Dijk. 2024. "Virginia Legal Aid Assessment." AEA RCT Registry. March 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13071-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-03-04
Intervention End Date
2024-05-06

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Inquiries: Requests for legal aid (via phone, online, or in-person).
2. Take-up. Receipt of:
a. Brief legal advice
b. Resource referral
c. Full legal representation
3. Court outcomes.
a. Judgments in favor of plaintiff(s)
b. Default judgment at first hearing (as a proxy for failure to appear)
c. Duration of the court proceedings
d. Money ordered to pay by the judge
e. Eviction enforcements
f. Continuations of cases
g. Case is appealed
h. Appealed case judgment
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We employ a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to assess the impact of receiving a letter about an upcoming Unlawful Detainer hearing date and potential eligibility for free legal aid on service inquiries, service take-up, and court outcomes. Participants are randomly assigned to either the treatment group (receiving the letter), or the control group (with no intervention).
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization into treatment (receiving a letter) or control (status quo) is executed using an Excel spreadsheet.
Randomization Unit
Case numbers for hearings 21 days away are collected and randomized daily.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
600 case numbers
Sample size: planned number of observations
600 case numbers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
300 cases numbers treatment, 300 case numbers control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Yale University Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2023-12-19
IRB Approval Number
2000036253
Analysis Plan