Paper short abstract:

Can progressive legal reform improve the lives of the poor where formal legal institutions have limited reach? Using data from Liberia, we show that paralegals encourage marginalized groups to access the formal system, having significant impacts on legal case outcomes as well as household material gains.

Paper long abstract:

Can progressive legal reform improve the lives of the poor in places where formal legal institutions have limited reach? We develop a simple model of forum choice highlighting the tradeoff faced by poor and socially disadvantaged plaintiffs between repressive customary law and a more progressive, but expensive and punitive formal justice system. We test our predictions using new survey data on over 4,500 legal disputes in rural Liberia, and a randomized trial of paralegals trained in the formal law. Consistent with our model, plaintiffs facing bias under the custom - e.g., women suing men - are more likely to opt out of customary courts in favor of both the formal system and the experimental treatment, and are relatively happier when they do. Plaintiffs offered pro bono legal aid are significantly more satisfied with case outcomes, pay fewer bribes, and report large material gains in terms of food security.