Access to justice: analysis of gaps, paths and vulnerability to lawsuits based on the Legal Needs Survey of Uruguay in 2021

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present the results of the Legal Needs Survey of 2021, in relation to three specific aspects: (1) the estimation and characterization of the gap in
access to justice (referring only to the inaction of the person involved in the to a need or legal problem that it considers serious), (2) the description of the actions undertaken, when
something is done to address the problem or need, and (3) the description of the vulnerability to lawsuits (not carrying out a judicial process but to be the object of one). The article is organized with an introduction where the central concepts analyzed, the methodology used and the general results of the survey are presented, to then present the most
relevant results. Among others, it is found that a third of the respondents who declared a problem that they considered serious did not do anything to solve it, the most frequently
mentioned reason being low expectations for the results to be obtained. However, the main factor that affects access to justice seems to be given by the existence or not of institutional mechanisms that allow claims to be channeled or defended against them.