David Udell

David Udell, executive director of the National Center for Access to Justice, and previously the founding director of the Justice Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, helps to guide the Fordham Law A2J Initiative. At NCAJ, Udell has been the creator and sustainer of the Justice Index, an influential online resource that equips reformers to use research, findings and indicators, in combination with data analytical and technological tools, to promote best practices for access to justice in the 50 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico.

Through NCAJ’s own research in support of the Justice Index and NCAJ’s other initiatives, the organization advocates for legal representation reform, language access reform and disability access reform in the state courts and is a champion of research in support of new models for helping people in the state courts who are otherwise unrepresented. NCAJ partners with the bar, judiciary, law schools, the legal services community, and other stakeholders, and its tools include litigation, books and reports, public education and public advocacy, conferences, legislative drafting, and indexing.

Udell is on the advisory boards to National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel, Voices for Civil Justice, and the Justice Center of the New York County Lawyers Association. He is a court-appointed member of the New York Chief Judge’s Committee on Non-Lawyers and the Justice Gap.

Udell’s expertise and NCAJ’s innovative approach will help support the people and institutions at Fordham Law as they move forward with the initiative.