Rankings of legal help websites

How are US states’ legal help websites performing?

On Legal Help Online Dashboard, we list out the Legal Design Lab’s recent analysis of how states’ public interest law help portals rank, when it comes to:

  1. Technical performance of the websites, according to Google’s Lighthouse automatic evaluation rubric
  2. Monthly visitors (estimated by Similarweb‘s traffic estimation tool in January 2021)
  3. Proportion of statewide justice needs being served (comparing the estimated traffic with the estimated acted-upon justice needs in the state)

This page also includes the state-by-state estimations of how many justice needs the state population has per month, including the number that we can expect people will act upon (like by searching online).

Statewide Legal Help Websites

These statewide legal help websites provide free help to people with justice problems.
They aggregate different legal aid and court resources into one place for people to find local help.
Here they are ranked by estimated visitors (as of January 2021). The rankings come from the Similarweb search engine traffic estimation tool.
StatePortal namePortal URLEstimated visitors in January 2021
TXTexas Law Helphttps://texaslawhelp.org/578,563
MAMassachusetts Legal Helphttps://www.masslegalhelp.org/424,324
ILIllinois Legal Aid Onlinehttps://www.illinoislegalaid.org/369,715
CTConnecticut Law Helphttps://ctlawhelp.org/312,095
MIMichigan Legal Helphttps://michiganlegalhelp.org/248,960
WAWashington Law Helphttps://www.washingtonlawhelp.org/218,663
NJLSNJLawhttp://www.lsnjlaw.org/174,994
MDThe People's Law Library of Marylandhttps://www.peoples-law.org/152,816
PAPennsylvania Law Helphttps://www.palawhelp.org/100,665
NYLaw Help New Yorkhttps://www.lawhelpny.org/80,832
OKLegal Aid Oklahomahttps://oklaw.org/77,806
AZArizona Law Helphttp://www.azlawhelp.org/71,560
OROregon Law Helphttps://oregonlawhelp.org/64,328
INIndiana Legal Serviceshttps://www.indianalegalservices.org/60,417
GAGeorgia Legal Aidhttps://www.georgialegalaid.org/56,481
MNLaw Help Minnesotahttps://www.lawhelpmn.org/53,335
CALaw Help Californiahttp://www.lawhelpca.org/51,364
OHOhio Legal Helphttp://ohiolegalhelp.org/51,124
PRAyuda Legal Puerto Ricohttps://ayudalegalpr.org/44,487
VAVirginia Legal Aidhttps://www.valegalaid.org/39,694
FLFlorida Law Helphttps://www.floridalawhelp.org/37,706
VTVermont Law Helphttps://vtlawhelp.org/26,992
INIndiana Legal Helphttps://indianalegalhelp.org/23,570
ARArkansas Legal Services Onlinehttps://www.arkansaslegal.org/20,134
MTMontana Law Helphttps://www.montanalawhelp.org/19,594
NCLaw Help North Carolinahttps://www.lawhelpnc.org/17,903
KYLegal Aid Network of Kentuckyhttp://kyjustice.org/13,054
COColorado Legal Serviceshttps://www.coloradolegalservices.org12,752
ALAlabama Legal Helphttps://www.alabamalegalhelp.org/11,146
LALouisiana Law Helphttps://louisianalawhelp.org/10,568
DEDelaware Community Legal Aid Societyhttp://www.declasi.org/6,815
MOMissouri Legal Serviceshttps://www.lsmo.org/3,934
RIHelp Rhode Island Lawhttps://www.helprilaw.org/3,530
TNHelp for Tennesseehttps://www.help4tn.org/3,071
NVNevada Law Helphttps://nevadalawhelp.org/2,882
AKAlaska Law Helphttps://alaskalawhelp.org/2,688
MSMississippi Legal Serviceshttps://www.mslegalservices.org/1,825
COColorado Legal Help Centerhttp://www.coloradolegalhelpcenter.us/1,776
NMLaw Help New Mexicohttps://www.lawhelpnewmexico.org/1,758
DCLaw Help DChttps://www.lawhelp.org/DC/
HILaw Help Hawaiihttps://www.lawhelp.org/hi/
OKOK Legal Connecthttps://oklegalconnect.org
SCLaw Help South Carolinahttps://www.lawhelp.org/sc
SDSouth Dakota Law Helphttps://www.sdlawhelp.org/
UTUtah Legal Helphttps://www.utahlegalhelp.org/
WVSelf-Help library from Legal Aid of West Virginiahttps://legalaidwv.org/legal-information/
WYEqual Justice Wyominghttps://equaljustice.wy.gov/index.php/get-legal-help/

Proportion of needs that statewide portals serve

This table estimates how many acted-upon justice problems there will be in a given jurisdiction, based on the state's population, and Rebecca Sandefur's 2013 study of how often people have justice problems and take action on them.
The table compares this expected number of people seeking out help in a state, with the estimated visitors to a statewide legal help site.
It then presents the difference between the estimated demand and the estimated visitors.
Finally, it calculates the proportion of estimated need to visitors. The higher the proportion, the closer there is an apparent match between demand for legal help information and provision of it.
JurisdictionProblems Per MonthVisits to State Portal Per monthDifference between Problems & VisitsProportion of Problems to Visits
Connecticut331,082312,095-18,9870.9426516694
Massachusetts646,299424,324-221,9750.6565444167
Illinois1,149,627369,715-779,9120.3215956132
Washington694,380218,663-475,7170.3149039431
Maryland549,616152,816-396,8000.2780413962
Michigan915,008248,960-666,0480.2720850528
Texas2,519,542578,563-1,940,9790.2296302264
Oklahoma350,55277,806-272,7460.2219528059
New Jersey810,088174,994-635,0940.2160185066
Montana98,02219,594-78,4280.1998939014
Oregon390,97064,328-326,6420.1645343633
Utah265,39039,694-225,6960.1495685595
Puerto Rico305,77944,487-261,2920.1454874272
Vermont59,4988,573-50,9250.1440888769
Arizona657,82371,560-586,2630.1087830617
Minnesota505,92253,335-452,5870.1054213891
Pennsylvania1,186,194104,623-1,081,5710.08820058102
Delaware89,8566,815-83,0410.07584357194
Arkansas270,39220,134-250,2580.0744622622
Georgia946,58056,481-890,0990.05966849078
Ohio1,062,95951,124-1,011,8350.04809592844
New York1,799,61482,740-1,716,8740.04597652608
Alaska64,3492,688-61,6610.04177221091
Indiana602,49523,570-578,9250.0391206566
Rhode Island99,7343,530-96,2040.03539414843
Virginia778,71226,992-751,7200.03466236555
Kentucky404,22713,054-391,1730.03229373595
Louisiana415,46910,568-404,9010.02543631414
Alabama445,06911,146-433,9230.02504330789
Colorado524,90912,752-512,1570.02429373472
Florida2,012,24445,983-1,966,2610.02285160249
California3,572,05170,409-3,501,6420.01971108475
North Carolina955,19317,903-937,2900.01874280904
Hawaii130,2001,491-128,7090.0114516129
Nevada278,5442,882-275,6620.01034665977
New Mexico189,1161758-1873580.009295881893
Missouri556,1323,934-552,1980.007073860163
Mississippi265,7161,825-263,8910.006868235259
Tennessee620,5643,071-617,4930.004948724064
South Carolina471,0452,180-468,8650.00462800794
South Dakota77,882334-775480.004288539072

Justice Problem Estimates Per Month

This table shows rough estimates of how many justice problems each US state may expect its adult population to experience. It also shows how many problems are expected to be 'acted-upon' (in which the adult is taking action to seek information or services).

It is based on Sandefur’s 2013 study "Accessing Justice in the Contemporary USA" that found, on average, US adults experienced 2.1 justice problems per 18 months. This frequency is then combined with the adult population count in each state to make ballpark estimates of the amount of Justice Problems that might be served with a legal help service.

How it calculates Justice Problem amounts: It takes the adult population (18 and over) in US states, according to the US census’ most recent projections for 2019 (Column B).

It multiplies that by 2.1, to get the 18-month total of justice problems. It divides that by 18, to get the monthly average of problems. (Column C)

How it calculates Acted-Upon Justice Problems: People do not always seek out help for the justice problem they are experiencing. In her study, Sandefur found that people did nothing in 16% of the time they experiencing a justiciable problem.

Based on that finding, the table calculates the number of totally monthly justice problems that we could expect people might be acting upon (Column D). This can give us an estimate of how many people are choosing to seek help for their problems, and who might be in the 'potential audience' for a legal help service.
LocationAdult Population (18 and over) in 2019Estimated Justice Problems Per MonthEstimated Acted-Upon Justice Problems per month
United States255,200,3732977337725009637
Alaska551,5626434954053
Alabama3,814,879445069373858
Arkansas2,317,649270392227129
Arizona5,638,481657823552571
California30,617,58235720513000523
Colorado4,499,217524909440924
Connecticut2,837,847331082278109
District of Columbia577,5816738456603
Delaware770,1928985675479
Florida17,247,80820122441690285
Georgia8,113,542946580795127
Hawaii1,116,004130200109368
Iowa2,428,229283293237966
Idaho1,338,864156201131209
Illinois9,853,9461149627965687
Indiana5,164,245602495506096
Kansas2,213,064258191216880
Kentucky3,464,802404227339551
Louisiana3,561,164415469348994
Massachusetts5,539,703646299542891
Maryland4,710,993549616461677
Maine1,095,370127793107346
Michigan7,842,924915008768607
Minnesota4,336,475505922424974
Missouri4,766,843556132467151
Mississippi2,277,566265716223201
Montana840,1909802282338
North Carolina8,187,369955193802362
North Dakota581,8916788757025
Nebraska1,458,334170139142917
New Hampshire1,104,458128853108237
New Jersey6,943,612810088680474
New Mexico1,620,991189116158857
Nevada2,387,517278544233977
New York15,425,26217996141511676
Ohio9,111,0811062959892886
Oklahoma3,004,733350552294464
Oregon3,351,175390970328415
Pennsylvania10,167,3761186194996403
Puerto Rico2,620,963305779256854
Rhode Island854,8669973483777
South Carolina4,037,531471045395678
South Dakota667,5587788265421
Tennessee5,319,123620564521274
Texas21,596,07125195422116415
Utah2,274,774265390222928
Virginia6,674,671778712654118
Vermont509,9845949849978
Washington5,951,832694380583279
Wisconsin4,555,837531514446472
West Virginia1,432,580167134140393
Wyoming445,0255192043613