Dear RSF:

Please join us on Wednesday, March 27, at 11:00 in the library for a presentation by Tonya Brito entitled “Access to Justice in Family Court.”

Brito is the Jefferson Burrus-Bascom Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School and a Faculty Affiliate with the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin.  She served as Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development from 2014-2016 and as Director of the Institute for Legal Studies from 2013-2016.   Brito’s work critically examines the intersection of family law and poverty law, focusing on how the welfare state regulates the family relationships of the poor.  

Brito’s publications in this area include “What We Talk About When We Talk About Matriarchy” (Michigan State Law Review, 2013), which examines and compares the legal treatment and gender dynamics of both poor and middle-class families experiencing financial hardship in economic downturns, and “Fathers Behind Bars:  Rethinking Child Support Policy Towards Low-Income Noncustodial Fathers and their Families” (Iowa Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, 2012).

During her time at the Foundation, Brito is synthesizing and writing up the findings from her five-year qualitative socio-legal study.  This study, “Access to Justice for Low-Income Civil Litigants: A Comparative Study of How Lawyers and More Limited Forms of Legal Assistance Matter in Child Support Enforcement Proceedings,” explores the challenges faced by low-income defendants in Wisconsin and Illinois who owe unpaid child support and cannot afford attorney representation within the family court system.  For further background on the project, please click here for the Life of the Law podcast to hear her discuss details.  Her segment starts at approximately 11:55.    

Brito received a J.D. from Harvard and A.B. in Political Science from Barnard College.