Vivek Maru is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Namati, an organization dedicated to supporting legal empowerment around the world. Varun Gauri is a Senior Economist in the Development Economics Vice Presidency of the World Bank.

• 1. Paralegal in comparative perspective – what have we learned across these six countries? Vivek Maru and Varun Gauri; 2. 'To whom do the people take their issues?' The contribution of community-based paralegals to access to justice in South Africa Jackie Dugard and Katherine Drage; 3. Community-based paralegalism in the Philippines: from social movements to democratization Jennifer Franco, Hector Soliman and Maria Roda Cisnero; 4. Paralegalism in Indonesia: balancing relationships in the shadow of the law Ward Berenschot and Taufik Rinaldi; 5. Kenya's community-based paralegals: a tradition of grassroots legal activism Abigail Moy; 6. Squeezing justice out of a broken system: community paralegals in Sierra Leone Vivek Maru, Lyttelton Braima and Gibrill Jalloh; 7. The contributions of community-based paralegals in delivering access to justice in postwar Liberia Peter Chapman and Chelsea Payne.

'In the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, world governments made a historic commitment to achieve 'access to justice for all'. This book is a must-read for anyone who, like me, believes in the urgency and vitality of that goal, and anyone who wants to understand how we go about achieving it. If 'access to justice' is an abstraction to you, it won't be once you read the stories in these pages of paralegals and clients seeking justice. Those stories are unforgettable. They hold lessons for all of us.' Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former High Commissioner for Human Rights