The main legal force for access to justice in Taiwan is the Legal Aid Foundation, a state-subsidized but independent agency. The institutionalization of legal aid was a crucial part of judicial reform during democratization in Taiwan, in which lawyers aimed to advance access to justice for the general public and the judiciary agreed to take up responsibility as supervising agency. Over time the Legal Aid Foundation has moved beyond court representation of indigent persons, and it now plays a critical role in legal mobilization, coordinating public interest lawyers, social minorities, and other actors in the Taiwanese civil society, and allowing them to bring cases to court and lobby for social justice legislation in the parliament. The Legal Aid Foundation’s expanded role has however exposed its organizational weakness as a hybrid model of access to justice, creating tension with the state regarding accountability and conflict with the bar over quality control.