LSC Board Briefing Technology Collaboration and Innovation Opportunities

LSC Board Briefing: Technology, Collaboration and Innovation Opportunities January 2011 LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 1

Outline I. III. Brief Introductions Overview and Themes History and Status of Legal Aid Technology Innovation IV. Court Perspectives V. Private Sector Perspectives (Discussion) VI. Some Options for Next Steps in Technology Innovation VII. Broader Innovation Thoughts VIII. Brief Thoughts on Choosing Strategies (Discussion) LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 2

I. Introduction to Panel • Scott Bravi, Chief Information Officer, Arnold and Porter • Bonnie Hough, Managing Attorney, California Administrative Office of the Courts • Mark O’Brien, Executive Director, Pro Bono Net • Alison Paul, Executive Director Montana Legal Services Association • Richard Zorza, Consultant LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 3

II. Overview Themes Litigants and the System • Technology improves outcomes and experience for clients and programs – more and better – need and opportunity • Focused innovation has broad impact on delivery system as a whole • Does not just increase efficiency, but adds new components of delivery system that reach additional groups • Opening up system to more litigants (self-represented) provides even bigger payoff than increasing efficiency (also necessary) LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 4

Additional Overview Themes Implications of Innovation • Technology provides cost saving opportunities to identify and “treat” problems before they escalates and do most harm • Technology allows shaping of program for vulnerable populations (both direct services, and staffed) • Technology provides an opportunity for collaboration and innovation and creates relationships for expanding collaboration beyond the initial activity LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 5

Additional Overview Themes Lessons for Strategic Leadership • Incentives and grant maker discretion are critical in encouraging innovations • Technology acts as a model and incubator for broader innovation • Innovation is often less threatening when delivered through technology – technique is to find the technology expression of innovation and that will speed acceptance and replication) • Technology allows for support of strategic choices of LSC -- whatever they are LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 6

III. History and Status of Legal Aid Technology Innovation LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 7

A. History • • Early Pilots 1998 Summit and focuses TIG as catalyst and engine SJI role and partnerships LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 8

B. Overview of current deployment and collaborations LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 9

Montana Legal Services Association Technology makes more things possible………. . • • Only Statewide Provider of Civil Legal Services in Montana Annual Budget $3. 2 million 15 attorneys for est. 90, 000 low income residents 145, 000 + square miles Clients Served in 2010: 4, 809 Total Program Reach in 2010: 119, 665 (includes advice and information, pro se assistance, direct representation by staff and pro bono attorneys, printed materials and web-based information) LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 10

Integrated Service Delivery System • Website – Provides legal information and forms relevant to low income people • Live. Help – Provides chat assistance for website and document assembly • Document Assembly – Automated forms make it easier for low income people to access court without counsel LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 11

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Proven Effectiveness • Website usage of Montana. Law. Help. org has more than doubled between 2003 and 2010 • More than 3, 000 documents assembled with MT automated forms each year sinception • Evaluation of websites has shown that users are satisfied with their experience and the information accessed LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 14

Service Delivery • MLSA Helpline – centralized telephone intake and hotline supported by on-line application for services, web-based case management system and integrated document assembly • Self-Help Clinics – automated forms, plus video conferencing and web-based training modules LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 15

Service Delivery • Integrated Law Firm across State – web meetings, video conferencing, instant messaging, centralized documents • Pro Bono Program – Montana. Pro. Bono. net provides web-based forms and information. Also case management system provides centralized case tracking, and pro bono attorney integration LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 16

IV. Court Perspectives LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 17

Coordination with LSC • Statewide website coordination • Basic letters and simple forms on self-help website • Sharing templates with other states – custody agreements, jurisdiction decision trees • Joint funding for Orange County Legal Services – ICAN! LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 18

Law. Help Interactive work in Los Angeles • Justice. Corps students get basic information from litigants • Fill that information into forms using Hotdocs program • Prints out all forms needed for workshop, litigants fill in rest by hand in workshop after explanation • Information saved for next two sessions • More thorough and comprehensive than many attorneys pleadings LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 19

• Have computers do what they’re good at – repetitive data entry, calculations, typing in forms, saving data, prompting and answering simple questions • Use humans for what they’re good at – asking and answering more complex questions, emotional support Briefing: Technology and Innovations LSC Board 20

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DASH program • Allows volunteers in 4 locations to assist 36 litigants each morning with domestic violence pleadings – all reviewed by an attorney • Now available for all DV shelters • Expanding to rural communities and tribal lands – can be reviewed by self-help or urban pro bono attorneys LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 22

Suggests Question for Volunteer and Prompts Volunteer to Contact Attorney. LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 23

Allows Attorney to Automatically Add Text To Declarations. • If a custody order is requested, the program automatically prints on the declaration: “I ask the Court for the custody and visitation orders described in the attached form DV -105 because: “. – (The volunteer is prompted to ask why the order is needed. ) • If the volunteer indicates litigant needs an interpreter, the program automatically prints on the declaration: “I will need a [Spanish] interpreter for all proceedings in this case. ” LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 24

Working to build e-filing component • Information could go directly into court computer system • Simplifies filing for litigants and clerks • Basic materials for orders after hearing then are in the system LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 25

New Grants • To expand DASH to civil harassment – provide training throughout the state – statewide meeting on best practices • To use model conservatorship program to provide remote support to rural areas – training, review of pleadings, etc. LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 26

V. Private Sector Perspectives • • • Relentless connectivity • 4 G networks widely deployed by 2012 • Continued improvement in wired bandwidth as well Cloud • Potential for tremendous cost savings • Privacy/security concerns Virtualization • Makes which computer is being used irrelevant Tablets and Smartphones • The computer of the future Rich AV and Video telephony • Remember the Jetsons? The time has (almost) arrived • It will change the way we work LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 27

Discussion LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 28

VI. Some Options for Next Steps in Technology Innovation LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 29

A. Ultimate Approach and Court Partnering Options • Use technology to implement Board’s Strategy • Court Partnering Options LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 30

Statewide coordination • Equal Access fund – 10 million – 10% of funds to provide self help centers at court • Seed money – 5 years, built partnerships • AOC provides coordination with courts, systems changes, attorney/developer for Law. Help Interactive programs LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 31

Over time and with strong evaluations • Courts now provide over $24 million for court based self help support – every court has self help center supervised by attorney – help more than 450, 000 each year • Now $27 million for legal services programs • Significant AOC support LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 32

Other Support • 2 statewide conferences each year for legal services and court based attorneys – one for family law, one general law and best practices • Ability to change rules of court, forms, procedural guidelines • Regular planning meetings LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 33

Ways to encourage development of coordinated delivery system • Requiring agencies to keep info up to date on Lawhelp • Incentive grants for joint planning with courts and legal services • Requiring links on home page for self help with hours of info, services, etc. • Requirements for referral lists, regular coordination meetings LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 34

B. Training and Expectations LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 35

Training • Technology provides opportunities for enhanced training resources for programs – Substantive Law Training – Technology Training • Programs can develop, collaborate and use web-based training modules (Colorado/Montana/Utah partnership) LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 36

Raising Expectations • Continue funding for technology innovation through TIG grant program • Continue annual TIG Conference as platform for encouraging innovation in field programs • Evaluate programs on use of technology LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 37

C. Need for Data, Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Relationships LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 38

Need for Data, • Readily available data sources – – Statewide Websites Law. Help Interactive (Document Assembly) Online Intake Live. Help • Common data tagging / usage tracking – National Subject Matter Codes (NSMI) – Location (State / County / Zip) – Language • Potential for National Aggregation / Analysis LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 39

Common National Standards Washingon. Law. Help. org 2010 Resources and Organizations Views By Topic Page Views Consumer & Debt 78, 264 Youth Law & Education 7, 980 Family Law 442, 811 Health 19, 304 Housing 74, 346 Immigration 15, 704 Aging / Elder Law 47, 445 Native American Issues 2, 250 Government Benefits 31, 606 Employment / Farm Worker Rights 14, 950 Civil Rights 4, 837 Mental Health 463 Domestic Violence & Anti-harassment Criminal Veterans & Military Total 9, 392 By Topic > Subtopic Consumer & Debt 78, 264 Debt collection 39, 994 Bankruptcy 13, 979 Public Utilities 3, 157 Small Claims Court 2, 575 Home owners 2, 217 Energy assistance, utilities 1, 194 Foreclosure 1, 091 Student loans 963 Drivers and professional licenses 885 14, 153 1, 162 800, 932 LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 40

Public Access Partners • Strategic networking collaborations to expand public access to information and tools – – – Courts Libraries Veterans centers DV shelters Community technology centers Healthcare • Value in identifying and sharing best practices nationally to support local work LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 41

Strategic Corporate Relationships • • Complex to structure for mutual benefit Need to be driven by strategic priorities Corporation’s leadership role can be key Examples • Document Assembly • GIS mapping • Online search / visibility • Mobile technologies • Data mining / analytics LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 42

VII. Broader Innovation Thoughts • Opportunity for LSC as national access transformation leader leading to possible national ATJ Commission with national bipartisan agenda • Three prong overall strategy – Courts (self-help, forms, etc) – Bar (pro bono and market restructuring) – Legal aid efficiency and availability • Needs studies and research (triage and access maximization with delivery experiments) LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 43

Broader Innovation Thoughts – Some Specifics • • National tech-delivery structure options Incentivizing program management innovation Evidence driven service and staffing protocols Competitive discretionary grants with sufficient time and resources • Mini-grants to take advantage of immediate research and collaboration opportunities • Administrative agency access to justice collaborations (not just tech) LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 44

Potential Summit on Next Generation Technology and Access • Why now? • Areas of focus – – Broadband Mobility Data mining Social media • Attendees for future collaboration • Board role for leadership LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 45

VIII Thoughts on General Strategic Choices • What kind of organization and overall strategic vision do you want? • What capacities and potential does technology provide that were not there before? • What partners are there, including for funding? • What changes will be permanent, create ongoing change, and provide most options for the future as you choose your overall strategy? • How does a Technology Agenda support and enhance those strategies? • What short term Technology Strategy will support whatever long term LSC strategic plan is developed? LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 46

Discussion LSC Board Briefing: Technology and Innovations 47