In New York, online portal projects get ready to launch.
Ricci Dipshan , Legaltech News
The focus on providing, expanding and modernizing
civil legal aid in New York comes directly from the top.
"As head
of the state's judicial system," Chief Judge of the State of New York
Janet DiFiore told the audience at the opening of the 2016 Statewide Civil
Legal Aid Technology Conference, "I believe that it is my No. 1
responsibility, and it is indeed my top priority, to make sure that we are
working to ensure that the justice system works fairly and efficiently for
every New Yorker across the state."
She expressed
optimism toward this goal, noting that there is "unprecedented funding in
our judicial budget to pay for civil legal aid for the poor," and
"the private bar has devoted a number of enormous pro bono hours."
But she added, "We know that there is much more work to be done, and we
also know the resources that are available to us are far outstripped by the
need for civil legal aid.
"That is
why technology is so vital in helping us close the justice gap," DiFiore
said, adding there is promise in finding ways to use and leverage technology to
this cause more effectively.
"We all
talk about this multiplier affect in using one lawyer's efforts and expertise
to help hundreds of people," she said. "And there is great
possibility and promise ahead of us."
The
conference's morning plenary showcased a handful of technological projects that
aim to revolutionize how civil legal aid is dispersed and accessed through the
use of yet-to-be-launched online portals.
Glenn Rawdon,
program counsel for technology at Legal Services Corp. (LSC), for example,
discussed his company's Statewide Access Portal Project, which was born out of
LSC's updated mission statement committing the organization toward creating
"some form of effective legal assistance to 100 percent of persons
otherwise unable to afford" legal services.
"One of
the concepts to do this was the idea of the portal," he said, which will
help New Yorkers "get to [legal] assistance, whether it be legal aid full
representation, legal advice," or any other form.
Rawdon added
that LSC has partnered with Microsoft, which brings to the table "design
solutions and actually puts together the technologies," and Pro Bono Net,
which, "in working with legal service providers, with the courts, with
social service agencies," brings "partnerships and
relationships" to the project.
At the heart
of the pilot is accessibility for clients and providers. The portal design will
focus on ease of use, providing "TurboTax-like dialogues to assess what
people's needs are," he said, and resources at every part of the civil
legal aid process. "They are not going to have to start one place and go all
the way through," Rawdon said.
He added that
"the hard part is going to be the governance."
"We are
hoping people can come together and put their differences aside to do
this," he said, noting that key players include courts, legal aid
organizations, state bar associations, libraries, self-help centers, noncourt
ADR providers, law schools, administrative law agencies, public
representatives, and more. "You can see this is going to be
comprehensive."
Organizing a
variety of players in one collaborative effort was also a challenge for Anna
Hineline, technology coordinator for Legal Assistance of Western New York, a
nonprofit law firm providing free legal aid to western New York individuals
with civil legal problems. Her organization is currently focused on building
the Western New York Consumer Pilot, a portal that aims to bring "32
countries, three legal service providers, three different case management
systems, and three different consumer practices" in western New York
"into one online gateway," she said. "Our goals of this project
is to make sure people don't feel like they aren't being handed around"
between providers.
Beyond
organization, Hineline saw other challenges in getting significant
"buy-in" from providers for the project, understanding the legal
landscape of the area, which included the difference in resources between urban
and rural areas, and keeping focused on the task at hand.
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