working and collaborating across states alison paul, montana legal services association ed marks,...
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Working and Collaborating Across States
Alison Paul, Montana Legal Services AssociationEd Marks, Legal Aid of Western OhioLiz Keith, Pro Bono NetEve Ricaurte, Iowa Legal Aid
Sharing Resources
Training Legal Aid University NTAP Training
Hosting web-based services Montana/Idaho case management NTAP Poverty Law Survey Tool Coming Soon: NTAP Listservs
Sharing Resources
Tech Support Maine and Montana examples
Other ideas Centralized back-up servers Help desk functions ?????
Cyber-Piracy Project
PTLA settlement with Legal Match brought issue to forefront of community
PTLA and NTAP worked to ensure lessons learned benefit entire SWEB community
Impact on local users, but required national strategy
Iowa’s Online Intake
Iowa created a Remote Intake system using ideas and groundwork from other programs.
To actually create the interview, Iowa used two sources of technology in a new way.
The intake questions are programmed into an A2J Interview, and the output is transformed to create a case in the Pika Case Management system
A2J Guided Interview for Intake (.a2j files)
Case Management System Data Collection
Interview Answers
(.anxFile)
XSLTransform
Transformed Answer Files
Case Management System
Answer File Data Now Available For Review in the Case Management
System….….conflicts check….attorney review
….processing
The “Script”…
The script from Iowa’s initiative is being used as the “starting point” for the Ohio intake initiative.
The script will be reviewed by all participating Ohio programs and will be edited based on the individual intake process for each program.
Full Circle
Lessons learned and materials developed by Ohio will benefit Iowa with updated interviews and other technological advances.
Disaster relief post Katrina/Rita
Learning from the NY 9/11 experience Conference calls of regional
coordinators Disaster legal services content-sharing
Client and advocate content
Disaster relief post Katrina/Rita
KatrinaLegalAid.org FEMAanswers.org wiki On the ground tech support Ad hoc resource sharing and support
networking
Content translation collaborations
Why collaborate on translation? Do more with less: translation is
expensive and time-consuming Ability to create something you can’t do
on your own Higher quality result for users Serve more users!
Content translation collaborations
WashingtonLawHelp.org navigation translation
Model Russian and Spanish content:http://www.probono.net/link.cfm?9355
Shared content banks Content sharing and adaptation
Adapting substantive content Federal resources Medicare part D guide LawHelp.org/NY Internet Fraud
Document assembly replication
Website content collaborations
Building Blocks of Website Collaborations
Common goals/needs Knowing who’s who
and who knows what How can technology
help? Share and share alike
LiveHelp
A joint TIG-funded project of Iowa Legal Aid Montana Legal Services Association State Bar of Georgia Pro Bono Project Pro Bono Net Recently added – Arkansas, Louisiana
What is LiveHelp?
Provides virtual, live assistance for Web site visitors
Helps visitors find information and referrals
Doesn’t provide legal advice
Cross-platform capabilities
Where is LiveHelp being used?
Navigation assistance on MontanaLawHelp.org and IowaLegalAid.org since June 2006 Also on MontanaFreeFile.org and in conjunction with
remote intake in Iowa LawHelp.org/LA (October 2007) GeorgiaAdvocates.org (December 2007) ARLegalServices.org (January 2008)
Staffed by VISTA volunteers, paralegals, interns, attorneys, and other willing (or drafted) staff members
How did the cross-jurisdictional collaboration come about?
Discussions among PBN, MLSA and ILA about LiveHelp as disaster legal services tool
Other cross-jurisdictional benefits Supported by 2006 TIG grant
What did we want to learn?
What is involved from a technical perspective?
What knowledge and experience is needed on the part of the navigator?
How best to support cross-jurisdictional navigators?
What are the benefits and challenges of cross-jurisdictional support?
LiveHelp Chat and Operator Interface
Canned chat is available for all sites in the project
Canned chat from one program can be copied and modified for use by another program
Review of chat topics and search terms used on all sites helps operators determine interests and needs of website visitors
Admins can
Monitor all sites Access reports and data collection View operator login information Disconnect operators if needed Alert others if there is a problem Accept chats from states even if they are not
listed as operators Create or modify canned chats for all states Create or modify surveys for all states Change project settings, or just those of one
state
Operators can
Send private chats to other operators who are engaged in a chat This is useful for training Helpful if there is information they
can share about the visitor's question Transfer a chat to any other operator
who is logged in Useful for catching chats quickly Can be used to transfer to a navigator
with special knowledge or skills, such as the ability to respond in a foreign language
How the Cross Jurisdiction Test was set up
Conference calls Identifying willing navigators Minor configurations in LivePerson Scheduling joint shifts Sharing of the most frequently used sites,
the most often asked questions and the answers
Monitoring by both sites so that the navigator had backup
Use of the Spark IM system LiveHelp Wiki
Experiences of the Cross Jurisdiction Navigators
From the site visitor’s perspective it is seamless
The learning curve is much shorter for a second, or third, state
Centralization of resources/forms helps Serving as a navigator in one state makes
it easier to recognize reliable online resources in other states, even if they are not housed by parallel services
Possible expanded uses
General “seat”-sharing and expanded coverage (hours, days, etc.)
Specialized multilingual assistance Deliver substantive expertise in
specialized area Assistance in disaster legal services
contexts Others?
Interim Analysis of Potential Broader Usage within Legal Aid
Advocate Support for Pro Bono Attorneys Pro Bono Advice or Information to Web site Users Cross State Assistance Multi-Lingual Support Document Assembly Support Low-Literacy User Support Service Finding and Online Application Assistance Diagnostic Software Support As Assistive Technology Considerations
General LiveHelp replication
Key resources for replication: MLSA navigator manual ILA project management resources PBN expanding replication support:
Implementation, training, marketing and evaluation assistance
2007 TIG grant to coordinate and support additional replication initiatives
Cross Jurisdictional Advocacy
How can we work across state and program lines to improve our advocacy efforts?
Service Area
Offices serving 32 counties in western Ohio
More than 30,000 requests for service received in 2007
"Wherever you are,
technology can go . . .”
Collaborative advocacy across traditional program boundaries
Local cases take on national significance
Technology expands our capacity to engage in national advocacy
The Big Picture
Client-centered strategic advocacy
What’s the problem vs. where’s the client
Combine & deliver expertise regardless of proximity
Patterns and repeat offenders
Affirmative advocacy Systemic impact
The Power of Data
Tsunami warnings from aggregate data
Discerning the signs Documenting the history
Strategic data mining
Track the ebb and flow Get ahead of emerging trends Develop action plans
The virtual law office makes it possible
Together, we do the community justice.Together, we do the community justice.
Remote access, wireless networks and mobile broadband
LegalMeetings and webinars
Web-based case management systems
Google documents & other web-based tools
Shared brief banks and document libraries
Web-based research systems
Technology Questions for Litigators and Program Leaders
Together, we do the community justice.Together, we do the community justice.
What’s the task?
Who are the stakeholders?
Who are the leaders?
Who will have time and expertise to do this?
Where will the money come from?
Evaluation/Accountability/Timelines
Think strategically - Support the mission!
To Find out More
Alison Paul, Deputy Director, Montana Legal Services Association, [email protected]
Ed Marks, Litigation Director, Legal Aid of Western Ohio, [email protected]
Eve Ricaurte, Managing Attorney Pro Se Projects/Eastern Iowa Intake, Iowa Legal Aid, [email protected]
Liz Keith, National LawHelp.org Circuit Rider, Pro Bono Net, [email protected]