2017 Pilot Program Final Report - Squarespace

2017 Pilot Program Final Report

Access to Justice Technology Fellows Program

ATJ Tech Fellows Pilot Final Report

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Equipping future lawyers with the skills, artistry and empathy needed to bridge the access to justice gap.

Pilot Program Supporters

Additionally, this pilot program was made possible through the generous support of Hon. Donald J Horowitz


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Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful to be supported by a community dedicated to ensuring the future of the legal profession is equipped to respond to civil justice gap. The sum of your unique contributions helped realize the successful launch of the pilot program. I sincerely thank all of the countless volunteers, advisors, professors, sponsors, partners institutions, coaches, friends and family who believed in my vision and generously supported my work. I am delighted to note that the Legal Services Corporation acknowledge that this pilot program has had positive and productive results with their grantee organizations who participated in the pilot and have agreed to support twenty one fellows for 2018 summer fellowship program. Ensuring the continuation of this work. Miguel H. Willis Founder, ATJ Tech Fellows Program

I want to particularly thank those directly involved in supporting the pilot program. The culmination of these efforts made this fellowship an enriching, powerful, and positive experience for the fellows and we hope that this is only the beginning of a rich relationship going forward. The pilot program could not have happened without the dedication of the following people and organizations:

Destinee Evers | Sart Rowe | Aurora Martin | Claudia Johnson | Katherine Alteneder | Patricia McCowan Annette Clark | Richard Bird | Paula Kurtz Kreshel | Dan Lear | Kevin O’keefe | Alison Paul | Nikole Nelson Khyrie Alleyne | Terri Ross | Mathew Stubenberg | Bonnie Sullivan Sergio Alcubilla | Mary Kaczorek | Krista Partridge | Sarah Carver | Matt Newsted | Ashlee Williams | Deborah Willis | Mara Kimmel Stacey Marz | Ed Marks | Allison Borngesser | Jeffrey Arresty | Benda E. Williams | Andrew Perlman | Gabriel Teninbaum Diana Singleton | Omar Willis | Hannan Khan Erin Mcintire | Laila Khalil | Paula Kurtz Kreshel | Seattle University Claudine Belmar | Christian Halliburton Matthew Etter | Chalia Stallings-Ala'ilima | Garret Thomas | Wale Ogundipe | Sederia Grey | Colleen Rowe | David Lawton | Daphne Jeon Maureen A. O'Hara | Sean Flynn Keith Jacobsen | Sarah Daniels | Justice Mary Yu | Anthea Fernandes | Adam Music | Sarah Elerson | Joel Smith Seattle Impact Hub | Ket Ng | Carmelita Krasucki | Donald J Horowitz | Margaret Chon | Heather Lewis | Pro Bono Net | Mark O Brien | Elizabeth Guinn | Errin Loyal | Avvo | Diane Guerts | Bre McCallister | Greg Mclawson | Legal Services Corporation | James Sandman | Glenn Rawdon | Franklin Graves | Patrick Palace | Alex Gulotta | Jane Ribadeneyra | Donna Deming | Judge LeRoy McCullough | Self Represented Litigation Network | Katherine Alteneder | LexBlog Kevin O’Keefe | Connor O’keefe | Starbucks Coffee | Seattle Social Venture Partners Fast Pitch | Microsoft Dave Heiner | Mary Snapp | Beth Henderson | Laura Carter | Paul Caron | Meaghan Larson | Tiffany M. Graves Keith Porcaro | Irene Mo | Dan Jackson | Glenn Rawdon | Anna Steele | Tom Martin | John Mayer | John E. Grant | Abhijeet Chavan | Richard Granat | Tom Martin | Tariq blake | Joe Knight | Colleen Rowe | Tanina Rostain | Don horowitz | Alex Ayvazov | Neil Ball | Matt Beland | Buzz Bruggeman | Kera Bryant | Forrest Carlson | Talia Clever | Jordan Couch | Nicholas Fillhart | Natalia Fior McMahon | Legal Foundation of Washington | Jerome Greene | David Harris | Mark Hartenstein | Darrah Hinton | Carly Ichiki | Judge David Keenan | Josh King Jeffery Kranking | Vance Licaros | Anastasia Mackart | Melinda Mann | Andrew Masak | Aaron McCloud | Joel Odima | David O'Hair U | Rebecca O'Neil | Hannah Palmer | Aneil Parashar | Ankit Patel | McCray Pettway | Adam Phillip | Humberto Quinitar | Ellen Reed | Brandy Rhodes | Janet Rodrigues | Jeremy Rudd | Mohamed Sanchez | Daniel Sandoval | Elizabeth Scutchfied | Al Sierra | Fred Sinkevich | Aaron Smith Paolo Sy | Casey Thomas | Dillom Bahta | Ethan Bauer | Theodora Brown | PSJD | ABA For Law Students Geekwire Gordon Creed | Chardynea Crossdale | Claire Cusella | Elizabeth Dennis | Nancy Drane | Judy Forrest | Michelle Gaeng | Sharon Goodie | Sarah Lilly | Mei Suet Loo | Andrew Manley | Mirenda Meghelli | Phoebe Moore | Delisa Morris | Ernest Powell | Graham Ralston |Patricia Reily | Audrey Roofeh | Sarah Glassmeyer | Michael Santos | Laroi Scrivner | Sakeenah Shabazz | Kelly Simon | Rhonda Sims | Paul St. Clair | Evan Underwood | Ryan Whitne | Alessandra Zielinski


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Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY………………………………………………………………………………1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………..4 The Access to Justice Gap 5 Innovations in the Delivery of Legal Services 6 A Growing Demand for Legal Engineers 9 The ATJ Tech Fellows Vision 10 PILOT OVERVIEW……………………………………………………………………………………..11 The ATJ Tech Fellows Program 12 Concept & Design 12 Funding the Pilot 14 Implementing the Pilot 15 Pilot Demographics 16 PILOT COMPONENTS……………………………………………………………………………….19 Multi-Skills Building Training 20 Fellows Project Placements 22 Project Advisors 22 Blogging Challenges 24 Virtual Brown Bag Webinars 24 Professional Development 26 FELLOWS IMPACT……………………………………………………………………………………27 Developing Robust Pipelines to Pro Bono 29 Enhancing Access through Community Engagement 31 Redesigning Pathways to Justice for Self-Represented 33 Building Capacity in Legal Aid Resources 35 PILOT REACTIONS AND OUTCOMES………………………………………………………….40 Fellows Assessment 41 Host Project Assessment 43 Key Findings 45 Recommendations 47 Post Pilot Milestones 46


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Executive Summary


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Executive Summary The Access to Justice Tech Fellows Program (ATJ Tech Fellows) — is pleased to present this final report on outcomes and impacts of the program. Seattle University School of Law, Seattle Social Venture Partners Fast Pitch Program and the Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project were our primary champions in conceptualizing and providing a platform to launch this pilot program, aimed to prepare tomorrow’s lawyers with the 21st-century skills needed to bridge the access to justice gap. As a pilot initiative, the ATJ Tech Fellows program has proven itself as a viable and successful model that blends: 1. 2. 3.

A competency-based learning model; Robust experiential project placements, where students leverage technology to address a real-life legal service delivery problem; and Concrete learning outcomes through tangible projects which help law students understand technology’s application to, and its impact on the delivery of legal services.

The pilot included a two day multi skills-building virtual training seminar. Exposing fellows to the complexities and challenges of the civil justice system, that serve as barriers to accessibility. Fellows were also introduced to current technologies and innovative approaches to delivering legal services. Fellows were trained in basic design thinking concepts and client-user centric values (diversity, equity, and inclusion) which they could directly integrate into their legal tech justice placements: user-centered design, project management, data analysis, cultural competency, and technology’s role within the larger systemic and social issues that account for the lack of access to justice. Following the training, the inaugural ten ATJ Tech Fellows worked on specific technology projects identified by different legal aid programs as critical to improving the delivery of legal services. Fellows worked full-time over ten weeks and each fellow received a $4,000 stipend. Fellows helped develop new technology tools and tested innovative approaches to improve service delivery while embedded in the program’s nine pilot host organizations:


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The Northwest Justice Project - Seattle | Alaska Legal Services Corporation Anchorage | Alaska Court Family Law Self Help Center - Anchorage | Michigan Legal Help Program - Ann Arbor | Legal Services State Support -St. Paul | Maryland Volunteer Legal Services - Baltimore | Legal Aid Society of Hawaii - Honolulu,| Illinois Legal Aid Online - Chicago | Montana Legal Services Association - Helena

This report provides an overview of the inaugural cohort ATJ Tech Fellows, its key components, and how it delivered on its goal of equipping future lawyers with multidisciplinary skills to improve the delivery of legal services. The Introduction articulates the reason for ATJ Tech Fellows, and summarizes the widening civil justice gap in America and presents current initiatives that leverage technological innovation to improve legal service delivery. Next, the Pilot Overview section discusses the concept, design, and intended outcomes of the ATJ Tech Fellows. The Pilot Components section describes the robust programming and activities which provided fellows the skills-based training and project-based experiential learning. The Fellows Impact section highlights the specific accomplishments of the fellows, which are organized under the following themes: Redesigning Pathways to Justice for Self-Represented Applying user-center design and process methodologies to improve statewide legal information websites, intake, self-help materials using plain language Developing Robust Pipelines to Pro Bono Developing online legal education training materials and webinars using technology based tools in order to increase pro bono attorney involvement. Enhancing Access through Community Engagement Improving existing service delivery technologies through community based user testing and collaboration with community based organizations. Building Capacity in Legal Aid Resources Evaluating the effectiveness of existing legal service delivery technology based tools and making recommendations to improve efficiency for future technology projects.


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The final section of the report Pilot Reactions and Outcomes describes the fellows program evaluation and assessment. In additional to the next steps for the program. In summary, the ATJ Tech Fellows inaugural cohort demonstrated successful learning outcomes, projects, and impact beyond the projects and professional development of the fellows themselves. Based on the initial findings, the ATJ Tech Fellows shows much potential as a systematic platform for equipping the next generation

of attorneys

whose innovations can dramatically contribute to ensuring access to justice. Selected accomplishments include: Program Accomplishments ✓ Validated pilot concept through research and nationwide respondent survey. ✓ Successfully partnered with nine legal services entities to secure fellows’ host placements ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

and projects, that each leveraged technology based innovation to improve the delivery of legal services. Successfully raised pilot funding for each of the fellows’ summer stipends. Led recruitment for competitive selection process that accepted only 9 of the 98 applicants (10 percent acceptance rate). Provided a comprehensive online skills training program and weekly online brown bag sessions. That focused on 10 topics, and included 18 facilitators. Offered supplemental activities and support for the fellows, including reflective blogging exercises, check ins, on-site training, and exposure to local community’s civil justice infrastructure through conferences and events. Secured funding and project placements to host over 20 fellows to sustain the program for 2018 summer cohort.

Fellows Accomplishments ✓ Developed and Implemented statewide online tool for attorneys seeking pro bono ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

opportunities at legal service providers in Hawaii. Conducted user-testing for document assembly interviews, reviewed online self help materials and improve content of online resources for quality assurance to better meet the legal needs of Michigan residents. Designed online network survey instrument and performed statewide inter- organizational social network analysis aimed to better understand the legal and non-legal service provider network infrastructure in Alaska. Gained proficiency in SQL programming language to run queries of public and private datasets and analyzing them to determine legal issues Maryland residents may have. Designed an online chatbot to communicate information for low-income Washington State residents on where to find legal forms, required documentation, and other types legal resources.


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Pilot Overview


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The Access to Justice Gap Equality before the law is a constitutional right, and includes access to a lawyer in most criminal cases. Yet despite the ubiquity of civil legal needs, an overwhelming majority of low-income Americans do not have equal access to the civil justice system. Often referred to as the “access to justice gap.” Describes the difference between the civil legal needs of the low-income persons and the resources available to meet those needs.1 The access to justice gap not only describes the serious cost-related barriers preventing the individuals from receiving traditional access to a lawyer and/or legal services. But, also shines a light on a host of related barriers that prevent over eighty percent of low-income Americans from gaining meaningful access to our justice system.2 Structure-related barriers can include the combined set of complex mechanisms, institutions, and formalities of navigating the justice system. Leaving many low-income Americans unaware or unable to exercise their rights when a legal problem arises.3 Social and cultural-related barriers serve as additional barriers to accessibility. Which can stem from numerous factors including race and poverty, socioeconomic status, geography, the homogeneity/heterogeneity of the population and levels of literacy and education. Marginalized groups also face special barriers due to the heightened challenge of obtaining appropriate services that are designed and specifically tailored to cater to a range of unique needs. Several groups include indigenous peoples, older persons, migrants, victims of domestic abuse, linguistic minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities.4

1

Lisa Addario, Getting a Foot in the Door: Women, Civil Legal Aid and Access to Justice (Ottawa: Status of Women Canada, September 1998). 2

Legal Services Corporation. 2017.The Justice Gap: Measuring the Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low-income Americans Prepared by NORC at the University of Chicago for Legal Services Corporation. Washington, DC 3

2OECD Expert Roundtables on Equal Access to Justice (2015), Background Notes, OECD, Paris.

4

J Beqiraj and L McNamara, International Access to Justice: Barriers and Solutions (Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law Report 02/2014), International Bar Association, October


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Furthermore, research suggests that without access to effective resources to resolve civil legal problems can trigger and/or compound other legal and non-legal problems.5 This vicious cycle can prevent individuals from accessing basic human needs, such as safe housing, protection from abusive relationships, assistance in child custody disputes, and relief from financial exploitation. Over time, these negative outcomes perpetuate inequalities in other areas long term, including educational attainment, physical and mental health conditions and employment opportunities, which are important determinants of equity, social justice, and social inclusion. As the unmet civil legal need in our country continues to far exceeds the supply of civil legal resources and traditional pro bono assistance. The access to justice gap in America has exposed that traditional approaches to the practice of law and resourcing legal services have proven insufficient to address the complex challenges in meeting the unmet legal needs of the poor. Which are reinforced by an array of intricate barriers that curtail access to justice.

Innovations in the Delivery of Legal Services The legal industry is undergoing substantial changes in its delivery of legal services because of rapid innovation and technological advancements in digital era. These disruptive legal innovations are transforming the legal profession as we know it and seeking to make justice more accessible for all. While redefining the traditional “practice of law” and methods in delivering legal services. These technology-driven changes have spawned a fascinating network of organizations, solutions, and projects devoted to leveraging tech-based legal delivery models to address the access to justice gap. Below we highlight several use cases of technology’s application in the delivery of legal services to provide readers with a context of its potential to make justice more accessible in resolving civil legal issues. The first use case includes the range of legal technology solutions available specifically tailored to the compliment the traditional role of lawyers. These tech tools Improve efficiency and productivity of legal work. From comprehensive online practice

5

L. Sandefur, Accessing Justice in the Contemporary USA: Findings from the Community Needs and Services Study 5 (2014).


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management systems such as CLIO, to cloud-based software solutions that automate legal document drafting. These tech tools can streamline processes and dramatically scale the reach of a single legal services provider.6 mundane The second use case involves the various technologies that have transformed the physical interactions with our justice system. These technologies can facilitate virtual remote appearances in court hearings and offer solutions that provide virtual settings for dispute resolution. Another use case includes the range of user-centered technologies that can be leveraged to help individuals self-navigate the justice system or address a legal issue. DoNotPay, developed by Stanford undergrad student Joshua Browder is a free online chatbot that was created to help individuals address common legal issues.7 This technology utilizes natural language processing and chat interface to asks users a series of questions relating to their legal issues and generates a letter or form they can submit to the court or relevant administrative agency. DoNotPay has already overturned 375,000 parking tickets in the US and UK. The last use case involves several advanced technologies that utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning to perform more nuanced legal work that were exclusively executed by trained lawyers. ROSS Intelligence, a startup built upon Watson IBM’s cognitive computer technology, can conduct legal research by combing through its database of legal documents to find relevant legal source materials using advanced pattern recognition software, rather than key words. Northwestern Pritzker School of Law recently partner with ROSS Intelligence to focus on teaching Northwestern Law students how legal technology can facilitate the provision of legal services and address widespread access-to-justice issues.8

6

Mazzone, E., “The Innovation Imperative: Adapt or Die?” American Bar Association, Law Practice Management, Vol. 39, No. 4 July- Aug 2013, found at http://americanbar.org/publications/law_practice_magazine/2013/july-august/web-2-0.html(last visited September 21, 2017). 7

DoNotPay creator Joshua Browder launches robot giving free legal help. Lee Thisismoney.co.uk - http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/ money/news/article-3394093/Joshua-Browder-created-DoNotPay-launches-robot-Britons-free-legal-help.html 8

Northwestern Law School, ROSS Intelligence Move Forward with AI Partnership Ed Silverstein - https://www.law.com/ legaltechnews/sites/legaltechnews/2017/11/14/northwestern-law-school-ross-intelligence-move-forward-with-ai-partnership/? slreturn=20171028101119


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While not all legal innovation aimed to improve justice outcomes has come in the form of a technology solution. A distinct regime of legal innovation has recently developed and demonstrates the greatest potential of reducing the barriers that contribute to the access to justice gap. This regime employs a “systems change” approach in legal service delivery through cross sector collaborations and partnerships to improve the delivery of legal services. Medical-Legal Partnerships is an example of this innovative approach.9 These partnerships are a collaboration of hospitals and health centers that leverage legal expertise of civil legal aid agencies or law schools to address communities’ healthrelated legal needs. These medical-legal partnerships work to meet the health-legal needs of children, elderly individuals, Native Americans, veterans, and people with chronic illnesses. Problem-solving courts (PSC) is another example that employs a “systems change” approach to address the underlying problems such as substance abuse and mental health that contribute to criminal behavior. Judges have total discretion to order clients in PSC into treatment, rather than perpetuating the revolving door of court and prison. At present, we are entering the infant stages of what appears to be a new era in civil justice service delivery.10 This new era will integrate the technological legal innovation framework with the systems change approach regime to accelerate improvements in the delivery of legal services while reducing the barriers that prevent equal access to justice. The emergence of this era is informed by several local, national, and international justice interventions currently in development. While it is still to early to fully determine what the impact of these changes will have in bridging the access to justice gap. There will be a great demand for legal problem solvers who are equipped with an expansive set of skills and competencies to meet the needs of the changing landscape in legal service delivery.11 Providing the opportunity to leverage a combination of technological and human capacity to redesign new, 9

Lawton, E., Coon, B. B. & Fung, A. (2010). Medical-legal partnership | Philadelphia: Meeting basic needs and reducing health disparities by integrating legal services into the healthcare setting. Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal, 3 10

2OECD Expert Roundtables on Equal Access to Justice (2015), Background Notes, OECD, Paris.

11

Mark A. Cohen, Who Will Train Tomorrow’s Lawyers and How Will They Learn?, Forbes (Sept. 25, 2017)


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thoughtful and human-centered solutions that can improve the processes and pathways for low-income individuals accessing the civil justice system.

A Growing Demand for Legal Engineers The traditional practice of law will continue to rapidly evolve due to innovations disrupting the legal industry given unbundling of legal professional legal services, automation, and implications of AI and machine learning for self-help dispute resolution. Despite increased innovations in the changing legal environment. The U.S. legal education system remains unwilling or unable to equip students with the 21st century skills and competencies needed to leverage new tools and approaches that can make our justice system more accessible, efficient, and better aligned with the needs of low-income and disenfranchised communities.12 While a small, but growing number of law schools throughout the U.S. have responded to these changes by introducing innovative courses, clinics and programming.13 These innovative programs leverage training from a broad range of disciplines, and skills. Additionally, there is also an emphasis on priming future lawyers to understand technology’s application to and impact on the delivery of legal services.14 Most law schools however, remain aligned to the traditional legal education model. This model is largely focused on the accumulation of legal knowledge, and developing practice skills related to traditional law ‘practice’, such as client interviewing, negotiation and mediation, and professional judgment. The inability of legal education institutions to adapt will ultimately undermine any current efforts to close the justice gap.

12

5 Susskind, R., Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK 2013, Kindle Edit ion at 3-5. 13

Law School Innovation Index by Daniel Linna Jr. https://www.legaltechinnovation.com Last accessed, 28 Nov 2017.

14Pistone,

Michele and Horn, Michael (2016) ‘Disrupting Law School: How Disruptive Innovation Will Revolutionize the Legal World’ Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.Last accessed 25 Sep 2017.


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Therefore, future lawyers should be trained to be “legal engineers” – a hybrid of those who are design thinkers able to problem solve with sufficient tech capacity.15 and who are also knowledgeable about the law and its relevance in the digital context --in order address the widening civil justice gap in America. Lawyers who can augment their core legal knowledge with an ability to harness technology, automation, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and a host of other skills that could leveraged to provide increased access to effective legal services to low-income and disenfranchised communities.

The Access to Justice Technology Fellows Program Vision To meet the needs of a rapidly changing legal environment and growing justice gap will require a systems change approach. This starts with equipping the next generation of lawyers with the skills, artistry, and empathy to reshape, reinvent, and reengineer the delivery of legal services. The ATJ Tech Fellows program was founded by law students to answer this call. Catalyzing a combination of knowledge, attitude, skills and actions to prepare future lawyers with the skills to harness technology and legal innovation tackle the full breadth of problems facing our civil justice system. Lawyers who have a thorough understanding the underlying systemic causes and barriers that contribute to the widening access to justice gap, which they can integrate to inform the development of thoughtful and appropriate solutions. By creating a pipeline of future lawyers to harness all forms of legal innovation to improve legal delivery, we can accelerate the pace of future innovations in our justice system and gradually reduce those barriers standing in the way of equal access to justice for all.

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Thornton, Margaret (2012) ‘The New Knowledge Economy and the Transformation of the Law Discipline’ 19 International Journal of the Legal Profession 265-281.


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Pilot Overview


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The ATJ Tech Fellows program was founded in 2016 by Miguel Willis, who was at the time a second year law student at Seattle University School of Law. The program was launched to pilot a new model of online competency-based learning curriculum coupled with a robust experiential project placements. The pilot provided ten law student fellows a unique experiential opportunity to take part in a 10-week paid summer program. Where fellows developed new skills and spent their summer working on a range of innovative projects that leverage technology to address a real-life legal service delivery problem. The program leveraged a host of innovative collaborations. The main collaborators Included Seattle University School of Law, who served as the organization’s fiscal sponsor for the pilot. The Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project, a Seattle non-profit led by Sart Rowe, facilitated the pilot’s online training seminar and weekly virtual brown bag webinars. LexBlog, a Seattle based blog publishing company designed and hosted online blogs for each of the fellows. Each of the participating legal services organizations mentioned earlier in this report were internal partners and served as the fellows’ project placements for the pilot. Additionally, the program collaborated with over twenty thought leaders in the legal profession, who served as presenters for the online training seminars and brown bag webinars during the pilot. The program leveraged a great deal of expertise from advisors and mentors. The pilot was organized entirely by volunteers, many who are current law students.

Concept & Program Design The inception for ATJ Tech Fellows program was developed through Miguel’s experience while in law school testing various tech-based approaches to address access to justice issues. These experiences included organizing several legal hackathon events, regularly collaborating with civil justice non-profit organizations and legal innovators, blogging, attending conferences, and frequently presenting on issues at the intersection of access to justice and technology.


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The design of the pilot was modeled, in part, after several successful existing law school programs that train law students how leverage technology, legal innovation, and collaboration to expand access to legal services.

Programmatic Structure The program’s structure for pilot was somewhat modeled by existing fellowships, such as Equal Justice Works and Legal Services Corporation's “Rural Summer Legal Corps” program. The Rural Summer Legal Corps connects public interest law students with civil legal aid organizations to address pressing legal issues facing rural communities.

Technology-Enabled Project-Based Experiential Learning Model The pairing of law students working directly with legal services organizations on project-based technology enabled solutions to address a real life access to justice problem was modeled in part after Georgetown Law Center's “Iron Tech Lawyer Competition.” Embedded within Georgetown's “Institute for Law, Technology, and Policy Law Practice.” Practice practicum — students collaborate with legal non-profits to design and develop apps that help potential users navigate the justice system, find legal resources and apply for legal aid.

Online Competency-Based Learning The pilot’s asynchronous online competency-based learning incorporated within the multi skills-building training seminar and weekly brown bags webinars was inspired after Michele R. Pistone and Michael B. Horn’s academic contributions in “Disrupting Law School: How disruptive innovation will revolutionize the legal world.” This learning approach was also modeled in part by University of Miami School of Law’s “Law Without Walls” (LWOW) program. LWOW train future lawyers, retrain current lawyers, and create innovations that solve problems at the intersection of law, business, and technology through a multidisciplinary programs. The LWOW program heavily utilizes cutting edge asynchronous technology to communicate and collaborate.  ATJ Tech Fellows Pilot Final Report

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Funding the Pilot The pilot was made possible through bootstrapping and a diverse range of fundraising efforts including mobilizing an online crowd fund campaign, participating in a pitch competition, hosting fundraiser events, corporate and institutional support through sponsorship, and individual contributions through the ATJ Tech Fellows website. The program raised over $40,000 to cover each $4,000 stipend distributed to the fellows’ who participated in the summer pilot. Participating in the 2016 Seattle's Social Venture Partners Fast Pitch Competition (SVP Fast Pitch) served as the initial funding launch pad for the pilot. SVP Fast Pitch is a social innovation pitch competition that highlights and propels startups and non-profits in the Puget Sound region, who are tackling societal challenges. In total, the program received $14,000 in cash prizes from competing in the competition. This included an $10,000 Social Innovation award from Microsoft Philanthropies, an $2,500 Youth Opportunity award from Starbucks Foundation, and an $1,500 award for placing second overall in the university track of the competition.

Miguel Willis, Founder of ATJ Tech Fellows competing in the Seattle Social Venture Fast Pitch Competition

Following the competition, the program raised over $24,000 through individual contributions, corporate sponsorship and institutional support. Major contributions were received from Seattle University School of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, The Self Represented Litigation Network, Avvo and retired Seattle judge, Hon. Donald J. Horowitz.

James Sandman, President of the Legal Services Corporation

ATJ Tech Fellows Final delivering keynote remarksPilot at the ATJ Tech Report Fellows Launch Fundraiser hosted by Microsoft in Washington D.C.

Additionally, Microsoft and Avvo hosted two separate happy hour events in efforts to mobilize the legal community around the program’s mission and help secure the remaining funds to launch the pilot. Microsoft sponsored the first event in Washington D.C. at the Microsoft Innovation and Policy Center on March 2017. Avvo sponsored a event at their headquarters in Seattle, WA in May 2017. Collectively, these events raised several thousand dollars and expanded the program’s community. Page 14

Core Competencies The pilot leverages several core competencies aimed to equip future lawyers with the skills to contribute to the changing legal environment and facilitate access to justice. These competencies include human-centered design, project management, collaboration, data analysis, cultural competency, and understanding technology’s application and role within systematic and structural poverty. The core competencies were derived through thorough analysis and interrogation of a broad range of academic contributions and skills applied in practice by cutting edge law schools, legal innovators, legal services organization, law firms, and in house legal operations departments throughout the world.

Implementing the Pilot Program After the pilot’s initial concept was developed, the program designed a survey in June 2016 to validate the pilot’s concept. The survey sought to gauge whether there was a need for this type of program, and if a 10-week summer fellow placement contribute or impede on the projects development. The respondent group included over 30 legal services providers, who were identified as then developing or implementing a technology based solution to improve the delivery of legal services for individuals unable to access the justice system. Many of the organizations identified were grantee organizations of Legal Services Corporation’s Technology Initiative Grant Program. There were 16 organizations who participated in the survey, and 12 (75%) of the responses were positive, 3(19%) response were neutral, and 1(6%) response was negative. Following the results from survey, the program invited each of the respondents to participate in the pilot. Nine organizations accepted the invitation and partnered with program. These organizations include 


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Pilot Demographics

98 26

Law Students Law Schools

Applicant Class Year 50

37.5

25

Highest # of Applicants • Michigan State University College of Law • Seattle University School of Law • University of Maryland Francis Carey School of Law • University of Washington School of Law

12.5

0

Class Year 1L

2L

3L

Applicant Self-Identification Race and Ethnicity

10%

14%

Applicant Gender Indentification

16%

4%

16%

2% 2%

43%

53%

39%

African American/Black 16 Asian/Pacific Islander 16 Hispanic/Latino 14

American Indian/Native 4 Caucasian/White 38 Decline to State 10


Female 52 Male 42 Declined to State 2 Other Gender-Related Identity 2

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Fellow Self-Identification Race and Ethnicity

Fellow Gender Indentification

18%

45%

10% 18% 40%

50%

Female 4 Male 5 Other Gender-Related Identity 1

18%

African American/Black 5 American Indian/Native 2 Asian/Pacific Islander 2 Caucasian/White 2

The Northwest Justice Project, Seattle | Alaska Legal Services Corporation - Anchorage, Michigan Legal Help Program - Ann Arbor | Legal Services State Support -St. Paul, Maryland Volunteer Legal Services - Baltimore | Legal Aid Society of Hawaii - Honolulu, Illinois Legal Aid Online - Chicago, and Montana Legal Services Association - Helena. Each of the projects for the host organizations varied, leveraging broad range of technologies -- including mobile, cloud computing, data analysis, and automated document assembly -- to make the delivery of legal services in the United States more efficient and effective. This would provide a unique experience and challenge for each of the fellows. The program began recruiting law students in October 2017. With a limited amount of resources, the program initially coordinated targeted outreach to public interest contacts, professors and clinical directors at law schools within each of the nine host organization’s states. The program also leveraged a diverse range of outreach and


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recruitment strategies including submitting job postings for each position through the PSJD and Symplicity career portal platform. Marketing campaigns through the ABA for Law Students network, utilizing various social media platforms, online press and blog outlets that targeted law students. To improve the chances of attracting diverse fellows to pilot, the program directed specific recruitment and outreach efforts to attract diverse law students. These efforts include targeted outreach to the Latina/o Law Student Associations, the National Black Law Students Association, LGBT student groups, and law schools at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The program took additional precautionary measures to ensure the recruitment diverse candidates during the selection period. The program encouraged each of the host placement organizations to review Harvard’s Implicit Bias Test and a host of other related materials before making their applicant selections. These measures were taken to raise awareness of potential biases that may occur in selecting candidates. The application period opened on December 6, 2016. Students were able to apply online through the program’s online application portal, or by submitting the application and supplementary materials via email. The application period closed on February 15, 2017. Through a competitive national selection process, the host organization selected 9 exceptional fellows from 98 applicants based on a number of qualifying factors, including prior experience, resume, directed essay prompts, and references. The program and host organizations were successful in selecting a well rounded diverse cohort of fellows for the program. The selected fellows spanned from all different backgrounds, races, religions and sexual orientations. The pilot program officially began in May 22, 2017 and officially ended on August , 2017.


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Pilot Components


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Through the pilot program, fellows had access to a variety of resources and supportive activities that boosted their professional capabilities and enhanced the impact of their projects. These resources included a two-day virtual multi skills-building training curriculum, a weekly brown bag speakers series, reflective blogging exercises, individual project advisors, and a host of varied professional development opportunities while working at their host organizations. All activities sought to support the development of the fellows and increased capacity of the host legal service organization’s projects. For the fellows, this included strengthening core competencies to manage project deadlines and complex assignments. For the host legal service providers, this included adequately preparing fellows’ and reinforcing skills to reduce the burden on host organization resources in training the fellow to meet complex project demands. Collectively, these supportive activities maximized the impact of the pilot and contributed to the goal of building capacity in civil legal aid resources, while providing the fellows an enriching learning experience. The following section provides a brief snapshot of the supportive activities and their affects.

Multi-Skills Building Training

Project Placement & Advisors

Virtual Brown Bag Speakers

Blogging Challenges

Onsite Training and Activities

ATJ Tech Fellows Pilot Components

Multi-Skills Building Training The pilot included a two-day online multi skills-building training seminar. Exposing fellows to current technologies and innovative approaches being experimented with in the civil justice system. Fellows were trained broad range of

skills

including user-

centered design, project management, data analysis, cultural competency, and


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technology’s role within the larger systemic and social issues that account for the lack of access to justice.  The training sessions were facilitated by Sart Rowe, pilot collaborator and project manager for the Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project (LSNTAP). Each session was hosted on GoTo Webinar and recorded on the LSNTAP YouTube page. The online training sessions supported audio, video, and screen share capabilities. Additionally, the fellows were provided pre training reading materials for each session. Collectively, this aided to enhance the fellows’ the learning experience. Below is a brief summary description of each of the training sessions.

Session 1

Session 3

Access to Justice and Technology “The Changing Landscape of Legal Service Delivery” Facilitator: Glenn Rawdon, Program Counsel for the Technology Initiative Grant Program, Legal Services Corporation This session provided fellows with a broad overview of the civil justice gap in America. While also providing context to the varied uses of technology in providing effective and efficient high quality legal assistance to low-income persons and to promote access to the judicial system through legal information, advice, and representation.

Legal Expert Systems, ChatBots in Legal Services Facilitator: Tom Martin, CEO, Law Droid This session will explored the use of legal expert systems and chatbots as force multipliers for legal services delivery. in areas such as intake, navigation and triage, immigration, Medicaid appeals, consumer debt and landlord-tenant, veterans’ medical care, and unemployment benefits. It will include an explanation and demonstration of the software principles of expert systems and their relationship to tools for document automation, surveys, interviews, and forms.

Session 2

Session 4

Design Thinking in Legal Services Facilitator: Dan Jackson, Executive Director NuLawLab at Northeastern Law School This session exposed fellows to the theory and methodologies of human-centered design and how it can be applied to facilitate innovation in the justice system. The facilitator also provided practical methods to utilize legal design thinking to solve real life client problems, and design simple solutions using low-cost web-enabled tools to meet those users where they are.


Plain Language in Legal Services Delivery Facilitator: Anna Steele, Legal Technologist Just Tech, LLC This session explored how plain language in legal services can improve the readability of legal documents, and simplify specialized legal terms Innovation in technology has allowed for the development of a variety of resources to assist advocates in ensuring the materials that are created are easy to read. Fellows learned how to use the ReadClearly and WriteClearly platform to improve legal information content.

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Session 5 Automated Document Assembly Tools Facilitator: John Mayer, Director, CALI This session covered the different tools that allow automation of forms for self-represented litigants. The presenter will discussed the benefits and challenges of working with automation and assemble tools.

Session 6 Mobile Technologies in Legal Services Facilitator: Matthew Stubenberg, Attorney Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Association This session focused on a few of the latest innovations utilizing mobile devices in service

delivery. The presenter will cover optimizing content for mobile websites, mobile apps and discuss how programs have used SMS text campaigns for delivery of client resources and referral information.

Session 7 Agile Project Management in Legal Settings Facilitator: John E Grant, Attorney StartHereHQ This session provided fellows a broad overview of agile project management in legal services. This session focused on the theoretical and practical underpinnings of managing a project, using an lean agile approach. 

Fellows’ Project Placements Following the training seminar, fellows worked on specific technology projects identified as critical to improving access to justice, where they developed new technology tools and tested innovative approaches to improve service delivery and embedded in projects at the host organizations. Each of the fellows projects will be explored in greater depth in the “Fellows Impact” section.

Project Advisors Fellows were designated project advisors to provide ongoing support to the fellows while working on their host site projects. These advisors met regularly with the fellows to provide feedback, assist them in program development, project management, and to ensure the success of the fellow’s project and guide their professional growth. Having designated project advisors enhanced the learning opportunity for the fellows to build skills, troubleshoot project specific issues and reinforce the learning concepts from the training to their work. Project advisors also provided an in person final evaluation assessing the fellows performance during the end of the pilot and ATJ Tech Fellows Pilot Final Report

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Inside the Pilot Avvo Hackathon Ranime Oueis, fellow at the Northwest Justice Project (NJP) in Seattle, WA shares her experience attending Avvo’s hackathon to help them build a online chatbot for NJP’s Facebook page for users seeking legal information.

Imagine a world where tech companies and legal aids are able to collaborate on projects to create services that simplify the legal system. Attending Avvo’s hackathon exposed me to an approach that allows tech companies to encourage innovative ideas while also catering to the public interest. Our team discussed a problem that the Northwest Justice Project is currently facing: users send messages to the organization’s Facebook page seeking legal information, but it’s difficult to respond in a timely manner. Our team chose to address this issue by creating a chatbot that responds to Facebook users with information related to the questions asked. Ideally, the chatbot would query search results from Washington Law Help’s website based on the user’s input and then relay the search results directly to the user. To visualize our project, we wrote a hypothetical on how the chatbot would function. First, a user messages the Northwest Justice Project Facebook page asking for help. For example, a user can ask “My landlord is threatening to evict me for not paying rent in an unlivable apartment, what can I do?” The chatbot then responds with an introductory message and, based on the question asked, will provide the top three search results from Washington Law Help’s website along with a link to contact information. On the third day of the hackathon, teams gave quick presentations and demos of their final products. Teams discussed potential obstacles, areas for improvement, and overall thoughts on their project. Our chatbot concept won an award for being most in-line with Avvo’s mission statement. Participating in the hackathon was an invaluable learning experience. It gave me an opportunity to network with individuals in the legal tech industry and introduced me to ways big tech companies can contribute to making legal services more accessible for low-income Americans.


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completed an online final evaluation that was submitted to the ATJ Tech Fellows program.

Blogging Challenges As part of the pilot program requirements, fellows wrote monthly blog posts reflecting on their individual project experiences and topics coving some of the core competencies gained from the training curriculum. Fellows wrote about their project successes, novel issues at the intersection of technology and justice, and how their work contributed their professional development. The pilot program collaborated with LexBlog, a Seattle based blog publishing platform designed for the legal industry. LexBlog created each fellow a hosted blog during the fellows program and fellows were able to utilize LexBlog’s online knowledge center which provided online training videos and guidance for blog writing and curating content. Fellows’ blog posts were widely read by both domestic and international audiences over the 10-week pilot. One fellow even wrote a guest piece on Avvo’s Company blog. In addition to blogging, many fellows were highly active on their social media profile through regular posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. ATJ Tech Fellows program helped to extend the reach of the fellows thought leadership by regularly pushing out information, blog posting, and retweets to its network.

Virtual Brown Bag Webinars As part of the pilot program, fellows had the opportunity to learn not just from the training curriculum and individual project advisors, but also from a broad range of diverse thought leaders throughout the United States working in the access to justice and technology field.


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Inside the Pilot The Hawaii Access to Justice Commission Conference

ATJ Tech Fellow Chad Au with over 260 people attended the ninth Hawaii Access to Justice Conference on Friday, June 16, 2017 at the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii, Manoa campus. The conference celebrated the theme “Fulfilling the Promise of Equal Justice.” Governor David Ige, Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald, and Associate Justice Simeon Acoba (ret.) provided welcoming remarks.

Kellye Testy Former Dean of University of Washington School of Law energized the audience with her keynote address, “Just Innovations.” “[W]e must nurture a spirit of ‘just innovation,’ that is, a spirit of innovation whose first principle is to advance justice and human dignity.” “We must not only tolerate risk taking, we must encourage it.”

Left: Sergio Alcubilla, LASH Project Advisor Right: Chad Au, ATJ Tech Fellow


She stated: “These collaborations within the legal system are critical. Next stage design thinking will also require collaboration across traditional lines – among judges, lawyers, academics, social justice movements, labor unions, human rights advocates and others — and now also with technologists, entrepreneurs, inventors, business leaders, and angel investors, too. Our ranks are expanding; let’s welcome these newcomers with open arms. We need them; and frankly, they need us.”

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The pilot hosted weekly virtual brown bag sessions aimed to broaden fellows’ professional network and expose them to diverse career paths in the law. The weekly sessions were fellows were informal and interactive. Facilitators shared their backgrounds, career paths, current organization's work, and discussed novel topics at the intersection of law and technology.

Professional Development The fellows had exposure to additional professional development opportunities while working within their host organizations. These activities were tailored to advance both fellows’ learning experience and enhance exposure to a broader network of leaders who are working address the access to justice gap. Fellows attended trainings workshops and organized outings to a variety of legal settings (courthouses, legal aid organizations, conferences) to expose them to other ways legal aid can be delivered. Exposure to justice innovations and projects specific training provided by the program and each pilot host organizations strengthened core competencies and linked the fellows to professional development opportunities. To further solidify the fellows skills, a series of reflective blog challenges were assigned throughout the pilot to advance core competencies central to the fellows’ work in each city and engage a wider audience of this work. Together, these activities have helped to build skills, gain practical experience engaging technology enabled justice solution, and solidified core competencies of the pilot program.


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Fellows Impact


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As the true stars of the pilot, the fellows delivered tangible results in their host organization projects, while gaining a broad range of skills and competencies. Eight of the ten fellows traveled out of state to participate in the pilot program; establishing new professional relationships and learning the nuances of their local legal ecosystems required an enormous amount of resiliency. All, while overcoming huge learning curves as they developed technologies and tested innovative approaches to civil justice problems. Despite these factors, the fellows quickly adapted to their terrain and exhibited an unwavering commitment to access to justice.

When considering the diverse range of the fellows’ portfolios, four common themes emerged that describe the focus of their collective work: Redesigning Pathways to Justice for Self-Represented Applying user-center design and process methodologies to improve statewide legal information websites, intake, self-help materials using plain language Developing Robust Pipelines for Pro Bono Developing online legal education training materials and webinars using technology based tools in order to increase pro bono attorney involvement. Enhancing Access through Community Engagement Improving existing service delivery technologies through community based user testing and collaboration with community based organizations. Building Capacity in Legal Aid Resources Evaluating the effectiveness of existing legal service delivery technology based tools and making recommendations to improve efficiency for future technology projects.

The following section provides a deeper look at the fellows and their selected accomplishments


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Developing Robust Pipelines for Pro Bono

These fellows helped develop online legal education training materials and webinars using technology based tools in order to increase pro bono attorney involvement.

Brittany Ward Seattle University School of Law Alaska Legal Services Corporation Anchorage, Alaska

In support of Alaska Legal Services Corporation (ALSC), Brittany Ward worked on a project that utilized technology to facilitate the delivery of services to rural populations in Alaska. Her work at ALSC included technical and content improvements for the Alaskatribes.org website, which is dedicated to providing Alaska’s native tribes with resources for tribal courts and Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) proceedings. She focused on making the web tool more user and mobile friendly, After attending Seattle’s first-ever Social Justice Hackathon last year. I was motivated to take on an Access to Justice Technology Fellowship this summer. The training and live webinars provided by the ATJ Tech Fellows Program have been imperative in regards to refining skills, methods and resources for my summer project during the fellows program.” - Brittany Ward

allowing online users to access the content directly from their phone. Brittany also worked to improve ALSC’s Pro Bono Training Academy (PBTA)—a online support mechanism for pro bono attorneys of tools, forms, and processes all geared toward expanding access to justice. For this project, Brittany drafted, researched, and edited legal

education materials. In addition to assisting with the production of live video webinars and archived video presentations as part of the PBTA. ATJ Tech Fellows Pilot Final Report

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Select Accomplishments ✓ Developed legal education materials and legal forms to bolster ALSC’s Pro Bono Training Academy (PBTA)—a support mechanism for pro bono attorneys ✓ Produced live video webinars and archived video presentations as part of the PBTA ✓ Developed content for the AlaskaTribes.org website, an ALSC maintained website with information and resources for tribal advocates. ✓ Redesigned Alaskatribes.org to make it more user friendly, intuitive, and mobile.

Chad Au

University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law Legal Aid Society of Hawaii Homlulu

In support of Legal Aid Society of Hawaii (LASH), Chad Au worked on a project to develop a online portal for pro bono attorneys to use so they can get cases easier and faster. This project was intended to help pro bono attorneys pick up cases that they normally would not have by having all the resources they need at their fingertips, thereby serving more people who normally would not have been helped. Chad also worked on a project to design a legal chatbot that responds to people who access the main legal aid website. The project enhances the communication with end users who may not know how to navigate the website and create a streamline process to give end users the resources they need

“

The ATJ Fellows program has taught me a lot about the legal community and how technology can bridge the gap for equal justice for all.” - Chad Au

when they have a legal issue.


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These fellows Improved existing service delivery technologies through community based user testing and collaboration with community based organizations.

Enhancing Access through Community Engagement

Andy Kemmer Michigan State University School of Law Michigan Legal Help Program Ann Arbor, MI

LaDierdre Mckinney Michigan State University School of Law Michigan Legal Help Program Ann Arbor, MI

In support of Michigan Legal Help Program (MLHP), Andy and LaDierdre worked on improvements to MichiganLegalHelp.org website - an interactive, statewide website that provides legal information and referrals to self-represented litigants. This work included reviewing/updating substantive information and testing internal/external resource links The fellows tested Do-It-Yourself document assembly forms interviews. The virtual guided interviews ask a series of questions that collect the necessary information needed to fill in court forms. Their work involved going through all the possible user pathways to ensure proper functionality. The fellows checked for typos and errors in the questions and made sure the program populated correct documents according to the answers provided. Their project also included working with actual end-users through LiveHelp chat sessions. LiveHelp is an instant messaging tool that helps visitors navigate to the information they are looking for. The fellows spent a great deal of their time at their projects engaging in user testing for the MLHP website. ATJ Tech Fellows Pilot Final Report

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Ranime Queis

University of New Mexico School of Law Northwest Justice Project Seattle, WA

In support of Northwest Justice Project, Ranime worked on a project to design a chatbot that can perform low-level legal work. The chatbot communicates information to users on where to find forms, resources, required documentation, and other types of details that lawyers often provide their clients. Ranime also assisted in answering technology research questions for Legal Services organizations through the Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project.

Fan Cheng

Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Illinois Legal Aid Online Chicago, IL

In support of Illinois Legal Aid Online, Fan worked on a project to update and create automated documents using A2J Author and HotDocs. She reviewed and maintained ILAO's catalog of guided interviews. Fan responded to

“

The ATJ Fellows program offered me a great opportunity to learn how technology could help in legal aid and how technology can help with the legal profession at large.” -Fan Cheng

user support requests through our website. She conducted legal research as needed in conjunction with the automated documents.


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Redesigning Pathways to Justice for Self-Represented

These fellows applied user-center design and process methodologies to improve statewide legal information websites, intake, self-help materials using plain language.

Martin Reggi

University of Illinois College of Law Montana Legal Services Association Helena, MT

In support of Montana Legal Services Association, Martin worked on a project to implement an online limited scope advice portal, the Montana Online Justice portal, modeled after a program in Tennessee, which allows attorneys to respond securely and remotely to vetted questions posted by low-income clients. Martin provided regular advice with the supervision of an attorney to clients living remotely. Martin also evaluated effectiveness of existing technologies and developed usability resources for organization.

Select Accomplishments ✓ Developed a plan to assess the effectiveness of limited scope services provided through the Montana Online Justice portal and, as time allows, conduct the assessment and write a report on the outcome. ✓ Developed a catalog of MLSA’s internal technology resources that are used to provide client education and services. 


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Fellows’ Stories Artificial Intelligence in the Legal Field by Ramine Queis

Chatbots, mobile apps, and other interactive tools are becoming widely used in the education, transportation, and healthcare fields. These tools have the ability to reshape systems and professions, including the legal profession. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can increase efficiency and even increase access to justice for those that wouldn’t normally be able to afford legal representation. Ranime Oueis , a legal technology fellow at Northwest Justice Project (NJP), will be designing a chatbot that can perform low-level legal work. The chatbot will communicate information on where to find forms, resources, required documentation, and other types of details that lawyers often provide their clients. Northwest Justice Project is a publicly funded legal aid program in Washington with the vision of “Justice for all Low-Income People in Washington.” The program provides representation to low-income individuals for family, housing, employment, healthcare, and educational legal matters.

Proponents of AI argue that humans, specifically lawyers, are still required to make decisions and deliver legal advice despite the work that AI minimizes. Although there are widespread concerns that AI threatens the legal profession, there are many tasks that cannot be outsourced to AI. Some of these tasks include making recommendations, writing briefs, negotiating, and appearing in court. The augmented process allows lawyers to focus their attention on providing these types of services rather than spending time delivering legal information when it can be delivered by today’s advanced technology. AI can reduce the gap that exists for lower income individuals and their access to legal services because tools like chatbots can free up time for lawyers to take on new clients. AI tools could also cut costs of legal services by minimizing the amount of time it takes to complete tedious, repetitive tasks. The implementation of AI in the legal industry has the ability to make legal services more affordable. If lawyers can set aside fears and utilize technology in a way that makes the most of their time, the possibilities for the increase to accessing justice are endless.

There is a belief that AI will discredit the legal profession if it is used in a way that outperforms lawyers. However, human interaction is necessary and must accompany AI tools in order for the tools to be useful and functional. One type of AI in the spotlight right now is a research tool called ROSS Intelligence. ROSS sorts through large amounts of data and cases to collect key info. ROSS was designed to minimize the amount of time that lawyers spend digging through data and files to retrieve information. Lawyers play a very important role in the design and testing stages of AI in the legal profession.


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These fellows evaluated the effectiveness of existing legal services delivery technologies and made recommendations to improve efficiency for future technology projects.

Building Capacity of Legal Aid Resources

Avatara Smith-Carrington

University of Maryland School of Law Maryland Volunteer Legal Services Baltimore, MD

In support of Maryland Volunteer Legal Services, Avatara worked on a project which gathers public data and analyzes it looking for possible legal issues our clients may have. Avatara’s project was broken into three categories, (1) pure legal work, (2) legal/tech work, (3) pure tech work. The pure legal work consisted of mostly expungement work which included fling paperwork with the court, determining expungement eligibility for clients, and drafting motions.The legal tech work consisted of database work. Avatara learned SQL and how to access to the MVLS database, she was able to run queries for people including how many people were charged with prostitution offenses in certain counties, how many houses are at risk of tax sale because of a high water bill, and verifying authenticity of data by comparing court records to our records.


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Manire T. Vaughn

Michigan State University College of Law Minnesota Legal Services Coalition

In support of Minnesota Legal Services Coalition, Manire Vaughn’s work consisted of several projects including developing a “know your rights” fact sheets about criminal law, video design, uploading video content, assisting clients with identifying legal information, testing A2J interviews, legal research, and data analysis. Manire also reviewed trends on online advice site, staffed LiveHelp, drafted plain language content, completed various other tasks as needed.

“

Being an Access to Justice Fellow was an honor. My placement was perfect and I have never felt my sure about my career choice. My staff was supportive, kind, understanding, and a joy to work with. I learned a great deal about leadership, how technology can be used to connect forgotten communities, and created paths for myself post graduation. ” - Manire Vaunghn


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Miguel Willis

Seattle University School of Law Alaska Court Family Law Self Help Center Anchorage , AK

In support of Alaska Court’s Family Law Self Help Center, Miguel’s work consisted of performing an inter organizational network analysis to measure the nature and type of relationships between organizations providing vital services to Alaskans. The analysis sought to uncover and understand referral connections between non-legal service providers when clients present with legal issues; understand legal and non-legal service provider infrastructure around the state and community demographics including characteristics regarding accessing information.

“

My journey was tough, but rewarding. While unable to fund my salary to run the program. I in essence became a fellow in the fellows program I created. Working at the Alaska Court Family Law Self Help Center on the Justice For All Project was amazing. I had the unique opportunity to travel throughout the state of Alaska to better understand the communities legal needs. While also pioneering a new approach to address the access to justice gap through my work on the Social Network Analysis. My supervisors, Stacey Marz and Mara kimmel were really supportive and encouraging throughout my transition and my dual responsibility of managing the fellows program. I was constantly inspired by the other fellows work at their project. Following the summer opportunity, I accepted a full time position working on the JFA project. This opportunity has allowed me to sustain the program. I am truly grateful for my ATJ Tech Fellows journey.” - Miguel Willis

Select Accomplishments ✓ Designed survey instrument and entity inclusion methodology for social network analysis ✓ Data collection and maintenance for GIS Mapping project of legal and social service providers throughout the state of Alaska ✓ Performed Statewide Inter Organizational Network Analysis ATJ Tech Fellows Pilot Final Report

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Fellows’ Stories Race Based Advocacy in a Digital Age by Manire T. Vaughn

Last semester I had the privilege of taking a course called “Entrepreneurial Lawyering.” This course essentially taught students how to start their own legal business based upon a deficit within the legal industry. Student’s ideas ranged from an application that auto corrected all Bluebook citations, to law practices dedicated to Tiny Houses. Nevertheless, when I think of race based advocacy, the first thing I think of is the underlying question within my Entrepreneurial Lawyering course:

To serve “all,” all must be considered According to business experts, leaders who don’t focus on their customers often fail. Although a relationship with the individuals who might buy their products is essential, for some reason, many leaders miss this absolutely critical aspect of their business. Instead, leaders spend their energy on everything but having conversations with current and potential customer.

You’re probably wondering how this business principle relates to race base advocacy?

In the article, “Race-Based Advocacy: The Role and Responsibility of LSC-Funded Programs” race-based advocacy is that which actively challenges both current and historical barriers that impede equal access to opportunity and advancement by people of color. This concept can be operationalized in two ways. First, anti discrimination work using numerous civil rights statutes that prohibit racial,ethnic, or language discrimination in substantive areas that include housing, lending, contracts, property, federally funded programs, and employment. Second advocacy that identifies and prioritizes the concerns of communities of color and develops strategies that may not rely explicitly on anti discrimination legal theories but nonetheless specifically address the effects of discrimination.

I’m not sure if its appropriate to call the people we serve “customers” so I’ll rephrase the question to who is your client?

Although I agree with these strategies, I think they can be tweaked to remain applicable in the digital age.

Saying that your client is anyone who meets the prescribed income threshold is unacceptable for several reasons:

Tip 1: Race Based advocacy is impossible with a one size fits all approach to delivering legal services. Technology has become the solution to delivering legal services for many agencies. Across the country, legal aid orgs have developed user friendly sites that have a variety of features including A2J interviews, livehelp, and detailed fact sheets.

Who is your customer? This question is integral to any business. Knowing who your customer is helps with identifying marketing strategies, product development, setting sales goals, research, and assessments. In the Forbes article, “To Succeed as an Entrepreneur, Know Your Customer” it is contended that awardwinning business builders know their customers as well as they know their own families, perhaps even more so.

People are more than their socioeconomic statuses The best results come from intentional advocacy that addresses the needs of each community


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Technology has become the solution to delivering legal services for many agencies. Across the country, legal aid orgs have developed user friendly sites that have a variety of features including A2J interviews, livehelp, and detailed fact sheets. While these things are great, I cannot help but to think of all the people who are unable to enjoy these services. As a Chicago native, my mind always goes to urban communities. In a recent study, researchers found that about 23 percent of people in urban areas don’t have access to or can’t afford broadband internet. This same study found that 62 million Americans in urban centers can’t access fast internet. You’re probably thinking that high speed internet isn’t important, but imagine being on the highway traveling to an unfamiliar place and suddenly your GPS looses signal or says “loading…” Instant panic right? Historically, urban areas are comprised mostly of people of color. Which essentially means that people of color in urban areas are unable to access the electronic resources that legal aid agencies provide. Although anyone can use the services provided on law help (equality), certain communities are simply unable to access them (equity). Therefore, legal aid agencies must think of ways to engage with these communities. This engagement could mean a variety of things such as legal pop clinics, legal check ups, community info sessions, etc. One multifaceted website is not enough-sorry folks.

1. Who am I looking to serve? 2. What are some of the benefits of serving this community? 3. How will I assess the quality of my service? 4. Who are the gatekeepers? 5. What am I looking to accomplish?

I get it, these questions can take a ton of time to answer. However, the lasting benefits are worth it. In order to be intentional, one must know the community they are hoping to serve or engage. Many communities of color struggle with trusting members of the legal community. These feelings stem from years of oppression and injustices throughout the legal system. Thus, an important aspect of the intentional element of race based advocacy must be grounded in recognizing the cultural barriers that exist. An engagement expert once said, “advocacy activities should acknowledge the integral role of race in the development and maintenance of structural barriers to advancement.” Adding this layer to intentional efforts will transform any race based advocacy strategy. Tip 3: Genuine hearts, produce lasting connections Race based advocacy begins with one thing–being genuine. It is no secret that diversity is a currently sexy word. Throughout all spheres, diversity is something that is coveted, and a quick way to achieve status. However, diversity is more than notoriety or pictures with strategically placed people of color. Diversity requires genuine efforts to truly engage minority members of society. Quick Point: Diversity does not mean engagement that is exclusive to minority communities that an organization is comfortable with working with.

Image result for equity vs equality Tip 2: *inserts cheer voice* BE INTENTIONAL, GOT TO BE INTENTIONAL! Many moons ago, I used to lead mission and cultural immersion trips. As a leader, I had to attend several training include one training that focused on community engagement. One jewel that was taught to me is the importance of intentionality. Being intentional with your race based advocacy efforts is crucial. A few guiding questions should be at the for front of your advocacy. These questions may include:


Legal aid organizations must be genuine in their efforts to engage in race based advocacy. If the only reason for engagement with diverse communities is LSC funding, it will never work. Administrators, attorneys, volunteers, and support staff must all be committed to diversity, and the advancement of communities of color. The genuineness of the organizations can lead to relationships with nonLSC funded legal aid providers, pro bono programs, private lawyers, civil rights advocates, and community-based organizations which will essentially help to carry out legal aid’s responsibility to represent low-income people and communities of color.

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Pilot Reactions & Outcomes


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As a pilot program, the ATJ Tech Fellows inaugural cohort demonstrated successful learning outcomes, projects, and impact. Based on the initial findings, the ATJ Tech Fellows shows much potential as a systematic platform for equipping the next generation of attorneys whose innovations can dramatically contribute to ensuring access to justice. As part of the pilot, the team conducted a semi-formal review using qualitative and quantitative data drawn from surveys, and other sources. The primary evaluation questions that the team considered were as follows: 1. How did the pilot help fellows develop new skills that can be leveraged to improve the delivery of legal services. 2. How did the pilot supplement capacity in the organization, and the fellows professional growth?

Behavior

At the core of the assessment was the concept of skills building as an important measure of the fellows’ impact in improving the delivery of legal services. Highlights from the full assessment include: ATJ Tech Fellows Pilot Final Report

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Fellows Assessment  Agree

Strongly Agree

Were you exposed to the following competencies during the training curriculum?

What were you overall impressions of the quality of the training you received prior to arriving at your placement?

“The training is good in that it gives me the basic skill to begin my work. However, I would like there to be some kind of practice or exercise so that we can understand better. (The plain language one is great in this aspect.)” “Great. Spent one week prior to work dedicated to training.”

8

6

4

2

0

Design Thinking Cultural Competency

“Good training but could have used more in HotDocs.”

Agree

Collaboration

Project Managment

Strongly Agree

Did you develop the following skills while working on your summer projects?

“The training was excellent. I was knew what was expected of me and shown how to things should be done.”

“Very good. We were introduced to a lot of things that I had no experience with, there were little things that we encountered throughout the summer that I was able to reference back to what we learned.”

7

5.25

3.5

1.75

0


Design Thinking Cultural Competency Collaboration

Project Managment

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Host Project Assessment? We asked each host project advisor if they believed the pilot program contributed to your fellow's professional growth and to explain their answer. Below are some of the responses. “Yes, Fellows was exposed to the daily workings of a public interest law firm, was part of meetings involving the local bar association, and gained greater knowledge of substantive areas of practice in housing, family, and district court issues.” “Yes. Fellows stated how she learned how automated documents and ILAO's web content could be used to help lower income individuals who represent themselves, and it exposed her to tech tools she could use as she grows as a lawyer. Plus, she experienced ILAO's project management methodology and our collaboration tools. provided opportunities to: participate in new approach to bridging access to justice gap; ability to problem-solve and think analytically about best approach to address problems ability to work collaboratively with other team members and stakeholders” “Yes. Fellow got a chance to see the different avenues that a legal education opens and provide a wide of services to clients and support to attorneys.” “Yes, Fellow now has an understanding of how lawyers practice law in the real world, working in an office environment, proficiency in SQL query writing, and the confidence to tackle purely IT projects.” “Yes, I think so. We had a lot of conversations following various meetings where Fellow reflected on what he had learned and how he could use the new connections or ideas in his post-law school career.” “Yes! These two fellows were very interested in the work that we do, and were specifically drawn to the legal technology aspects of the work. They were much more successful than past interns we have had, who weren't necessarily interested in legal tech work. The extra sessions they had also contributed greatly to their experience, as they got exposed to a much wider breadth of legal tech work than we do at MLH.”


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We asked host project advisors what their overall impressions of the pilot program were. Below are some of the responses.

“This is a great program and we were very fortunate to have such a great Fellow. He went beyond our expectations with the different ideas he had, the initiative to follow through on them, and the impact he's had on our pro bono program.” “I appreciated the work that the program did to gather and train such talented, interested law students.” “Excellent! We loved having our Fellow work with us. His creativity, diligence, competence and enthusiasm are incredible. So much so that we hired him to finish the project.” “Fellow reported that the program was a good experience. Montana Legal Services benefited from the Fellow's time and expertise.” “This is a fantastic program. It is the only program I can think of where a current law student can actually get a sense of what a legal tech career actually looks like. I also think it does a great service in dispelling the notion that in order to be in legal tech you need to have a CS degree or 20 years of coding behind you.” “This is an awesome program. We get some extra help for the summer, and students get the opportunity to learn about non-traditional legal careers within legal aid. The exposure is great for the fellows, but also great advertising for programs like State Support across the country.” “It was fantastic! The fellows we had were engaged, interested in our work, and very energized. The extra trainings were very interesting to them and provided a full, rich experience. The extra work they had to do in terms of blog posts sometimes took away from the work that they were doing for us, but that was modified partway through the summer in response to their feedback to the program.


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Key Findings Based on the results of the fellows’ work and the successful operation of the program. We believe that an online competency-based learning curriculum, coupled with a project based placements, where students leverage technology to a real-life legal service delivery problem; and concrete learning outcomes through tangible projects which help law students understand technology’s application to, and its impact on the delivery of legal services has proven itself as a viable and successful model to equip the next generation of future lawyers with the skills and competencies to better ensure access to justice. Fellows had positive reactions to online competency based training and acquired new skills that they were able to put to use directly after, which working on their projects. Overall, host projects benefited from having the fellows involved and this proved as a great learning experience for the fellows as well. In conclusion, we believe the ATJ Tech Fellows program illustrates the multiple benefits this type of fellows program can provide. Thus, civic and philanthropic leaders should consider ATJ Tech Fellows program as part of their impact strategy.


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Recommendations • Launch second cohort • Host team planning and curriculum development retreat • Identify new partners (institutions & individuals) • Define and fundraise for program budget • refine cohort selection criteria • Refine application and selection process • Refine on-boarding process • Refine learning objectives • Incorporate racial equity training component • Refine and create pool of cohort resources • Staff the program • Develop rigorous assessment and evaluation process

Post Pilot Milestones • Following the conclusion of the pilot, ATJ Tech Fellows formalized a strategic partnership with the Legal Services Corporation and LSC grantee legal services organizations to expand the fellows program by fully supporting 21 fellows in project placements for the 2018 summer • Collaborated with popUP Justice to incubate the fellows program • Partnering with Georgetown Law to host in person training session for second cohort of fellows


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Final Report Written & Designed by: Miguel Willis Final Report Edited by: Aurora Martin


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