Justice InnovationWhat are the tools we can give to people to help them make strategies and carry them out as they go through a legal process?
This concept is for an online service that would allow for secure uploads from places that are under surveillance or without great digital freedoms. The service would allow them to anonymously, securely upload videos and photos that document human rights abuses and other potentially controversial events. The service would ensure the content got to the outside world, and would prevent repressive regimes from taking it down.
Source: Arkansas – Document Assembly Software
The Arkansas Access to Justice Commission used an ATJ Innovation Grant to develop a pro se document assembly form for uncontested divorce with children. The software will be used in a court-house based pilot project in which attorneys assist pro se litigants on a limited scope basis. The pilot is aimed at increasing bench and bar awareness and support for limited scope representation.
Final Report to ABA, “Arkansas Assisted Pro Se Pilot Project”
Resources
An app or SMS/MMS based tool to let a person get expert feedback on their legal document: Is this correct? What does this mean? Is this ready to go?
We do this by having the person take a photo of it, then sending it on to the Self-Help Center, Law Librarian, Lawyer, or other expert. The expert receives the photo and can then give response to it.
Could we make a software tool to quickly customize and verify the appropriateness of a contract?
Could we have stations in libraries, hospitals, everywhere that would be easy to ask questions around possible legal problems and see if you can get help? A technical touchpoint that would triage you and send you on your way to help.
Could we build a smart system inside courthouses that provide Internet access, connections to printing/copying, and electrical power for all those who need to be computer-connected while doing their business in the court?
Could we take the workshops that self-help centers already run in person, and make online versions of them to get wider distribution? To people who can’t travel to self-help centers or need it during weekends or evenings? If we package up the guides into more usable formats, we can help amplify their impact.
What if we made templated, user-tested Cover Sheets to all legal tasks (whether it’s filling out forms or going through a procedure) so that people have great introductions and orientations to the task before being asked to do it?
What would an all-in-one collaboration platform look like, for clients & lawyers to work together? If there could be one place that coordinates a person’s journey from having a legal problem, to seeking help, to actually carrying through resolution of the problem — it could help reduce so many of the barriers to getting legal things done, and increase a person’s sense of control and empowerment.
A thought from this morning ‘so session.