Tag: access to justice

Law’s PDF Problem (a short manifesto)

Post author By Margaret
Post date January 22, 2015
No Comments on Law’s PDF Problem (a short manifesto)

As I’ve ventured into the world of public legal education — helping lay people figure out and navigate their legal problems — I keep hitting my head against one thorny wall over & again.

Materials are buried in PDFs.

Excellent cartoon stories telling immigrants how to deal with the government are only available in PDFs. Know your rights explainers are presented in unsearchable PDFs. Walk-throughs of a legal process are presented in static, hundred-page long PDFs.

People do not like PDFs. They serve a very limited purpose — they keep the information frozen in the exact design that the author created, and let the author save some time up-front by merely having to upload the PDF to the web. But it puts the onus & the pain on the user.

The user has to make sure their browser can properly open & display the PDF. The user has to try to find their way through the PDF, hoping that the text is searchable, and then deal with the pain of searching through to find the information she is actually looking for. The user can’t easily clip out information to save for later, because the text will be wonky & full of bizarre characters if it’s copy-able at all.

And if the user is on mobile — which, users increasingly are — then PDFs are the worst. PDFs are not responsive, making them so difficult to look at on a mobile screen they are virtually useless.

PDFs are not user-friendly, and public-facing legal organizations should stop using them immediately. Sure, keep a PDF version up online for the *very* limited use case of a person wanting to print off a copy of the information and distribute it in its original author formatting.

But the vast majority of use cases for online legal information are people trying to get a specific clip of information that they can find easily, intake easily, and then save for future reference easily. PDFs don’t allow for any of this.

Please, legal authors & publishers of great content, unbury your content — let it free — make it usable for your target audiences. Take the text and images out of the pdf, and lay it out in a webpage with HTML.

It is not hard. It is worth the investment. It is a very quick & low-cost solution to the horrible PDF problem of public legal education. And you the legal organization will get higher Google search result placement if you liberate your text out of its frozen, buried PDF pile and onto lively, usable, searchable web pages.

To incentivize some change on this topic, I am thinking of naming names to shame groups that are serial PDF-buriers. Or giving some kind of reward badge to those organizations that actually present their information in easy-to-use formats — who take an Anti-PDF approach to sharing useful legal information. Something to get a movement away from this anti-user reliance on PDFs to communicate information.

Any thoughts on how to get change here — or other thoughts on how to better get legal information out of experts’ heads/computers/PDFs and out available to lay people?

Tags access to justice, Legal Information online, legal knowledge management, PDFs online, public legal education, resource sharing

Background

Is there a coherent Access to Justice Movement?

Post author By Margaret
Post date December 10, 2014
No Comments on Is there a coherent Access to Justice Movement?

From November’s 5 Question Friday, I have compiled some of the responses and quotes I received in response to this question — Is There a Coherent A2J Movement?

There is a trend to the lower points of the scale — and lots of insights into what could be improved,

Tags access to justice, movements to improve the lrgal sector

Background

A Legal Design Manifesto

Tags access to justice, Law and Design, Legal Design, legal service design, Underemployed Lawyers

Advocates Current Projects

NYC Housing Court Navigators

Post author By Margaret
Post date March 3, 2014
No Comments on NYC Housing Court Navigators

via NYC Housing Court – Resolution Assistance Program (RAP).

New York just began a pilot program of Court Navigators for Housing Courts in some jurisdictions. Non-lawyers would help self-represented litigants navigate the court system.

The Court Navigator Program was launched in February 2014 to support and assist unrepresented litigants – people who do not have an attorney – during their court appearances in landlord-tenant and consumer debt cases. Specially trained and supervised non-lawyers, called Court Navigators, provide general information, written materials, and one-on-one assistance to eligible unrepresented litigants. In addition, Court Navigators provide moral support to litigants, help them access and complete court forms, assist them with keeping paperwork in order, in accessing interpreters and other services, explain what to expect and what the roles of each person is in the courtroom. Court Navigators are also permitted to accompany unrepresented litigants into the courtroom in Kings County Housing Court and Bronx Civil Court. While these Court Navigators cannot address the court on their own, they are able to respond to factual questions asked by the judge.

In addition to this court-based program, the courts will also be utilizing non-lawyers to provide legal information and access to homebound individuals.

The Navigators would perform the following functions in certian proceedings:

In General

The Court Navigator Program trains college students, law students and other persons deemed appropriate by the Program to assist unrepresented litigants, who are appearing in Nonpayment proceedings in the Resolution Part of Housing Court or the Consumer Debt Part of the Civil Court.

Nonpayment proceedings are cases where landlords sue tenants to collect rent. In these disputes, tenants and owners/landlords face the possibility of losing their homes through eviction or foreclosure. Consumer debt proceedings involve credit card companies, hospitals, banks or any other person or company that a litigant may owe money to. Despite the high stakes, most litigants appear in court without an attorney to advocate on their behalf.

In Kings County Housing Court, the Program operates in partnership with the non profit organizations University Settlement, and Housing Court Answers.

The goal of the Court Navigator Program is to help litigants who do not have an attorney have a productive court experience through offering non-legal support. Participating volunteers work in the courtroom under the supervision of a Court Navigator Program Coordinator. They have the opportunity to interact with judges, lawyers and litigants, and to gain real-world experience. Whatever a student’s goal is in volunteering — helping people in need, making new contacts, learning more about assisting a person in court or developing professional skills — the Court Navigator Program sets the stage!

For more information contact: courtnavigator@nycourts.gov

What do Court Navigators do?

Court Navigators:

Help in using computers located in the courthouse to obtain information and fill out court forms using the Do It Yourself (DIY) computer programs.

Help find information about the law and how to find a lawyer on a website called Law Help

Help persons find resources in the courthouse and outside the court to assist in resolving their cases.

Help persons collect and organize documents needed for their cases.

Accompany persons during hallway negotiations with opposing attorneys.

Accompany persons in conferences with the judge or the judge’s court attorney.

Respond to a judge’s or court attorney’s questions asking for factual information on the case.

Court Navigators do not give legal advice or get involved in negotiations or settlement conferences. Generally, court navigators also do not give out legal information except with the approval of the Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts.

Training

A two and half hour seminar and a training manual will provide information on what a navigator can do to help.

Training topics include:

Civil and Housing Court Overview

Basics of Consumer Debt Cases and Nonpayment Proceedings

Interviewing and Communication Skills

Using the DIY Computers and Law Help

Prospective volunteers are trained at their school or at one of the Civil Court of the City of New York courthouses.

Tags access to justice, Court Navigators, Housing Court, Legal Assistance, Non-lawyers helping people, support for self-represented litigants

Background

Better Lawyering for the Poor

Post author By Margaret
Post date March 3, 2014
No Comments on Better Lawyering for the Poor

via Better Lawyering for the Poor – NYTimes.com.

The New York Times Editorial Board published a piece spotlighting various New York-based initiatives that might transform the structure of the legal industry, and thus open more access to legal resources.

These highlighted projects include

3rd year law students in New York can take the Bar in February rather than July, if they spend their last semester doing Access work
A ‘court navigator’ program to have trained non-lawyers accompany unrepresented litigants through their cases
The court will no longer include misdemeanors on the records of people it sells to background screening agencies, if the person hasn’t been arrested for 10 years (with a few misdemeanors excepted)

New York State’s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, is making some innovative changes to the education and training of lawyers as well as to the workings of the court system that bear close watching around the country.

Here is the full, short editorial:

Starting next year, a new program will let third-year law students take the bar exam in February instead of July, in exchange for spending their last semester doing free legal work for the poor under the supervision of seasoned attorneys. The plan enlarges on existing law school internships and previous steps by Judge Lippman to increase the involvement of law schools and students in helping the indigent. Giving third-year students full-time practical training, along with earlier admission to the bar, could help improve their job prospects.

Judge Lippman is also seeking to have more non-lawyers assist unrepresented litigants in housing, consumer debt and other cases. A pilot project in Brooklyn and the Bronx will allow trained non-lawyers called “court navigators” to accompany unrepresented litigants to court and respond to questions from a judge, though not address the court on their own. The legal profession has no reason to feel threatened by this since the navigators will be helping people who cannot afford a lawyer and have no alternative form of representation.

On another front, Judge Lippman is trying to reduce the harmful consequences of old misdemeanor convictions, which can prevent people from finding work and housing or obtaining professional licenses and government benefits.

Starting in April, at his order, the court system will no longer include misdemeanors on the records of people it sells to background screening agencies, if the individuals involved have no other criminal convictions and have not been arrested for 10 years. (There will be exceptions for sex offenses, public corruption and drunken driving.) The judge also plans to submit legislation in Albany that would spare individuals with a clean record for seven years from having to reveal old misdemeanors when applying for a job (with the same exceptions), and give judges authority to seal nonviolent felony convictions after 10 years.

These are all sensible reforms that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature should get behind.

Tags access to justice, access to justice by design, Better Lawyering for the Poor, Court Navigators, Judge Lipman, New York Times editorial, Non-Lawyers, Self Represented Litigants

Background

The need for tech to amplify access to justice at scale

Post author By Margaret
Post date February 7, 2014
No Comments on The need for tech to amplify access to justice at scale

A drawing by Margaret Hagan of CALI nonprofit tech director John Mayer, about the importance of serving court users with better, innovative technology. He was highlighting CALI’s tool of A2J Author for DIY legal screeners and form-completion.

Tags a2j author, access to justice, Cali, John Mayer, Legal Innovation

Current Projects Triage and Diagnosis

Online Intake: getting information from people

Post author By Margaret
Post date January 21, 2014
No Comments on Online Intake: getting information from people

For the problem of getting people’s information gathered as efficiently as possible, to get them to the correct service-provider, there are several online ‘triage’ projects that are developing apps and websites.

Here is a recent slide presentation of online intake models from a few different projects around the country.

Webinar Next Week: Beyond Online Intake: Looking at Triage and Expert Systems from Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project (LSNTAP)

Tags access to justice, Legal Aid Apps, legal triage, LSNTAP, online intake

Background

Berkman Center Report on Access to Justice in courts

Post author By Margaret
Post date October 18, 2013
No Comments on Berkman Center Report on Access to Justice in courts

I just discovered a rich design document & user research study conducted by a team out of Harvard’s Berkman Center in 2010.
It looks at how more access & usability can be built into current civil court processes. And one of its co-authors is Phil Malone, who has just joined Stanford Law School’s team, as director of the new Innovation Clinic.

The report is extremely valuable in the concrete suggestions & insights that it establishes. Any team who is working on a redesign of a court service should read it now.

Or, if you are designing interfaces for lay consumers to understand a legal process or to go through a legal system, you should also take a look at its recommendations.

I’ve pulled out some here, for a quick overview of some of the points to pay attention to.

What does a usable interface look like?

What are the most crucial needs of lay litigants?

How can a legal service orient & prepare lay people?

How can electronic systems help lay people to get legal tasks done?

Tags access to justice, Berkman Center, Court System Design, Phil Malone, Redesigning Courts

Ideabook Triage and Diagnosis

How Might We: Provide DIY Legal Diagnosis

Post author By Margaret
Post date August 20, 2013
No Comments on How Might We: Provide DIY Legal Diagnosis

For a paper I’ve been working on, here is a preliminary mind-map I’ve been sketching out.

It’s a quick brainstorm of how DIY legal tools may be provided to non-experts. It considers what models might be breakthroughs, how technology might interact with the person, and what challenges might block their success.

The map is a work in progress.