Categories
Advocates Current Projects

Court Navigator Program to help people through court

NYC Housing Court – Resolution Assistance Program (RAP) offers the Court Navigator Program:

Court Navigator program in NYC

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.

For information about how to become a Court Navigator.

For information if you are already a Court Navigator.

Administrative Order of the Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts relating to the Court Navigator Program (February 10, 2014)

Categories
Current Projects Dispute Resolution

Small Claims online dispute resolution in British Columbia

Talking to Bonnie Hough of the California Judicial Council last week, she recommended checking out several great projects coming out of Canada — specifically British Columbia — for inspiration about how courts can be more user-friendly. Many of them are efforts of the Justice Education Society, which is a public-oriented organization that is developing new tech tools & new user-oriented approaches to delivering legal services.

One example is the Small BC platform online. It is an online dispute resolution system to at least get a person started with filing the forms & tackling the process to resolving a small claim.

Notice also the lady in the bottom right corner — she’s a virtual assistant who speaks in a friendly, conversational way to tell you what the site has to offer and get you started with using the services.

Good Legal Design out of British Columbia - Screen Shot 2015-10-04 at 9.10.18 PM

This page gives you the two main options they have to help you recover your claim — giving you a diagramatic view of what each has to offer & what you can start doing now. It’s action-oriented as well as informative.

Good Legal Design out of British Columbia - Screen Shot 2015-10-04 at 9.10.03 PM

 

Categories
Ideabook Triage and Diagnosis

National ad campaign for legal services

National Legal Services Advertisement campaign

Could we use the same methods of those television lawyers who bombard daytime-tv-watchers with ‘Are you injured? Can you sue? Call now to find your rights!’ — to increase lay people’s awareness of their rights, of civil remedies, of free or low-cost legal services?

Categories
Background

What if we redesigned legal systems for the end user?

Legal Design - what would a child welfare system designed for the child look like
A quick talking head sketch of a ‘What-If’ for legal design. What if we started over with our legal systems? Instead of patching over the problems with better interfaces — we imagine what a user-centered legal system would look like from the ground up. This sketch came from a Children Right’s Summit held yesterday at Google’s headquarters, sponsored by the law firm Baker & MacKenzie, that brought together lots of legal & social service providers, together with counsel from a variety of tech companies.

The other insight in this sketch is that legal professionals need outsiders to come in & see where the opportunities lie for redesign. Because the systems are currently so professional-focused, doing more to serve the bureaucracy that currently exists or the status quo practices of the people working in the system — an outside perspective is needed to break open new spaces for innovation.

Categories
Background

Access to Justice Innovation sketchnote

Margaret Hagan - Access to Justice through technology and innovation - sketchnote

This is a sketchnote that I’ve drawn out while at different Access to Justice meetings, talks, and roundtables — where the discussions have been about how to get more underemployed lawyers better work opportunities, and how to get better legal services to more people in the US.

I’ve been going through my notes to start structuring my thoughts on how innovation can be brought into the ‘Access’ work and conversations in the legal profession.  In the sketchnote, there’s the start of some groupings & priorities — more of that to come in an article I’m writing.

The goal is to give more structure, direction, and collaboration into this work of tech, design, and access to justice.  Right now, there are many stakeholders & experts working in this area, but there is not a clear agenda or priority hitlist.  That is what I want to see, and contribute to: a more defined Access Innovation movement.

Categories
Background

The need for tech to amplify access to justice at scale

20140207-165015.jpg

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.