An Introduction to LegalMeetings

Submitted by eva on Thu, 10/10/2030 - 9:37pm

What is LegalMeetings?
LegalMeetings is web conferencing for the poverty law community. NTAP has negotiated a nonprofit, public interest rate for web conferencing accounts with Citrix(tm) to offer GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar to legal aid programs and their partners. LegalMeetings Web Conferencing features the ability to host, start, and schedule an online meeting or training (webinar), along with many training features and functionality, such as: online polling, document annotation, document or application sharing, meeting chat, and meeting recording.

Purpose of the LegalMeetings Project
LegalMeetings has been funded thourgh the Center for Arkansas Legal Services by the Legal Services Corporation Technology Initiative Grant since 2001 to bring the efficiency and efficacy of web conferencing to the practice of poverty law.

LegalMeetings facilitates cost-effective coordination and communication among and within legal aid programs, and helps reduce expenses on travel and training costs. NTAP charges its affiliates (other legal aid programs and partners of legal aid programs) a fee to use LegalMeetings, which covers the basic cost of licensing and support. The LegalMeetings project is not a vendor-service; simply, NTAP strives to leverage the legal aid community with web conferencing vendors to get an affordable rate for programs.

Examples in Legal Services

“LegalMeetings has become a very effective communications tool. We have staff in twelve offices spread over 10,000 square miles. When we think about staff training and work group meetings and tech troubleshooting, we now routinely consider how to make the best use of LegalMeetings. An advocate training on predatory lending can be tucked into a 90-minute afternoon session, and by saving thousands of miles or travel and dozens of hours, make it feasible for staff to participate. Intake staff meet on-line weekly for training and to compare notes. As we migrate from WordPerfect to Word, we can combine presentations, and collaborations and instruction of staff at their desks.,”

-- David Tilove, LegalMeetings administrator, North Penn Legal Services.

LegalMeetings can help your program -- with multiple offices -- engage in interactive trainings, substantive meetings, or other interactions, without having to drive in person. More than 70 programs are signed up to use LegalMeetings for:

Board Meetings,
Staff Meetings,
Task Force Meetings,
Staff Training,
One-On-One Document Review and Edit,
Advocacy Brainstorm Sessions,
Substantive Law Review Sessions,
Management Meetings,
Remote Mentorship with New Attorneys or Volunteers, and
Remote Tech Support.

Cost Savings to Your Program. In 2006, NTAP evaluated several programs' use of LegalMeetings to assess the cost benefit to their programs. One example is Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP). In 2006, they conducted 157 online meetings using LegalMeetings, 47 of which were to train their staff on a new case management software, Legal Server. According to GLSP, the average driving distance between offices is 3.5 hours by car. Five of the offices require an overnight stay if visited. Based on their analysis of planned trainings required for the case management transition, we estimated that GLSP had a cost benefit of an estimated $23,424.00 of staff time alone by using LegalMeetings. (We can project that if every one of their 157 meetings required the same staff and travel as their case management meetings, GLSP would have had a cost benefit of $78,186.00!) GLSP was able to more effectively spend those resources on staff time helping clients rather than on a technology transition.

If every program who was signed up to use LegalMeetings in 2006 recouped costs similar to those of Georgia Legal Services Program, the cost savings for using LegalMeetings in 2006 to legal aid programs would have been $820,704.00.

(GLSP continues to LegalMeetings for important projects. In April 2008, the program launched an online training series for staff and volunteer lawyers using LegalMeetings as a backbone.)

Who can use it? Currently, LegalMeetings is available to all legal aid programs: LSC-and non-LSC funded, along with your partners (courts, board members, Access to Justice commissioners, and other nonprofits).

What are the costs to sign up?
LSC-Funded Program Rates & State Courts. The Legal Services Corporation subsidizes the monthly licensing fees for LSC-funded programs and State Courts for 2008. LSC-funded programs and State Courts can pay $28-$35 a month, depending on program budget size.

LSC-Funded Rates by Program Budget

$0 - $4,999,999

$5,000,000 or greater

$28 per month

$35 per month

Non-LSC Funded Program Rates. Non-LSC funded programs pay a monthly rate of $45/month.

Please see the How to Sign Up for more information.

What About the Phone? There is NO additional cost to use the Citrix conference call service, but this service requires that all participants pay their own long distance cost. You can also use your program's current phone conferencing provider as an alternative. See: Phone Conferencing Options.

Want more information about LegalMeetings?

Have A Look at the Differences Between GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar

Learn How to Sign Up

Consult our Training Resources