LSNTAP in 2007

At a recent conference by the American Bar Association, we polled Bar leaders about whether or not they used RSS technology or knew what it was -- about half.  We asked the same about Statewide Websites -- about a tenth.

Since LSC's funding of Technology Initiative Grants in 1999, the poverty law community has come a long way in implementing (or experimenting with) technology solutions that improve legal aid to America's poor.  There are statewide website projects in 54 states and territories.  Maine's HelpMeLaw site received nearly 1,000,000 unique visits last year on such a site.  Illinois Legal Aid Online has developed a "smart website" for their pro bono constituency that recommends trainings, information, and even cases based on user clicks.  Georgia Legal Services Program and Kentucky Legal Aid are experimenting with integrating their statewide website with their case management system -- allowing hotline advocates to pull up relevant information from the website portal for clients; and allowing advocates to post or share important briefs for the benefit of all on advocate websites.  The vision of the statewide websites in 2000 was for it to become the backbone of legal services. A true vision stands the test of time, and this one is still one that evokes that inspiration.

But we have a long way to go.  Directors of legal aid programs are frought with complicated decisions about balancing the investment of technology versus the investment in staff.  Courts and bar leaders across the nation vary in their perception about whether or not the role of courts belongs to any litigant (customer) or the attorneys (that should be) representing them. Technology solutions push these discussions to a head.  Meanwhile, the pace of technology does not stop.  Email revolutionized communication years ago, and that is no watermark, just history.  Information can be fed directly to anyone via RSS; cell phones have changed how low income persons access hotlines and what they expect; text messaging and instant messaging still perform the same function as email or snail mail, but permit such different (and, for some, more intimate) styles of communication that it changes the way in which people feel comfortable engaging; YouTube is new and has already portended a difference in the new media people will come to expect for how they get information.  With all this change, it is difficult to keep up, regardless of age, sex, or experience with technology.  For some, we are like "older parents of newborns".  Technology -- and its growth -- can simply be tiring to follow.

In a world culture that is changing the paradigm of information power -- and in a legal aid culture that is doing its best to keep up given the constraints of its services, NTAP sits in the middle of idealism and reality.  We can appreciate technology services that can revolutionize legal aid in ways never before known.  But we know the difficulty each of us faces to keep an exploratory mindset in an overworked world of strong habits and, even, outdated principles.

What is our ideal?  They are founded on simple principles:

• Fight injustice as efficiently and effectively as possible
• Use every tool available to you to do so
• Help as many as possible with the highest level of quality
• Be competitive with your opposing counsel
• Be a part of changing the outdated systems and shepherding in one's that protect, serve, and empower low-income persons to succeed.

Toward that end, we look at what the barriers within a  justice system  to meeting these principles -- time, money, mindset, and isolation.  Technology needs to save time, improve efficiency, manage information, be cost effective, re-create how we think, and foster collaboration. 

The "war on poverty" pretended to have an end goal in sight.  We believe it is a generational fight, alive in each of us, that can be won by many, many hands.  Technology plays a huge role in joining more hands in this network. After all, it is not money alone that keeps people in poverty. Some of the wealthiest people I know are in other countries with less money than they need.  Fighting poverty fights a mindset of isolation, of "cannot", of "less than", and of "un-entitled." 

Technology to a user never need look like technology or a gadget.  It looks like a text message from a loved one during a difficult time; advice when you need it at 2 am; support from a stranger who is going through the same thing; and a completed court form at the end of a simple online interview where you never felt too dumb to do it. It looks like you being freed up do to your work and never noticing it was there.

NTAP appears to work on supporting many technologies; instead, we use technology as a platform to fight injustice. And win.