SRLN 2024

SRLN24 Pre-Conference Agenda
September 18
9:00-5:30 - Moot Courtroom
See sched for faculty

9:00 - 9:45    Welcome & Introductions
9:45 - 10:15    The Court’s Role in Self-Help 
        Low Resource Statewide Start-Up Case Study #1 
10:15 - 10:30    BREAK
10:30 - 12:30- Rotating Small Group Sessions (30 minutes)
A.    How to build institutional engagement with Judges
B.    Coordination with Clerk’s offices & other court staff 
C.    Intake/Triage & Info/Advice (this will be a double session) 
10:30 - 12:30    Guided workshop for those trying to get something off the ground 
12:30 - 1:15    LUNCH
1:15 - 1:45    Reflections from Morning Sessions
1:45 - 2:00    Low Resource County Based Start-Up Case Study #2 
2:00 - 2:45    Case Studies of Successful External Stakeholder Communication Strategies
2:45 - 3:00    BREAK
3:00 - 5:00    Rotating Small Group Sessions (30 minutes each)
A.  Self-evaluation & data collection
B.  Right sizing the role of technology
C  Process mapping & simplification 
D. Language and disability access 
5:00 - 5:30 Closing reflections

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One important approach to help solve the crisis of 30 million litigants in our state courts each year completely without legal help is the use of nonlawyer navigators who come from communities outside the courts to assist the self-represented with their civil legal matters.  A panel of experts who have studied, and or created and run court based /affiliated programs will discuss how nonlawyers who come from the community provide essential services to self-represented litigants on their civil legal matters,    including describing national trends in this burgeoning innovative arena as well as outlining best practices for launching and expanding these programs.  

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Learn about a virtual court self-help portal project in Ohio from process mapping to document assembly to implementation and evaluation.  This new portal is designed to assist users to navigate to the appropriate content and court forms, provide step-by-step instructions and legal information, offer document assembly to allow litigants to prepare and file their own court forms, integrate the portal into the court’s navigation services center, and connect litigants to on-line and in-person assistance. The session will also highlight the transformative impact of statewide platforms like Illinois Court Help in promoting access to justice and optimizing resources. Illinois Court Help has improved self-representation, alleviated court staff burdens, and enhanced efficiency. Attendees will learn how these platforms support underserved communities and refine court processes for better accessibility.

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Would your court benefit from guided interviews that integrate with electronic filing? What about a digital evidence management system for SRLs to submit their trial exhibits? One easy to use portal where you can use all these tools and more? Come interact with live tools available in Illinois, Minnesota, and Utah and hear about efforts to empower SRLs with integrated tech solutions. We welcome all questions, and there will be ample time for discussion and Q&A.

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We are increasingly facing the need and responsibility to provide legal and court services that are linguistically accessible to those we serve. In this session, we will discuss current trends and language access policies throughout the country and  share resources for developing and updating your language access strategies and advocating for continued support to provide language access services in legal and court settings. We will also discuss practical approaches to addressing the language needs of your limited-English speaking clients and customers, including the use of interpreters, bilingual professionals, volunteers, audio-visual projects, and machine translation.

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Research demonstrates that people who have experienced trauma — specifically a past arrest, domestic violence, and/or sexual assault— experience a greater likelihood of having an employment problem, a family structure problem, and a debt problem, regardless of what point in their life they experienced this trauma. Trauma experiences and their impact on civil justice needs and access to legal problem solving help are often not part of the access to justice conversation. Further, interaction with the civil justice system can be a (re)traumatizing experience itself. This session will discuss the existing trauma justice gap research, the need for more, and what actional steps that legal practitioners can take to mitigate the risk of trauma exposure response and retraumatization in legal help settings with or without human help.

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The pandemic saw the urgent creation of eviction mediation models throughout the united states. In the past two years, as resources and support for mediation programs waned, the staff and mediators who design and operate such efforts have had to find ways to inspire, introduce, and institutionalize successful mediation models. Join experienced court facilitators and their dispute system design consultant to learn more about the many ways mediation can support parties - both before and during their court proceedings – in jurisdictions throughout the country.

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In this session, we will delve into the challenges and strategies of managing 1000+ forms and complex guided interviews that require regular updates due to legislative changes, user experience findings, and stakeholder feedback. We will discuss how to integrate change as an ongoing business practice and showcase technology strategies we use to manage content.

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