SRLN 2024

Legal Aid programs are partnering with courts to address legal needs of self-represented litigants. Join us to learn different models implemented in California, Virginia and Michigan.

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This session will provide case studies in expanding capacity of self-help programs using technology versus traditional in-person delivery. Bet Tzedek Legal Services (Los Angeles) has designed a dedicated platform for a self-help clinic program providing assistance in conservatorship. Hear what they learned about how to get started, the effectiveness of plain language principles in content creations, and results of UX testing with community partners and clinic users. While many self-help programs are exploring tech solutions, Public Counsel ( Los Angeles) has intentionally maintained an in- person, low-tech service delivery model for pro per services  with complex  guardianship proceedings for minors.  Learn how they continue to meet the litigant demand with low, tech, in-person contact model. In contrast, the Maryland Center for Legal Assistance has operated court self-help centers since 2017 and offers a Remote Services Center, providing legal advice to self-represented litigants via phone and online chat M-F from 8:30-8:00PM. In 2023 they had 94,175 phone consults and 20,828 chat consults. Learn what they’ve done to increase efficiency while ensuring their assistance is helpful. They will discuss how to leverage technology to maintain a high volume, brief advice, remote services operation by sharing some successful tech-based innovations, including a homegrown data entry application, link manager, and text/email functionality.

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Many SRLs have some money to pay for legal services, but research shows the vast majority of Americans are not getting the legal help they need. This panel will focus on market-based models (many of which exist in Utah) that are bridging this gap. Attendees will learn about the ecosystem of affordable legal options for SRLs and efforts underway to grow it.

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Struggling to find the right talent for your projects? Are your applicant pools limited, lacking the diversity and perspectives needed to drive meaningful change? Have you successfully tapped into other talent pipelines, beyond those focused on traditional legal roles? If these questions come up for you – join this discussion.
In this interactive session, we will focus on career pipelines into the civil justice sector and identify opportunities for strategies to rethink how we cultivate a diverse workforce. We’ll discuss how the sector can broaden its scope to include professionals from non-traditional backgrounds and vital perspectives, creating new pathways that strengthen inclusion and equity.

This session will challenge participants to reimagine what civil justice careers can look like and confront the need for the sector to do something different. The reality is that without intentional change, we will continue to see the same limited results. Join us as we explore how to reshape the workforce and foster the diverse talent needed to expand access to justice.

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This session provides practical tips to courts and other organizations interested in improving access to court programs. Attendees will learn about the barriers to participation in ODR, identified through RSI’s focus group research and user testing with participants with low literacy. Presenters will propose solutions to address these barriers to participation. Following this presentation, an interactive workshop will allow participants to apply the solutions provided to revise communications so that they are more easily understood by SRLs with low literacy. Attendees are encouraged to bring documents to revise.

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Since its inception in 2007, the LOVS family law firm has been at the forefront of the mission to provide meaningful access to justice to unrepresented parties in Utah. Over a decade ago, with Joanna Sagers and Stewart Ralphs, LOVS’ Virginia Sudbury created the innovative and wildly successful Pro Se Calendar.

Given its lengthy history of providing tangible Limited Scope services to Pro Se parties, LOVS will present a “roadmap” on how those services can be expanded and integrated into the Pro Se Calendar. It will also provide suggestions on how to institute a Pro Se Calendar in other jurisdictions, coaching pro se parties through hearings and Informal Trials, and how to best assist pro se parties in utilizing (and navigating) existent court-based, online programs (called OCAP, in Utah).

As part of this panel presentation, LOVS will also highlight the role of paralegals (including Licensed Paralegal Practitioners) in providing assistance and resources to pro se parties.

An applicable process for establishing a pro se calendar, checklists for pro se parties, and how to provide coaching to pro se parties for hearings and informal trials.

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This session is for anyone interested in using technology to connect with rural communities and alleviating the burden that traveling to court may cause for all court users. Virtual Court Access Networks (VCAN) consist of computer stations in private and safe locations that provide an opportunity for court users to interface with the court without leaving their local community. From identifying partners and appropriate locations, to network safety concerns, and more, this session will provide participants with a blueprint to replicate (VCAN) in their region.

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Eviction and consumer debt dockets are often fast-paced and high-volume, which can create challenges for the overwhelming numbers of litigants appearing without counsel and struggling to understand the legal process and their options. Judges from three different jurisdictions will describe how they have adopted principles of active judging to increase understanding, protect due process, and expand access to resources for litigants. Judges will also share their thoughts on how to cultivate new judicial champions for access to justice reforms.

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How can we break down silos and build resources and community between organizations committed to access to justice? Dive into the transformative impact of legal aid-justice tech collaboration that benefits justice-impacted communities, LSOs, and mission-focused founders. This session will explore the potential of ethical tech advancements to revolutionize the access to justice landscape, unlocking new levels of accessibility for clients and increased justice equity. Panelists will share examples of partnership projects and seek feedback in a workshop-style discussion about (i) a resource for LSOs to identify trusted tech platforms for potential partnerships/referrals; (ii) two research studies on justice tech; and (iii) early work of a subcommittee focused on justice tech and legal aid innovation.

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This presentation will explore the multifaceted ecosystem of services available to self-represented litigants in Illinois and Maryland.  Informed by the Illinois Supreme Court’s “Safe Harbor Policy”, self-represented litigants in Illinois can tap into innovative services within and outside courts, including the Court Navigator Network, Illinois JusticeCorps, Illinois Court Help, and access centers located within public libraries. These services ensure that individuals without lawyers, in every corner of the state, can access vital legal information and resources to help them meaningfully navigate the civil justice system.  It will also review the Maryland Court Help Centers where litigants can connect with attorneys in person, by phone, through online chat, or at video kiosks in courthouses for advice and resources. One such resource is the Justice Passport, which connects litigants with appropriate legal services agencies without the necessity of multiple interviews. This session will describe how these services got off the ground, outline the collaboration that makes these programs successful, and highlight how these programs can also be scaled in your state.

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Most often those provided legal services to the self-represented are part of larger, existing structures such as courts, libraries, and legal aid providers. A few have taken a different approach, separate nonprofit organizations. Three of those programs are the Timpanogos Legal Center, led by Susan Griffith serving the people of Utah, the Shriver Custody Project, led by Vanessa Smith serving the people of Oakland, California, and the Legal Assistance Center, led by Deborah Hughes, serving the people of Kent County, Michigan. Learn more about these programs, how they developed as nonprofits, and the challenges, pros, and cons of functioning as a nonprofit legal service provider.

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This program serves as an urgent cause of/for action and open call to reimagine the American law school. U.S. legal education’s current manifestation, we argue, serves as a unique site of socialization that has and continues to perpetuate ideological, structural, and material harms. Through a historically grounded analysis of the Present, Past-Ongoing, as well as potential Futures of the law school as a distinct project of legal power, this program explores the multiple ways in which traditional legal education can and must be reimagined by the broader U.S. legal profession. Drawing from movements of scholarship-activism in critical legal pedagogy, sociology, and abolitions, this space explores radical reforms to the law school as footholds toward freedom. In situating the law school as a critical zone of struggle for realizing justice and community sovereignty, this program seeks to discuss the ways that lawyers, legal educators, and advocates aligned with the work of liberation might work across disciplines, jurisdictions, and time to jointly advance “non-reformist reforms” to U.S. legal education. As this session explores, it is only through conscious, collective processes of (re)imagination that we can forge a future grounded in shared, collective legal power.

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Legal Hand, Inc. is expanding nationally and for a limited time is in a position to provide funding for costs associated with the first year of new Legal Hand Call-In Centers. At Legal Hand, trained community volunteers, who are not lawyers and college and law students provide free legal information, resources and referrals to help community members resolve issues that affect their lives, and prevent problems from turning into legal actions. When problems become legal actions, targeted legal information and assistance with court forms is provided. Assistance is delivered by telephone, email or text. Volunteers work remotely. There are no income or immigration status restrictions. Issues addressed include housing, family, immigration, domestic violence, and benefits. Panel participants will also discuss strategies for volunteer recruitment, effective community outreach, and sources of possible future funding.

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What are Law School Labs? In this session, you will learn about the growing network of university labs that work on law, policy, data, technology, and design-driven innovaiton.

In particular, we'll highlight:

• The different kinds of Law School (and University) Labs, what kinds of projects they work on, how they operate, and what their priorities & goals are
• Practical strategies for courts, legal aid groups, bar associations, or other justice institutions to partner with university labs to make progress on their innovation projects;
• Example stories of past partnerships, including the details of establishing a relationship, scoping projects, working with researchers and students, and delivering work products.

You should attend this session if you are interested in understanding this new kind of law school group, doing more research about what works in justice innovation, and connecting with students, researchers, and interdisciplinary teams on envisioning and evaluating a better future for access to justice.

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