The National Index - IMAG
has posted the most recent version of the National Index database along with a
brief explanation of how it could be used by legal services programs.
Newsfeeds - Put
a newsfeed on your website
Two Reprints from the MIE
Journal - Legal Services and the Digital Divide and Funding Technology
Nonprofits: The Dot Coms,
Dot Orgs and Other Dots - Using the Internet for Fundraising Updated
July 23, 2001
Legal Services Corporation
Technology Improvement Grants - The Legal Services Corporation
has announced the award of 4.25 million in Technology Improvement to
thirty-one legal services programs.
Comprehensive
Internet-Empowered Plan - The Richard Zorza Chicago Kent Consultancy
has produced six papers recommending an internet based information management
plan for the legal services community.
Technology and the Future of Legal Services
-an article by John Tull (available in pdf format)
Web-Based Training
Telecommunications Policy In Ohio:
Interventions to Bridge the Digital Divide
(in pdf format)
**special thanks to the National Regulatory Research Institute for allowing
reprint of this article**
*For additional reading concerning
low-income communities' access to technology, please read "
Expanding Low-Income Communities Access to Telecommunications Technology
".
Minnesota
Legal Services Coalition presents its statewide technology plan
Innovations and Ideas
From Legal Services Websites
IMAG, the Information
Management Advisory Group, seeks legal services community input.
Video Conferencing for
Justice: The INLAND COUNTIES ONLINE NETWORK connects low-income, rural clients with
remote legal services attorneys
Consultant Hired to help Assess the Information Needs of the Civil Legal
Services Community
Model Job Description: Statewide Technology Responsible
Person for Legal Services
Technology and the Future of Legal Services
Guidelines for Technology Purchases and Management in a Legal Services
Office
The Internet: What It is, Where to Go and How to Get There
Putting Technology to Work for Your Program
Software
A National Index
A group including representatives of the Project for the Future of Equal Justice,
ProBono.net,
the Legal Services Corporation, and the National Center for Poverty Law have
been meeting for more than a year to build the structure for a national database of advocacy
materials and a national system of client access to legal information. The most
recent version of the advocacy materials database is available as an Excel
spreadsheet, along with an explanation of how the database could be used in
local programs. This index is currently being used in database development by
the National Center for Poverty Law (Clearinghouse), NLADA and the Project for
the Future of Equal Justice, ProBonoNet, the HelpMeLaw website being developed
by Pine Tree Legal Assistance, the Ohio statewide legal services website, and
others. If you have comments, corrections or ideas for the group, you can use
the IMAG
feedback form to contact them.
Newsfeeds
Newsfeeds that can provide current targeted
news to your website are becoming increasingly available. The Equal Justice
Network has added a human services newsfeed
from HandsNet to its website. Maine's
Volunteer Lawyers Project has a general legal
news feed from Moreover on its
home page. Both of these can be added to any website by just inserting a
short java script into the code.
Two
Reprints from the MIE Journal
From the Spring 2001 issue of the Management
Information Exchange Journal, we have reprinted (as .pdf documents) "Legal
Services and the Digital Divide," by Julia Gordon, Senior Counsel
to the Project for the Future of Equal Justice, and "Funding
Technology," an interview with leaders of three legal services
organizations that have been particularly successful in funding technology
for their programs. Here is a list of
websites to accompany the Funding Technology article. Click
here to visit the MIE website and the full on-line edition of the
Journal, including its special technology feature: "Twenty-First
Century Justice Tools."
Nonprofits:
The Dot Coms, Dot Orgs, and Other Dots
Don Griesmann has written an article about
fundraising resources on the internet. Click
Here for Don's article with more than one hundred links to useful
fundraising resources.
Technology
Improvement Grants
Headed by Model Program Grants to Hawaii,
Eastern Carolina, and one yet to be announced, LSC announced thirty-one
Technology Improvement Grants ranging from $11,900 to $500,000. Video
conferencing, case management systems, website development and remote client
access were but a few of the grants. Click here
for the list of grant awards.
A
Comprehensive Internet-Empowered Plan
As a result of the IMAG Process, "convenings"
sponsored by the Open Society Institute, interviews with a broad range of
leaders in the legal services community, and a lot of other work over the
past year, consultant Richard Zorza has produced a Comprehensive
Internet-Empowered Plan entitled "Legal Information Access for Poor and
Middle Income People, and for the Organizations that Advocate for Them" consisting
of six papers. Click here to visit
the Zorza website and read the papers.
Web-Based Training:
Recently the equal justice community has been
experimenting with web-based training. CORT, the regional training
organization for Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia, conducted a two-day
Federal Litigation training program using the Astound
internet conferencing system. The Management Information Exchange conducted
a shorter, two-hour, session on Planned Giving for legal services
development officers using the WebEx
conferencing system. You can read about the MIE session, and view the
PowerPoint presentation that accompanied the training at
the MIE website training
section. The Legal Services Corporation has utilized both Astound and
WebEx in conducting conferences regarding their Technology Improvement
Grants.
Consultant
hired to assess the information needs of the Civil Legal Services Community:
The Chicago-Kent School of Law, through a grant by the
Program on Law & Society of the Open Society Institute, has hired
technology guru Richard Zorza as a consultant
for a four to six month project relating to the legal and technical information needs of
the civil legal assistance community. In particular, the consultant will assess the extent
to which information technology, especially Internet and Web technology, can address these
needs. Click here for details of the
consultancy.
Technology
and the Future of Legal Services:
Recently a group of 35 technology experts, legal services
advocates, private and government funders, and representatives from five national legal
organizations met in Warrenton, Virginia to address the critical issue of technology's
increasingly important role in the provision of civil legal services to low-income
communities now and into the future. The sponsoring organizations hope that this
meeting will serve as a starting point for a broad community discussion of these issues.
Click here to learn more about
the conference and how you can participate in this discussion. Click here to check out 18
papers written by conference participants. Click
here to read the Technology and the
Future of Legal Services article written by John Tull.
Guidelines for Technology
Purchases and Management in a Legal Services Office:
The Technology Advisory Group, a collection of experts from
the legal services community, was convened by the Project to assess where we are and to
formulate a technology action plan for legal services. One product of their work is
the draft document which sets out guidelines for building your office's inventory of
hardware and software. Click here to view the
document.
We also offer the following sample documents from Legal
Services of Southeastern Michigan which may assist you in developing plans and policies
for your state or program. (We are always interested in providing more sample
policies on our site; if you would like to share your policies, please send an e-mail to hugh.brooks@equaljustice.org):
The Internet:
What It is, Where to Go and How to Get There:
The Basics:
Links to internet tutorials. Or find out what common
internet terms mean by going to our Technobabble
Guide.
Internet Access For Your Entire
on a Shoestring - Article
Orientation:
How to get the most out of search engines; how to
find and distinguish between different kinds of internet service providers; where to find
free help online, and more. Check it out by clicking here.
Putting Technology to Work for Your Program:
INNOVATIONS
AND IDEAS FROM LEGAL SERVICES WEBSITES
NLADA - San Antonio Annual Conference workshop:
Email, the Web and You: How Technology Can Help You Do Your Job
Better
Great Tip Sheets for Non-Profits:
Get pointers on software, databases, the internet and website development and
maintenance from Coyote Communications
Technology Tip Sheets.
NLADA Sublaw Conference workshop:
How Technology Can Help You Do Your Job Better
Article:
Creating a website for your program
