Best Practices in Using Technology to Recruit and Support Pro Bono Lawyers

1. Best Practices in Using Technology to Recruit and Support Pro Bono Lawyers Matthew Burnett Pro Bono Net Naceem Navidi LSNTAP

2. Outline • Why Technology and Pro Bono? • Benefits to pro bono organizations • Benefits to advocates • Benefits to clients • Tools for Pro Bono Recruitment • Statewide Advocate Websites • Organizational Websites • State and National Pro Bono Opportunities Guides • Pro Bono Case Listings • Email/E-Newsletters

3. Outline (cont.) • Tools for Pro Bono Support • Online Libraries • Listservs • Webcasts • Webinars • Online Document Assembly • Tools for the Future • LiveHelp • Case Management Integration • Technology and Pro Bono in the Field • Addressing Support for Rural Attorneys in Georgia • Questions/Contact Details

4. Why Technology and Pro Bono? Technology benefits pro bono programs: • Encourages greater pro bono participation by offering meaningful support • Allows for rapid communication with pro bono volunteers • Connects volunteers and clients based on interests and needs • Builds a community of volunteers • Helps to track program activities and outcomes • Others?

5. Why Technology and Pro Bono? Technology benefits pro bono lawyers: • 24/7 access to resources for busy advocates • Easily communicate with substantive experts and other advocates who have taken similar cases • Choose cases that are within their interest and skill level • Others?

6. Why Technology and Pro Bono? Technology benefits clients: • Greater resources and increased efficiencies, which can result in higher quality legal services to an increased number of clients • Bridges physical and geographical barriers, which allows for increased services to rural and other underserved clients and communities (disabled, limited English proficiency, etc.) • Others?

7. Tools for Pro Bono Recruitment • Statewide Advocate Websites • Online tools • Calendar (pro bono trainings and events) • News (pro bono awards and newsletters) • Library (training manuals, sample briefs) • New Cases (case summaries) • Pro Bono Opportunities Guides (program information)

8. FloridaProBono.org

9. Arkansas Pro Bono Partnership

10. NYC Pro Bono Center

11. Tools for Pro Bono Recruitment • Organizational Websites • Web-based content management • Display information about your pro bono program: • Highlight areas of practice • Share success stories • Provide contact information • Accept donations • Post other organizational information such as your board of directors and funders

12. Volunteers of Legal Service

13. Tools for Pro Bono Recruitment • State and National Pro Bono Opportunities Guides • Allows advocates to search for pro bono organizations (i.e. by location, interest, population served, and keywords). • Many state and local bar websites have pro bono guides with varying degrees of interactivity.

14. Washington State Pro Bono Guide

15. OhioProBono.org

16. National Opportunities Guide • A joint initiative between the ABA and Pro Bono Net • A comprehensive list of pro bono organizations in the United States • Searchable by state, county, area of law, population served, etc. • Users can add an organization and provide comments on exiting data, which is then reviewed and approved by a statewide admin

17. National Pro Bono Opportunities Guide

18. Pro Bono Case Listings • List case summaries by substantive area or location • Provides organization and contact information

19. Bay Area Case Listings

20. Georgia Case Listings

21. Email/E-Newsletters • Build a sense of community among your pro bono advocates • Include volunteer profiles to encourage participation • Update advocates about upcoming trainings and new resources

22. NYC Pro Bono Center Newsletter

23. Arkansas Pro Bono Partnership E-Newsletter

24. Minnesota E-Calendar

25. Tools for Pro Bono Support • Online Libraries • Password protected libraries for posting resources: • training manuals • practice guides • sample pleadings and briefs • forms

26. PAProBono.net Resource Library

27. Georgia Online Law Library

28. “Smart” Websites • Smart websites are those that take user data and automatically deliver relevant information back to the user to create a user-centric web page • Very common in commercial websites like Amazon.com, Netflix, Google News • Multiple ways to gather user data: automatically through clicks, through user profiles, or through user tags.

29. IllinoisLegalAdvocate.org • Recommended content looks at pieces of contents the user has looked at and recommends similar content based on what other users looked at and on the national index problem codes • My Program Space returns news, events, jobs, and volunteer opportunities tied to the user's organization

30. IllinoisLegalAdvocate.org (cont.)

31. IllinoisLegalAdvocate.org (cont.)

32. IllinoisLegalAdvocate.org (cont.)

33. Listservs • Keep pro bono advocates up-to-date and provide technical support on cases. • Encourage volunteers to join existing substantive listservs in your state.

34. Texas Lawyer’s Help Listservs

35. Webcasts • Tool to provide technical support to pro bono advocates, particularly when they are supplemented by other training materials. • A “window” to new areas of practice to increase volunteer interest • Don’t require advocates to travel to trainings • Can be watched at any time or multiple times

36. Prisoners’ Rights Webcast

37. NYC Pro Bono Center Webcast Archive

38. Webinars • Online seminars, which require only that participants call a conference call number and click on a link that initiates a web-based application. • Products such as GotoMeeting are reasonably priced for smaller groups (up to 25 participants). https://www.gotomeeting.com • Larger sessions can be facilitated using GotoWebinar. https://www.gotowebinar.com • Both allow you to share materials with your pro bono advocates on their PC, as well as to field questions on the spot. You can also give participants the ability to share their PC (i.e. to review documents).

39. Online Document Assembly/NPADO • The NPADO Project is a document assembly project that hosts interactive forms for the nonprofit legal aid and access-to-justice community and assembles professional-looking legal documents based on a user’s input. • States can develop templates to provide automated document assembly in an efficient, cost-effective manner to assist pro bono advocates in representing their clients. • For more information, contact Kate Bladow, NPADO Project Coordinator at kbladow@probono.net

40. Georgia HotDocs Library

41. Tools For the Future • LiveHelp: Online remote technical assistance for pro bono advocates. To be piloted in Georgia in 2007. • Case Management Integration: Automatically integrates self-help and advocate resource materials (sample briefs, pleadings, forms, etc.) into case management software based on a client’s legal problem. To be piloted in Georgia and Kentucky in 2007.

42. LiveHelp

43. Technology and Pro Bono in the Field • Mike Monahan, Pro Bono Director, Georgia Legal Services Program

44. Questions/Contact Information • Questions? • Contact Details: • Matthew Burnettmburnett@probono.net • Naceem Navidinaceem.navidi@gmail.com • Mike Monahanmike@gabar.org