This webinar will highlight examples of how virtual and remote legal services models are enabling new forms of pro bono participation and expanding the reach of services to underserved communities. Join us for this special pre-Pro Bono Celebration webinar to learn about new and emerging projects, and the staffing, technology and partnerships involved. We will also discuss resources and considerations for replication.

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We will start promptly at the hour.
Welcome to the Virtual and Remote Pro Bono
Legal Services Models webinar!

2. A few logistics before we start…

3. LSNTAP is recording this training and will post it to their
SlideShare account for the LSNTAP.org

4. Virtual and Remote Pro Bono
Legal Services Models:
A Special National Pro Bono Celebration Webinar
October 14, 2015

5. Presenters
Debra Jennings
Managing Attorney, Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc.
Claudia Johnson
LawHelp Interactive Program Manager
Pro Bono Net
Phong Wong
Pro Bono Director, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
Liz Keith (moderator)
Program Director, Pro Bono Net

6. 100% Access Vision
LSC Tech Summit Report
“Technology can and must play a vital role in transforming
service delivery so that all poor people in the United States with
an essential civil legal need obtain some form of effective
assistance.”
Implicit Assumptions
• Continuum of services
• Integrated delivery model, cutting across traditional legal aid
and court roles
• Anticipates the needs of income-eligible and non-income
eligible individuals

7. Technology benefits
Legal aid programs
•New ways for volunteers to participate, regardless of
location
Pro bono lawyers
•Enhanced access to training and support, and new
forms of volunteering
Clients
•Expand access for
underserved clients
and communities

8. LEGAL AID OF WESTERN OHIO
LIVE CHAT PROJECT
Debra Jennings
Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc.
October 14, 2015
LAWO is funded in part by the
Legal Services Corporation (LSC).

9. The Challenge
 7 offices serving
32 counties
in northwest and
west central Ohio

10. The Challenge (continued)
 30 Rural Counties
 315,000 persons living
at, or below, the
Federal Poverty Level
in rural counties
 How to connect those
persons with legal
assistance to address
their legal needs?

11. Project Origins
 On-site corporate attorney and attorney affinity group
pro bono telephone brief advice clinic model
 Positive feedback & lessons learned
 Predictability of contact
 Personal satisfaction with direct service delivery
 Interest in exploring like a service from a remote location
 Untapped potential to establish and formalize on-going
relationships with private bar interested in convenient,
predictable volunteer opportunity

12. Project Goals
 Design a legal services delivery system to encourage
Ohio’s rural attorneys – particularly those in the
transactional bar – to provide pro bono assistance to
eligible low-income individuals
 Make brief advice and limited legal assistance
services accessible to any eligible low-income person
with access to an internet connection
 Help bridge the justice gap so fewer legal needs go
unmet

13. Project Goals (continued)
 Increase & improve legal services to eligible low
income persons by:
 Expanding access to attorney resources to address legal
questions or issues;
 Providing easy access to direct service legal assistance;
 Increasing the number of eligible individuals served;
 Increasing the resources available to pro se litigants.

14. Project Goals (continued)
 Increase efficiency & effectiveness by offering Ohio
attorneys located in rural counties:
 The opportunity to provide pro bono assistance in a scheduled,
predictable, time limited manner;
 The opportunity to provide pro bono assistance without the need
to travel and its associated time commitment and expense;
 The opportunity to be exposed to, and learn, an area of the law
which they might otherwise be unfamiliar with;
 The possibility of expanding substantive areas of practice
through exposure and training.

15. Project Nuts & Bolts
 Volunteer attorneys participate in poverty law
substantive law training(s)
 Volunteer attorneys participate in an interactive
process training:
 LAWO Case Management System
 LivePerson Software
 Volunteer attorneys communicate availability by
opening LiveChat appointments

16. Project Nuts & Bolts
 Legal Aid Line prescreens applicants for issue
eligibility, financial eligibility, computer and internet
access and comfort level using technology
 Legal Aid Line schedules prescreened clients with
volunteer attorneys in appointments they have set

17. Project Nuts & Bolts
 Client accesses Live Chat
from the Legal Aid Line
website on the date and at
the time of the client’s
scheduled appointment.
 After entering information
to help the Volunteer
Attorney identify the client,
the session begins.

18. Project Nuts & Bolts
 The Volunteer Attorney
begins the chat from the
LivePerson console.
 After selecting the client,
the session begins.
 The session is supported
by customizable “canned
content” available from
the console.
 Volunteers are supported
by LAWO staff throughout
the process.

19. Project Outcomes
 Soft launch phase
 6 topics
 11 volunteers trained with 6 consistent volunteers
 Over 80 chats scheduled with 55 persons helped since inception
 Project expansion goals
 Add 2 topics
 Recruit 6 additional volunteers
 8-10 appointments/week

20. QUESTIONS?
THANK YOU!
Debra Jennings
Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc.
October 14, 2015
LAWO is funded in part by the
Legal Services Corporation (LSC).

21. Legal Aid LiveHelp / LiveChat initiatives
Yellow = Projects with law student and/or pro bono
attorney staffing models
Many other states use AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers at
least part-time
Updates or corrections? Email lkeith@probono.net

22. TIG-funded Iowa Legal Aid
LiveHelp initiative
Project Goal
ILA & PBN will assess and pilot a new live chat platform
for LiveHelp initiatives using the LivePerson Pro software
2015 Activities
• Conduct community and product research
• Pilot test the new solution on IowaLegalAid
• Develop a plan to educate, train and migrate interested
states to the new solution
FMI: Eve Ricaurte – ericaurte@iowalaw.org

23. LHI-Connect
A new way to share and create documents between lawyers
and clients remotely and asynchronously
Claudia Johnson
Program Coordinator
LawHelp Help Interactive
509 396 7372

24. The Problem

25. The Solution
LHI
Connect

26. Step 1.
• End user finds an interview and answers it.
• Agrees to share answers with legal aid group staff for placement with pro
bono lawyer

27. Step 2. Pro Bono Coordinator
• Assigns the answer to a specific lawyer (from assigned lawyers to the
clinic/pro bono drive)

28. 3. Advocate is assigned a case
• Notification lets the advocate know they have a shared document in LHI
• Advocate can open with SRL interview or Advocate interview

29. Can be assigned to advocates working in that clinic, drive or project

30. Advocate can open with either interview(s) used for this Connect/clinic or pro
bono drive

31. Connect Coordinator
• Can create events, assign interviews, assign advocates to work as part of
the team staffing the clinic or pro bono drive

32. LHI Connect access point
• All accounts working on a Connect point will have access to it after log in

33. Additional information
• Being piloted in Oklahoma (LASO) for expungement pro bono project
(statewide)
• Evaluation will start in December
• Contra Costa County will use for pre-efiling project (clerks and self help
staff personas)
• Open to LHI community tentatively Q2 2016
• Requires well tested interviews

34. For more information
For more information on LHI Connect please contact:
Claudia Johnson, LawHelp Interactive
Additional information on the Oklahoma project:
http://www.probono.net/link.cfm?24839

35. LAFLA/Library
Videoconferencing
Project
Expanding Services through Library Partnerships
and Videoconferencing
35

36. Project Goal
Enhance Client accessibility and
work productivity by bridging
geographic barriers between
LAFLA’s offices, community libraries
and other partners

38. Componentsof LAFLA’s
VideoconferencingProgram
•Partners and Volunteers
•Technology
•Outreach
•Funding
•Others
38

39. LAFLA/Library
VideoconferencingProgram
LAFLA/PB
LAFLA/PB
PB at office/home
PB at Clinic/LAFLA
Library/LAFLA/Orgs
Client at library
Client at SH Center
Client at Clinic/LAFLA
Client at home or
Community Org
Library/LAFLA/Orgs
Documents 39
GoTo Meeting

40. LibraryAppointmentCoordination

41. 41

42. Levering Technology to Connect Pro Bono
Attorneys to Pro Bono Opportunities
Through Interactive Trainings
probonotraining.org

43. Goals of the Institute
1. Create a centralized and more efficient
statewide pro bono training system.
2. Expand pro bono in the state by
• increasing access to trainings and
• reducing duplicative trainings.
3. Facilitate easier recruitment and support of
private sector attorneys by providing an online
portal to connect private attorneys and
volunteer opportunities.

44. Legal Services Organizations
(LSO)
Pro Bono
Attorney
Collaborate to create uniform
pro bono trainings.
Pro Bono Attorneys watch
trainings and receive a certificate
allowing them to volunteer at a
local legal clinic.
Pro Bono Attorneys attend
legal clinics and are
immediately able to start
volunteering.
LSO
Pro Bono
Attorney
LSO
LSO
Pro Bono
Training
Institute
How It Works

46. How We Can Help You
• Incorporate interactive training methods
• Incorporate E-learning best practices
• Draft agendas and learning Objectives
• Develop training resource materials
• Export your training module to
www.probonotraining.org

47. Training Timeline

48. LEGALAID FOUNDATION
OF LOS ANGELES
Phong Wong
Pro Bono Director
(213) 640-3859
pwong@lafla.org

49. Resources
• LSC Tech Summit Report
http://www.lsc.gov/sites/lsc.gov/files/LSC_Tech%20Summit%20
Report_2013.pdf
•Colorado Lawyer article – the Virtual Pro Se Clinic Concept
http://www.cobar.org/tcl/tcl_articles.cfm?articleid=8527
• LiveHelp replication resources available in
http://www.probono.net/statewebsites
• 2014 and 2015 Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant awards
 http://www.lsc.gov/media-center/press-releases/2014/11-lsc-
grantees-awarded-pro-bono-innovation-fund-grant
 http://www.lsc.gov/media-center/press-releases/2015/2015-
pro-bono-innovation-grant-recipients

50. Contact Information
• Debra Jennings, djennings@lawolaw.org
• Claudia Johnson, cjohnson@probono.net
• Phong Wong, pwong@lafla.org
• Eve Ricaurte, ericaurte@iowalaw.org
• Liz Keith, lkeith@probono.net

51. THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING
TODAY!
More information on additional trainings at
www.lsntap.org

52. Contact Information
Brian Rowe (brianr@nwjustice.org) or via chat on www.lsntap.org
Don’t forget to take our feedback survey!