January 24, 2023 by Ashley Norris
Lone Star Legal Aid Attends LSC’s 2023 Innovations in Technology Conference
Topic
News
The Innovations in Technology Conference grew out of LSC’s Technology Initiative Grant (TIG) Program, which seeks to expand access to justice by promoting technological innovations in legal services delivery and pro se assistance. The conference brings together technologists, legal aid advocates, court personnel, law school professors, pro bono coordinators, and other professionals to showcase technology projects and tools being implemented across the country and internationally to promote access to justice and high-quality legal representation for low-income people. The conference also provides an opportunity to network with colleagues and cultivate project ideas that could lead to future TIG awards.
ITC23 was held at the Sheraton Downtown Phoenix, January 19-21, 2023.
Lone Star Legal Aid presentations included:
Investment and Opportunity: How Tech & Data Can Advance Your Mission, Enhance Staff Growth, and Support Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
Thursday, January 19th, 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM
This panel made the case that prioritizing technology and data is an investment toward achieving your mission, an opportunity to leverage untapped talent within your organization, and a concrete step toward advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in our professional community.
The panel featured an executive director, a former paralegal and a legal secretary who both evolved into in-house technology experts, and an attorney turned technology consultant. The panelists advocated for adopting a broad lens to assess who can be a great “tech person” and shared concrete advice on how to craft new in-house tech and data roles that set everyone up for success.
Speakers
- Attorney & Consultant Mallory Curran of Mallory Curran Consulting
- Executive Director Silvia Argueta of Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
- Deputy Director Marabi Madrigal of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
- Technology Training Coordinator Janice Rivera of Lone Star Legal Aid
Ensuring Accessibility in Legal Technology: How It Enhances and Expands Your Reach
Friday, January 20th, 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM
This session will cover the basics of accessibility for online legal content, including ways to improve your website, automated forms, and chatbots. Our panelists will cover a variety of WCAG improvements and language access additions. The session will also explore essential elements of accessibility in disaster preparedness, response, and short-term and long-term recovery. We discussed ways to improve your technology to ensure meaningful legal help access for all end users.
Speakers
- A2J Project Manager Jessica Frank of CALI
- Associate Director, Community Education & Grants Sally Chaffin of Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc,
- Project Managing Attorney Luigi Bai of Lone Star Legal Aid
- Attorney Stephanie Duke of Disability Rights Texas
- Executive Director Ariadna Michelle Godreau Aubert of Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico
Lessons Learned Using LegalServer’s Guided Navigation
Friday, January 20th, 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM
Online intake is a useful tool for those looking for legal help and for organizations to find priority cases, but building an online intake can be complicated. This presentation showed how three organizations used LegalServer’s Guided Navigation to build online intakes and some of the benefits, successes, and pitfalls of using Guided Navigation. Illinois Legal Aid Online, Lone Star Legal Aid and Inland Counties Legal Services all use Guided Navigation to triage online applicants to identify priority vs non-priority cases, redirecting those non-priority cases to self-help resources like legal information and pro se forms. At Lone Star Legal Aid and Inland Counties Legal Services, applicants with priority cases complete an online intake to gather necessary information. Inland Counties Legal Services used guided navigation to enhance their live site intake process by converting to a more streamlined dialogue format, automating funding selection, and adding options for use of e-forms. Since Illinois Legal Aid Online does not provide direct services to applicants, it further uses Guided Navigation to identify the best legal aid organization or organizations to help with the applicant’s legal issue. Attendees learned tips, tricks, and lessons learned about the system and can decide whether it is appropriate for their organization.
Speakers
- OTIS Product Manager Michael Rush of Illinois Legal Aid Online
- Technology Training Coordinator Janice Rivera of Lone Star Legal Aid
- Director of Onboarding and Projects Xander Karsten of Legal Server
- Deputy Director Of Operations Tessie Cross Solorzano of Inland Counties Legal Services
- Case Management Administrator Randall Stewart of Inland Counties Legal Services, Inc.
Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy for low-income and underserved populations by providing free legal education, advice, and representation. LSLA serves millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines, who live in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties in Southwest Arkansas. LSLA focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety, stability, health, and wellbeing; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, like those with disabilities, the aging, survivors of crime and disasters, the unemployed and underemployed, the unhoused, those with limited English language skills, and the LGBTQIA+ community. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.LoneStarLegal.org.
Media contact: media@lonestarlegal.org
