January 6, 2022 by Clarissa Ayala
Lone Star Legal Aid Staff to Present at Legal Services Corporation’s Innovations in Technology Conference 2022
Lone Star Legal Aid Staff will present two sessions at the Legal Services Corporation’s Innovations in Technology Conference 2022 (ITC22). The ITC22 will be a fully virtual event beginning on January 12, 2022.
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. Check out the sessions we are presenting below.
Building and Testing Effective Online and SMS Legal Help Triage Systems
Many legal aid organizations are using or considering web-based and SMS systems to triage potential clients and litigants. This panel will present the best practices and lessons learned from four such projects: Texas Disaster Legal Help, Michigan Legal Help’s Guide to Legal Help, Legal Services of Northern Virginia’s Texting Triage Project, and Neighborhood Legal Services of LA’s Online Help Portal. The panel will be useful for organizations at all levels of project planning and implementation, as the presented projects faced unique challenges, utilized different technology platforms, and are at different phases of their respective projects. Topics to be covered include: project planning, technology platforms, appropriate staffing and internal feedback loops, structured content development, usability testing, iteration over time and blueprints for project replication.
Luigi Bai, Project Managing Attorney of our Disaster Legal Services Technology Grant, will be presenting alongside Charlie Gillig, Vice-President of Operations and Legal Technology, Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County; LaDierdre Johnson, Program Manager, Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project; and Raquel Bonilla, Director of Grants Management & Special Projects, Legal Services of Northern Virginia.
Social Advocacy: How Communications Can Advance Your Advocacy Objectives
COVID-19 has forced legal aid organizations to think differently about how they meet the needs of their clients. Social marketing and mass communication tools provide an outlet and opportunity to reach both clients and communities in new and engaging ways. This session will discuss tactics used by legal aid programs across the country since the onset of COVID-19, the lessons they learned, and the best practices they’re keeping in place, even beyond the pandemic.
Clarissa Ayala, our Communications Director, will be presenting alongside Maria Duvuvuei, Director of Communications & Development, Community Legal Aid Services of Akron, OH, Melanie Shakarian, Director of Development & Communications, The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland; and Sally Ingles, Marketing Consultant, South Carolina Legal Services.
For more information about the Innovations in Technology Conference 2022, visit https://www.lsc.gov/events/events/lscs-innovations-technology-conference.
If you or someone you know needs legal help, you can apply for free legal aid by visiting https://www.lonestarlegal.org or calling 1-800-733-8394.
Lone Star Legal Aid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy for low-income and underserved populations. Lone Star Legal Aid serves millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines that reside in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties of Southwest Arkansas. Lone Star Legal Aid focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety and stability, health and well‐being; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, like those with disabilities, or who are elderly, homeless, or have limited English language skills. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at https://www.lonestarlegal.org.
Media contact: Media@LoneStarLegal.org
