Day One of the inaugural ATJ Tech Fellows Program’sLegal Access Innovation Curriculum” (LAIC) is in the books. From legal design thinking to the artificial intelligence and chatbots, ATJ Tech fellows got their first dose of legal tech training for the summer program. For those following along from home or who haven’t had a chance to check out the #LAIC hashtag on Twitter, here is the recap from Day One.

The LAIC is a series of competency-based virtual webinars designed to 1) increase participating fellows’ understanding of the nature and extent of access to justice issues, 2) provide training on the varied uses of technology in delivering legal services, 3) and help fellows gain exposure to different technologies and tools they’ll leverage over the summer.Continue Reading ATJ Tech Fellows Program “Legal Access Innovation Curriculum” Day One Recap

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Every year 53% of the low-income households in Washington face at least one civil legal problem without adequate legal assistance. Problems can range from predatory lending to foreclosure to various kinds of debt. There are many legal advocates helping those in need, however, due to the difference in numbers, not everyone gets the help they need. This can be described as the access to justice gap in America.Continue Reading The Gameification of Legal Services: The Social Justice Game Jam

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The ATJ Tech Fellows program is seeking diverse and entrepreneurial-minded law students who are passionate about social justice and want to spend the summer learning new ways to leverage technology in order to improve access to legal services for people who can’t afford a lawyer.
Continue Reading Calling All Law Students!!! Apply Now to the ATJ Tech Fellows Program

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There is a clear case for the use of tech to improve our civil justice system. While there’s a huge legal accessibility gap in our nation, the use of tech and innovation can play a pivotal role to increase the capacity of legal services providers to address the unmet legal needs in many poor communities across the nation.Continue Reading Legal Aid Drupal Hackathon to Address Underlying Issues with A2J Tech

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A hackathon is an event, typically lasting 24-48 hours, in which a large number of people (software programmers, user experience designers, data scientists, project managers, and subject matter experts) meet to engage in competitive collaborative computer programming around a specific set of challenges. Teams that create the most meaningful and innovative solutions under the specific judging criteria are rewarded at the culmination of the event.Continue Reading On the Fence about Legal Hackathons? Try one out for Yourself!!

Screen Shot 2016-08-14 at 5.28.12 PMIn an earlier post, I set out a bold vision for the launch of the Access to Justice Technology Fellowship Program. This fellowship program will provide law students with an experiential understanding of the access to justice issues facing Americans and the knowledge to critically assess how innovation in the justice system can and is being used to address legal accessibility issues.
Continue Reading Crowdfunding Legal Innovation: The Access to Justice Technology Fellowship Program

Screen Shot 2016-09-05 at 11.25.51 PMIn 2004, The Washington State Supreme Court adopted Washington State Access to Justice Technology Principles, which now guides the use of technology in the Washington State justice system. The first of its kind in the nation, the Principles ensure that “[u]se of technology in the justice system … serve[s] to promote equal access to justice and to promote the opportunity for equal participation in the justice system for all.” Since their inception, many states around the nation have adopted similar principles to provide a framework which creators of technology products and projects may use to extend access to the justice system.
Continue Reading Revisiting the Washington State Access to Justice Technology Principles

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This summer, I had the privilege to intern with the Self-Represented Litigation Network, a Washington, D.C. based non-profit comprised of lawyers, judges, and allied professionals. Together, they are “creating innovative and evidence-based solutions, so that self-represented litigants have meaningful access to the courts and get the legal help they need”.
Continue Reading A Bold Vision for Legal Innovation: The ATJ Tech Fellows Program

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Our civil justice system is facing a crisis. Millions of poor Americans have legal needs that go unmet. From domestic violence, unlawful evictions, to the loss of veterans’ health or disability benefits. Without the proper legal attention, these legal issues can have a downward spiraling effect, triggering even more legal issues. Many are left to navigate this complex legal terrain on their own, leaving them almost no chance to prevail and entrenched in poverty traps. The consequences of this bleak state has disproportionally devastated poor communities of color throughout major U.S cities.Continue Reading Moving Beyond A Legal Solution: The Houston/Marshall Plan for Community Justice

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I recently sat down with Aurora Martin, executive director of Columbia Legal Services to have a conversation about technology and access to justice. The full conversation can found HERE. Thanks to the great folks at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law Clearinghouse Community.

Please also check out our upcoming Webinar “Hacking