Lawyers serving the public good.
National Pro Bono Resource Centre
Pro Bono Net Australia -- Asylum Seekers Practice Area
26 September 2003
This document describes a proposal to use a limited access web site to improve information sharing between refugee legal advocates as a model for similar sharing in other legal practice areas. The project is called Pro Bono Net Australia (here referred to as PBNA).
A number of attempts have been made to set up systems to share information between refugee legal advocates in Australia. This document outlines a proposal to adapt the US ProBono.net system to the needs of Australian Refugee Legal Advocates[1].
For the purposes of this project it is proposed that Refugee Legal Advocates includes people undertaking refugee legal casework for applicants who fall into the following categories:
Information that Refugee Legal Advocates have sought to share includes:
A significant amount of this information is already available on the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights site: http://www.alhr.asn.au/asylumseekers.html. However there is some additional useful information that is not appropriate to go on this site (for example because it is not suitable for public access or it is relatively transient in nature). In addition the information to be added to the PBNA site will benefit from being searchable. Finally there are ways that we can use technology to streamline the collection and posting of useful documents and systems for advising relevant people that new information is available.
Following a meeting of refugee advocates in Sydney in December 2002, a system for sharing information privately was established by creating a limited access folder on the community legal centres BBS. There have been a number of problems with this system which include:
1. difficulties giving access to the folder to all those who would benefit
2. as a result too few people contributing to the folder
3. information not sorted in any useful way
A third method of distributing information has also been tried -- use of email lists. This works for some purposes but can have limitations.
The current proposal seeks to address the limitations of the existing systems.
The key elements of the proposal are described in detail below. They are
Pro Bono Net is a non profit organisation based in New York City. Their primary activity is to develop and support a number of web-based tools to promote access to justice. One of these is the probono.net software & web site that supports pro bono and public interest lawyers to collaborate and share information.
Some information about Pro Bono Net is at www.probono.net, however much of the utility of the site can only be seen once you log on as a user. To join the asylum seeker practice area go to www.probono.net/au/asylum/jointhisarea.cfm. You should be approved within 48 hours. Please contact Jacqui Houston at National Pro Bono Resource Centre (info@nationalprobono.org.au 02 9385 7381) if you have any problems.
There are now nearly 15,000 registered users of probono.net in the US. The site is used by a large number of pro bono lawyers and also by lawyers from publicly funded legal service organisations.
A key element of the pro bono net site is that information is organised in either national or State-based practice areas such as asylum seeker law, death penalty, family justice & domestic violence, housing law, disability rights, HIV advocacy etc.
Some examples of the information in the News and Library sections of the Asylum Seeker practice area of the Pro Bono Net site in the USA are attached as Appendix A to this document. Alternatively go to the site, look at the news and calendar items (there are only a few to date) and join to gain access to the library content.
The essential elements of the probono.net site that we propose to replicate in Australia are as follows
1. Parts of the site including the Library area are restricted access -- you need to subscribe and be approved to be given permission to log on.
2. There a number of practice areas available on the site. (The first of these to be developed for the Australian version will be the Asylum Seeker practice area. We proposed to add other areas after trialling the project in the area of asylum seeker law.)
3. Within each practice are information is grouped under headings including:
4. Any user can submit items to the site (news, events, library documents and links). Once submitted the content needs to be approved by the moderator.
5. Ongoing responsibility for moderating content in a particular practice area is undertaken by a relevant public interest organisation, usually with practical support provided by a major pro bono law firm. Any user can submit material for consideration by the moderator.
6. The site provides web-based email tools that allow the public interest moderators to communicate with members filtered by profile criteria, including sector (e.g., caseworkers, pro bono barristers), location, organisation, and interests.
7. Technical and administration support is provided by Pro Bono Net. [In Australia the NPBRC would take on this role.]
A by-product of the registration process is that an email list is created which can be used to notify subscribers of new information on the site or important events.
The library function is very flexible and can be used to store and make available information in a number of ways.
The purpose of moderation is to ensure that content is relevant to the users, and to ensure that significant relevant new content is added to the site as it becomes available. The moderator does not guarantee the quality or legal accuracy of the information (although anything obviously inaccurate or low quality could be filtered out by the moderator.)
Administration of the site will involve:
NPBRC is prepared to undertake these tasks in consultation with the refugee legal advocacy sector.
The demonstration site has been created and a far bit of content uploaded to the library area. See above for access and how to join up to gain access to the restricted content.
To get this project off the ground we need to do the following
As noted above most of the content on the ALHR site and some other documents supplied by refugee legal advocacy organisations have been posted to the Library area. Some October events have been posted to the calendar.
Content can be posted as HTML (ie web page text), as a link to another site, as a PDF or as a Word DOC or RTF .
If you have other content that you think should go on the site then please post it in the appropriate section of the site [see how to post content below] OR forward it to Jacqui Houston jacqui@nationalrpobono.org.au, with a brief description of what kind of information or document it is (News Item, Calendar Event, Precedent, Training Materials, Practice Guide etc) and what topics it deals with.
NPBRC will follow up with key refugee advocacy organisations and others to seek additional content.
To continue to operate this project we will need to find an organisation prepared to undertake the moderation role. A refugee advocacy service would be ideally placed to undertake this role, however they may be concerned that it will stretch their resources.
NPBRC & Australian Lawyers for Human Rights are investigating potential moderating organisations and will have discussions with several major law firms who may be willing to support the moderator to undertake this work.
It is now possible to seek registration as a user at www.probono.net/au/asylum/jointhisarea.cfm.
1. Go to the site (ie www.probono.net/au/asylum).
2. Click on Join this Area
3. Enter your email address and then click continue
4. Complete the form, noting the following suggestions
5. Click Submit
You can edit this information any time you are logged in by choosing the button MyLawHelp.
You can add four kinds of content
To add a News Event, Calendar Event or Library Resource, click on the relevant section (ie News, Calendar or Library) and then choose Add a News Item, add an Event or Add a Resource as appropriate from the right hand side of the screen.
Enter the required information into the form provided.
Click Submit
The content you have added will be reviewed by a site administrator and approved. If they think there is a problem they will contact you. (Currently NPBRC staff but in due course staff of the moderating organisation(s)).
To alter you own contact details see Guide to Registering as a user above.
If you have any comments please forward them to me at gordon@nationalprobono.org.au
Gordon Renouf
National Pro Bono Resource Centre
02 9385 7371
Mob: 0409 101 898
Email: gordon@nationalprobono.org.au
[1] In due course the NPBRC will consider extending the adapted software to other areas of law.