Request For Proposals | Open: November 22, 2016, Close: January 19, 2017

INTRODUCTION
The 2013 Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Technology Summit Report recommended that, to improve access to justice using technology, states should develop online, integrated access to justice portals to direct users to some form of effective legal assistance to help them address essential civil legal needs. Working with LSC and Pro Bono Net, Microsoft Corporation will provide at least $1 million in technical development to create a pilot legal access portal.

This Request for Proposals (RFP) solicits the information and commitments that LSC, in consultation with other national stakeholders, needs to identify one or possibly two states or jurisdictions1to serve as pilot projects for implementing the legal access portal concept.

ABOUT THE PARTNERS

Legal Services Corporation

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is the single largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans in the United States. Established in 1974, LSC is a private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that provides grants, program support, and oversight to 134 civil legal aid organizations with approximately 800 offices serving every state and territory. LSC distributes 92 percent of its revenue in grants to legal aid programs. Virtually all of LSC's grant funding comes from an annual Congressional appropriation. The Corporation is led by a bipartisan board of directors whose 11 members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. 

Microsoft Corporation

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is a worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and organizations to achieve more. Through the Microsoft Statewide Access Portal Project, Microsoft seeks to develop a pilot of a first-of-its-kind system that will be accessible from any device, standards-compliant and connected to legal aid organizations through open software interfaces.

Pro Bono Net

Pro Bono Net is a national non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to justice for the disadvantaged. Through innovative technology solutions and expertise in building and mobilizing justice networks, Pro Bono Net transforms the way legal help reaches the underserved. Since 1999, Pro Bono Net has worked with a broad network of access to justice partners to develop online services (including www.probono.net, www.lawhelp.org and www.lawhelpinteractive.org) that enable legal advocates to make a stronger impact, increase volunteer participation, and empower the public with information and self-help tools to improve their lives.

RFP OVERVIEW

A Vision of an Integrated Service-Delivery System

Technology can and must play a vital role in transforming service delivery so that people who cannot afford a lawyer or easily locate guidance to deal with an essential civil legal need obtain some form of effective assistance.

The strategy for implementing this vision, as described in the Technology Summit Report linked above, has five main components:

1. Creating in each state a unified legal access portal which, using an automated triage process, directs persons needing legal assistance to the most appropriate form of assistance and guides self-represented litigants through the entire legal process.
2. Deploying sophisticated document assembly proposals to support the creation of legal documents by service providers and by portal users themselves and linking the document creation process to the delivery of legal information and limited scope legal representation.
3. Taking advantage of mobile technologies to reach more persons more effectively.
4. Applying business process simplification principles to all access to justice activities to make them as efficient as practicable.
5. Developing “expert systems” to assist clients, lawyers, and other services providers by using information provided by a client to create tailored legal information.

A Vision for Statewide Legal Portals

Much has been done to improve access to resources for people seeking legal assistance, but potential litigants often face a complex patchwork of services. Each state now has multiple websites providing information on its courts, legal aid services, and organized bar resources. The variety of choices can be confusing to the user and wasteful of scarce resources. A better approach would be a single, statewide, web access portal to which a user would be directed no matter where he or she enters the system. The portal would support computers, tablets, and smartphones, and meet accessibility standards. Also, the portal should support users who have a legal need that does not require court intervention, such as the need for a will, a demand letter for a rental deposit, or to seek relief from unfair debt collection tactics.

When a single, statewide, unified legal access portal is implemented:

• Information will be available anywhere, any time to every person seeking assistance.
• Assistance from a person – lawyer or otherwise – will be available anywhere, if resources are available.
• The portal will use methods such as branching logic questions and gamification to assess the capabilities and circumstances of an inquirer, which will be part of the referral logic.
• The portal will generate information on the legal needs of persons using it and on the results achieved from the referrals provided. The portal will aggregate this information and provide it regularly to all participating entities. Continue Reading

Download PDF of RFP