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Statewide
Web Site Template Now
Available From Pro Bono Net for
Use by Legal Services Programs Applying for LSC Technology Initiative Grants
I. The Statewide Web Site Template and the LSC Technology Grants Process The FY 2001 LSC Technology
Initiative Grants (TIG) RFP, issued in late February, 2001 includes a
category for Statewide Web Sites.
These grants will be available for up to $50,000 per state.[1] It appears that LSC is willing to fund a
substantial number of states within this category. To be
eligible for a grant under this category, the applicant must be making use of
an already-funded template that includes support for advocate information,
client information and pro bono support, and must also demonstrate capacity
for long-term support of content. Pro
Bono Net, a nonprofit organization (see attached organizational history), is
currently developing a template for a statewide web site with the Minnesota
legal community, funded in part by a grant under the FY 2000 TIG cycle. This
template will be available for LSC grantees wishing to apply for such a
statewide web site during the FY 2001 TIG cycle. The
template is being built so that states making use of it will not need a
server to host the site, will not need any custom programming to create a
site for your state, nor technical staff to create the web site. Once
completed, the template can be set up for a new state within a matter of
weeks and can be maintained by legal and advocacy staff with little or no
in-house technology support. Once
functioning in any state, the template will provide programs within each
state the ability directly to publish via the web content for both advocates and
clients. Through the template, legal
services advocates and pro bono attorneys can enjoy immediate online
access to a wide variety of advocate tools and information, including an
online training and events calendar, news page, message board and a library
that can be used to post brief banks, pleadings, manuals, etc. The template
can similarly give clients and community organizations easy
online access to legal services and pro bono referral information, client
education information and self-help materials that are being created at the
state level.
By building behind a common
platform, states will benefit in a number of ways beyond obvious economies of
scale. For example, any
enhancement made by one state can be made available to other participating
states at no or little additional cost. Because the template is built to integrate content from as many
jurisdictions as choose to take advantage of it, client and advocate users
will be able to access information from beyond their jurisdictions, and from
beyond the participating LSC-funded programs. In short, the template system combines for a state all the
advantages of localized administration of content with the power of
integrated information (with national and non-LSC program content) and
centralized access for users, both advocates and the public.
The underlying technology used
for the template has been under development for several years. Portions of the template are already in
use in New York, Minnesota and Northern California. In use by nearly 4,000 advocates, including a growing number of
advocates from staff-based programs, the advocate and pro bono portions of
the template can be viewed at http://www.probono.net/. A prototype of the client portion of the
template, developed through a multi-organization collaboration in New York,
including two of the largest legal services programs in the country, Legal
Services for New York City and the Legal Aid Society of New York, can be
viewed at http://www.lawhelp.org/. II. Core features of the Template Secure Advocate and Pro Bono Information·
Flexible Practice Areas. The template allows multiple
password-protected practice areas, such as welfare, housing, family or consumer,
to be created and managed by different organizations or advocates within your
state. Pro Bono Net is also
developing a number of national practice areas that will be integrated into
the template so that local advocates can join and use it to develop local
content. ·
Flexible Legal Libraries within Practice
Areas. The template allows each
practice area to structure its manuals, brief banks, model pleadings and
other materials in a flexible folder/subfolder structure. Materials can be
posted in the library in multiple formats such as Word, WordPerfect, HTML
and/or PDF. We will be developing
features that allow users to search for materials across jurisdictions and
practice areas so that content can be easily shared and accessed by users of
the template. ·
News System.
The template includes a content submission system that allows any
user to directly publish, subject to practice area administrator approval,
news of interest to advocates within the practice area. ·
Calendar System.
The template includes a content submission system that allows any
user to directly publish, subject to practice area administrator approval,
events. ·
Pro Bono Case Offering System. Specially designed for pro bono and
PAI programs, the template allows programs across the state to list
“offerings” of cases in need of counsel.
Potential volunteers contact the organization that is posting such
offering directly. ·
Membership and Security System. The template allows the administrators
for each practice area to control membership and access according to locally
developed and administered rules. ·
Document Generation Technology. We are integrating web-based document
generation software into the site (e.g., HotDocs) to enable participating
organizations to create templates that advocates can use to create pleadings
and forms.
Client Information·
This portion of the template will be built to provide
quick, easily customized access by intake workers, potential clients and community
organizations to the following four types of information: ·
referrals to appropriate legal services and pro bono
programs; ·
client legal education materials; ·
self-help materials; and ·
information about other social services. A prototype for this system can be viewed at http://www.lawhelp.org/. The system is currently populated only
with referral information for New York City.
·
Zip Code and Regional Search System. Clients
currently enter the system by first entering their zip code, county or
state. This will provide them with
access to a menu of topics that can be tailored for each jurisdiction.[2] ·
Customizable Menus of Legal “Problems.” Once they input a zip code, clients
then go automatically to a topic area menu that lists various problems that
might be faced by a potential low- or moderate-income client. This menu,
which can be customized by each state, can be expanded to include a
wide-variety of topics and sub-topics including the core poverty law areas
such as family, domestic violence, benefits, consumer, workplace, and
housing. ·
Client Referral and Program Locator. Once the client selects a topic (and
possibly a sub-topic) from the menu, clients will be provided
information about legal services programs that provide the service sought for
their area, and eligibility requirements for that program. (An advanced
search feature allows intake workers to search by eligibility criteria.) This referral information can be entered
and updated directly by each organization that wants to be listed or by a
central geographic administrator. ·
Community Legal Education and Self-Help Content. In addition, once a topic is selected,
clients will also be presented with community legal education and self-help
information and links that are relevant to their geographic area. These materials can either reside on the
state’s site or as links to other sites.
The system will allow for input and display of materials by
non-LSC-funded programs (e.g. bar associations, community groups, courts,
etc.) that often create these sorts of public education materials. ·
Social Service Information. The template is designed to provide
clients with locally entered and approved links and materials on social
service and other holistic support information. Local Program Control Over Administration and Content Management·
Decentralized Content Management System. The key feature of the template is a
set of tools that allow different organizations and users directly to publish
and manage the information that relates to their state or practice area. Different programs and individual users
can be provided authority to post, edit and manage information in their
practice or geographic area. Content
can be submitted by a narrow or broad range of users within each state and
posted subject to approval by designated administrators in each state. This gives programs control and ownership
of their region’s resources while also allowing some level of screening to
insure quality assurance at the state level.
The system has also been designed so that little or no HTML is needed
to input content into the database that supports the site. Your program will not be required to hire
a web master to maintain the site. ·
Consulting Services. In addition to providing the Template, Pro Bono Net can
provide participating organizations with advice regarding management and
organization of content, balancing the needs of private attorneys and
advocates from staff-based programs, and share best practices being developed
in other jurisdictions. Pro Bono Net
will also work with participating organizations to discuss ongoing
enhancements and improvements to the site. Compliance with LSC Regulations and Standards·
LSC Grantee Subscription System Consistent with
LSC Requirements. The template is
being built to contain both LSC and non-LSC content and to do so in ways that
are fully compliant with all relevant LSC regulations. This will be achieved through a
subscription model, in which the LSC grantee contracts with Pro Bono Net for
the service of distributing LSC-funded content (while other funding sources
at both the state and national level will be used to support the distribution
of non-LSC content). LSC-funded
content will be identified in ways that distinguish it from non-LSC-funded
content and that will meet all LSC regulatory requirements. ·
Compliance with Legal Services Community Software
Standards. Pro Bono Net has been participating
in the Software Standards generated within the legal services community. See
http://www.equaljustice.org/techno/indexintro.htm. While not currently formally enacted by LSC, these standards
have included significant LSC input and have received its informal staff
imprimatur as a means to meeting its software integration and distribution
goals ·
Disability Access and Multilingual Capacity. The template will be “Bobby” compliant
and, to the extent applicable, will meet the requirements of Section 508 of
the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, codified as Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794d.
The template will also be built so that multilingual content can be
distributed. ·
Optimization for Collaborations. Consistent with the overall vision of
state planning, the template has been built to facilitate
collaboration among LSC grantees, non-LSC funded programs (e.g. pro bono
programs, bar associations, law school based programs, etc.), courts and
community organizations. The subscription
model will be structured to make such collaboration easier and to ensure
consistency with governing LSC regulations.
The decentralized content management system similarly makes it easy
for other organizations to collaborate in the generation and management of
content for a broad audience of both advocates and the client community. ·
Modified Open Source Licensing/Local Customization
of Code. The template currently
uses Cold Fusion and a Microsoft Sequel Server database, both widely ·
Integration with Existing Web Sites. Those states that already have in place
advocate or client-oriented web sites have a number of options for
integrating their existing content into the template that can preserve access
through already-established program web sites. III. What an LSC Program Needs to Do to Join and Use the Template To
join and use the Statewide Template System, an LSC Grantee will need to: ·
Apply (on or before April 20, 2001) and receive an
LSC Grant (or other equivalent funding).
(General background materials are available from Pro Bono Net that
will aid you in the application process; collaboration with state planning,
courts and community groups is strongly recommended by LSC.) ·
Enter into a service agreement with Pro Bono Net.
(The initial subscription, which includes set-up and the first year, will be
no more than the $10,000 suggested in the LSC Grant Guideline and possibly
less depending on how many states participate.) ·
Future Fees.
We anticipate that there will be annual maintenance fees after Year 1
that will include a certain basic package of services such as hosting each
state’s content on our servers, maintaining and enhancing the template, and
training and limited consulting regarding content management. These fees will compare very favorably
with the cost that each state would need to incur to maintain and host separate
web sites. We will endeavor to make
these fees as low as possible for each state and expect them to be less than
$5,000 per year. Again, the exact
amount of the annual fee will depend somewhat on how many states participate.
·
Develop a sustainable plan for gathering, converting
and posting content. Pro Bono Net has
significant experience assisting programs in developing these plans.
(Guidelines and models are available from Pro Bono Net; collaboration and division
of labor among various groups within a state are strongly recommended.) ·
Make use of customization options to modify the
Template for your state. ·
Learn the content submission and management software.
(Regional one day trainings for all involved program staff). 1. IV. Other Possibilities
We are also interested in other collaborative projects to make appropriate use of additional TIG grants to enhance the template or to provide national support for planning and implementation of the template and other grants across the country. For More
Information, Contact: Michael Hertz, mhertz@probono.net or Mark O’Brien, mobrien@probono.net 212-760-2554 History: Founded in 1998 and supported by a number of foundations, Pro Bono Net is a nonprofit corporation based in New York City that works with legal services, bar, law school and pro bono organizations to increase the amount and quality of legal services provided to low-income individuals and communities through innovative uses of technology.
The prototype of the probono.net site was launched in March 1999 with two practice areas. Today, the site supports 13 practice areas and serves legal communities in New York, Minnesota and San Francisco, as well as supporting two national practice areas. The site has over 4,000 registered users from over 150 major law firms and over a hundred legal service organizations. Each month nearly 15,000 unique visitors come to the site for information about volunteer opportunities, news, training events and support materials such as training manuals and model pleadings. Pro Bono Net is also a founding member of a consortium of organizations that is developing a web-based delivery mechanism for referral, legal education and self-help information that can be used by clients, called LawHelp. Staff and Board
Michael Hertz is the co-founder and President of Pro Bono Net. Hertz began developing Pro Bono Net under an Individual Project Fellowship from the Open Society Institute, George Soros’s foundation, in 1998. He is on an indefinite leave of absence from Latham & Watkins, where he is a litigation partner, the former co-chair of the New York office’s litigation department and a member of firm’s national pro bono committee.
Mark O’Brien is the co-founder and Executive Vice President of Pro Bono Net. He serves as a pro bono consultant to the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he worked as pro bono coordinator from 1992 to 1999. He has served on various state and city bar committees dealing with pro bono and legal services issues in New York, and is a member of advisory committee of the University of Pennsylvania Law School Public Service Program. Board. In addition to Hertz and O’Brien, the board of Pro Bono Net includes: the chair, Michael Cooper, a senior partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and the former president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York; Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, author and lawyer; Michael Mills, the senior technology manager at Davis Polk & Wardwell; Tanya Neiman, executive director of the Volunteer Legal Services Program of the San Francisco Bar Association; Maria Imperial, the executive director of the City Bar Fund; Janet Felleman, the founder the AmLaw Tech conferences; Red Burns, the founder of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University; Walter Callender of Plural, an internet design and consulting firm; and Bill Pollak, the CEO and Chair of American Lawyer Media Group. |
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[1]
The language of the TIG
RFP is as follows “3. Statewide Web Sites. In last year’s round of TI Grants, LSC funded projects to
develop web templates that could serve as patterns for statewide web sites. These
will soon be available, and we want to encourage other states to implement
one of these templates. We will accept applications in this area for up to
$50,000. We anticipate that the actual implementation of the statewide web
site from one of these templates will cost no more than $10,000, leaving up
to $40,000 for providing content for the web site. Applications for such
implementation must clearly demonstrate that the web site will serve the
entire state, with all LSC programs participating. Applications must include
a detailed plan describing how the web site will be maintained and updated
during the implementation and after the term of the LSC grant. This plan must
be for a complete web site, including portions for clients, advocates, pro
bono attorneys, and providers of other legal and social services in the
state.”, Notice of Availability of
Funds, Legal Services Corporation, Technology Initiative Grants, 2001, at page 5. |
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[2] The current navigation system for LawHelp as described herein is a prototype. We will be testing it in New York and Minnesota and receiving feedback. Alternatives to our current navigation scheme and changes to our current navigation scheme are expected and as with all aspects of our work we look for active feedback from our participating organizations. |