Lsntap triage and expert systems slides

Triage and expert systems in legal aid:
New tools to assist people in need and the
advocates that serve them
July 23, 2014

Our panel today
Zach Hutchinson
Student and Research Assistant, Georgetown University Law Center
Adam Friedl
Program and Special Initiatives Manager at Pro Bono Net
Donna Dougherty
Attorney-in-Charge at JASA/Legal Services for the Elderly in Queens
Marc Lauritsen
President, Capstone Practice Systems
Liz Keith (Moderator)
Program Director, Pro Bono Net

Takeaways
How can new technologies and
design approaches:
• Aid advocates with legal
screening, triage and analysis
• Help litigants navigate unfamiliar
process
• Support community partnerships
to expand access to assistance

Community approaches
• Neota Logic
• Drools engine
• HotDocs and A2J Author guided
interviews
• Drupal-based options
• HTML / Javascript (for simple,
formulaic tools)
• You tell us!

Resources on other “next generation”
triage and intake initiatives
• 2013 LSNTAP.org training – Beyond Online Intake
• http://www.slideshare.net/LSNTAP/beyond-online-intake-final
• 2014 LSC TIG Conference workshop – Online Triage and Intake: To
Infinity and Beyond
• http://tig.lsc.gov/tig-conference/past-conferences/2014-tig-
conference
• 2014 EJC workshop – Online Intake and Triage Systems
• http://www.americanbar.org/groups/probono_public_service/resour
ces/archive/workshop_archive_20131.html
• 2013 LSC Technology Initiative Grant awards
• http://tig.lsc.gov/sites/lsc.gov/files/TIG/pdfs/TIG-2013grants.pdf

Three Triage and Legal Analysis
Expert Systems Developed at
Georgetown University Law Center
Zach Hutchinson
Student and Research Assistant,
Georgetown University Law Center

EJC Wage Theft App - Triage and Legal Analysis
https://lawstudents.neotalogic.com/a/wagetheft

OAH Unemployment App - Simple Legal Analysis
https://lawstudents.neotalogic.com/a/oah-advisor

MIDAS (Military Discharge App) – Complex Legal Analysis
https://lawstudents.neotalogic.com/a/midas-dec3-2013

Expert Systems Discussion
• Thinking like a programmer – building the app
• Thinking like a lawyer – domain knowledge
• Thinking like a designer – user experience

The DEN
Debt and Eviction Navigator
https://lawstudents.neotalogic.com/a/jasa-den
Donna Dougherty, JASA Legal Services
for the Elderly
Adam Friedl, Pro Bono Net

The Big Idea:
• Enable social workers visiting homebound,
elderly clients to perform legal screenings
• 2 areas of focus (I didn’t want to say “foci”):
• Housing
• Consumer Debt
• Direct clients to appropriate
resources/referrals

Expert Systems
• Screening process designed by substantive
experts
• Interviewer diagnoses client situation and
suggests next steps
• Social worker is on hand to help facilitate and
navigate

Future steps
• Eventually incorporate e-filing
• Broaden subject areas
• Generate Statistical Data, Analysis and
Reports

Tools of Choice
Marc Lauritsen
July 2014

Going beyond
databases,
document assembly,
guided interviews,
and
expert systems
Supporting choice
requires

Databases are great for
• Gathering, storing, and retrieving information
• Searching and finding information
• Not just numbers and texts, but images,
sounds, video, …
• Statistics, reports

Document assembly is great for
• Creating customized documents and forms
• Intelligent questionnaires and checklists
• Information gathering
• Individualized guidance

A2J guided interviews are great for
• Gathering information needed for document
assembly, case intake, or other purposes
• Audio, video, images
• Making online resources more accessible

Expert systems are great for
• Rule-based reasoning
(backward and forward chaining)
• Non-procedural (‘declarative’) knowledge
• Explanation

But
None of these are particularly good
for helping people make choices

Choices involve
competing values and
perspectives
They’re not algorithmic
You can’t look up or compute the answer

Law-related Choices
Clients and Self-helpers
• Ways to deal with legal
problems
• Lawyer/firm selection
• Business decisions
• Entity type
• Hiring/firing
• Employee/contractor
• Compliance, risk
management
• Negotiation and settlement
Professionals
• What position to take, what
advice to give
• Case triage
• Litigation
• Where to file
• What witnesses to call
• What arguments to make
• Business
• What software or hardware
• What vendors/consultants
• Who to hire

Legal Services Contexts
• Which types of cases to accept
• Which particular clients to help, with what forms
of assistance
• Case strategy – what claims to make where; what
arguments/evidence to emphasize
• Contract/settlement negotiation – which package
of terms lets you ‘get to yes’
• Which office technology to adopt
• LSC technology funding priorities

Factors in play
• Recipient needs, interests, & circumstances
• Nature of ‘stake’ and likelihood of success
• Capacity for self-help
• Provider resources, interests, & circumstances
• Availability
• Priorities / Preferences
• System/Society interests
• Fairness
• Overall impact on just outcomes
• System improvement

Challenges
• Demand greatly exceeds resources
• Complex recipient circumstances
• Changing provider circumstances (resource
availability, priorities)
• Competing views about which kinds of
problems deserve which kinds of assistance

Representation
Online Doc
Assembly

Lsntap triage and expert systems slides

BUT …
Most decisions involve many
“hands”:
• more than two options, and
• more than a couple considerations,
• of varying degrees of importance,
• with people disagreeing both about the relative
importance of considerations and how the options
‘do’ on them.

Aspen Workflow LawBase Practice Manager
(RealLegal)
Practice Master Time Matters
The product
Essential features
Tickler
Conflict checking
Remote access
Reporting
Other product factors
Document mgt
Timekeeping
Custom intake screens
Integration with DA
Relevance to graduates’
practices
Security options
Vendor stability
User community
Other law schools?
Pre-built modules?
Cost
(product & any newly
required software)
The services
Customization
Training
Cost
Other notes

Factor
Factor
Factor
Perspective
Perspective
Perspective
Option Option Option
Rating Rating Rating
A choicebox

Features
Interface
Ease of
learning
Jane
John
Combined
Ace Acm
e
Apex
7 8 9
Best Good Better
6 7 5
Choosing a case management
system

Note: This data is illustrative. See Greacen report for final ratings.

Going Deeper
• A Decision Space for Legal Service Delivery
• Dancing in the Cloud
• Which – a simple HotDocs-based example of
choiceboxing on LawHelp Interactive
[Best viewed in Chrome or IE]
• Preparing Law Students for Choice Jobs
(Presentation at 2014 CALI conference)
• 'Boxing' Choices for Better Dispute Resolution,
Int'l Journal of Online Dispute Resolution (1) 1,
70-92 (2014)

Thank you to our panel!
Zach Hutchinson - zachary.b.hutchinson@gmail.com
Student and Research Assistant, Georgetown University Law Center
Adam Friedl - afriedl@probono.net
Program and Special Initiatives Manager at Pro Bono Net
Donna Dougherty - ddougherty@jasa.org
Attorney-in-Charge at JASA/Legal Services for the Elderly in Queens
Marc Lauritsen – marc@capstonepractice.com
President, Capstone Practice Systems
Liz Keith (Moderator) – lkeith@probono.net
Program Director, Pro Bono Net

THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING TODAY!
Be sure to check out www.lsntap.org for
information regarding the next LSTNAP Community
Training!

Contact Information
Brian Rowe (brianr@nwjustice.org) or via chat on www.lsntap.org
Don’t forget to take our feedback survey!

Lsntap triage and expert systems slides

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Lsntap triage and expert systems slides