ABA, LSC legal aid initiative gathers steam

Seven legal tech companies are the first to join a new partnership between the American Bar Association and the Legal Services Corporation to provide free technology products and services to legal aid offices that help low-income Americans.

Called Legal Tech for a Change, the project is spearheaded by the ABA Center for Innovation, the association’s 2016 initiative to create more accessible, efficient and effective legal services.

The center will focus on leveraging its resources and network to recruit tech companies while the LSC will identify tech solutions that help make the delivery of legal aid services more efficient and usable for LSC grantees.

“The ABA and LSC seek to produce a win/win for tech companies and legal aid providers,” ABA President Bob Carlson said.

“More than 85 percent of low-income American households have a civil legal need that goes unmet each year.

“The donations from these generous companies will directly help bridge this ‘justice gap’ at a time when our nation’s legal aid organizations are being challenged to do more with less.”

The first group of donors are Ross Intelligence and PacerPro of San Francisco; MetaJure of Seattle; vTestify and Civvis of Raleigh, N.C.; Powernotes of Chicago and Documate of Los Angeles.

“Legal Tech for a Change gives LSC-funded legal aid programs early and free access to technology that can improve client service and enhance program efficiency,” LSC President James L. Sandman said. “We are grateful to the ABA Center for Innovation for leading this imaginative initiative to improve access to justice.”

Interested legal tech companies and LSC-funded grantees can indicate their interest in participating by signing up at www.legal techforachange.org.