Washington Lawyer - January 2018 - 44

THE PRO BONO EFFECT

AS TECHNOLOGYADVANCES,
SO DOES ACCESS TO JUSTICE
By Reece Flexner

he D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center strives to meet
the legal needs of the District of Columbia's
underserved residents. With limited resources
and an ever-increasing demand for pro bono
legal assistance, the Center is always looking for ways
to leverage technology to extend its reach. Using text
messaging, Google Analytics, and increased data security
efforts, as well as participating in community-wide
technology events, we have improved the quality and
quantity of services we provide.

TEXT MESSAGING: FASTER, EFFECTIVE
Over the last several years, we have recognized the need for more effective
communication with our clients living on low incomes to more effectively meet
their needs. At the end of 2016, the Pro Bono Center worked with LegalServer, a
case management platform, to begin communicating with clients via text messaging. Our goals were to increase our flexibility in contacting clients and to
improve the efficiency of our intake and referral processes. The text messaging
initiative has served these goals exceptionally well - in the first 11 months the
Pro Bono Center sent and received over 800 communications to and from
clients.
This instantaneous, informal mode of correspondence increased attendance
rates at our clinics and led to other improvements. Clients are more likely to
respond to texts than they are to phone calls from an unknown number, so
text messaging has increased the likelihood of making contact. Additionally,
because many of our clients rely on prepaid cell phone plans with limited
minutes, when their minutes are exhausted, at certain times they will not be
able to take or return our calls. However, many service providers will still allow
text messages to be sent and received when subscribers' minutes have been
depleted. Text messaging is also an essential tool for clients with other communication barriers. We recently were able to easily provide a deaf woman with the
date, time, and address of our Advice & Referral Clinic, and to arrange for a legal
interpreter to attend.
Short text messages can often be as effective as phone calls, and texting offers
an additional method of contacting clients when other forms of communication fail. Furthermore, because we have integrated text messaging with our
case management system, we can automatically preserve a log of client communications. Taken together, texting saves our staff, volunteer attorneys, and
clients many hours of time communicating with clients.
Finally, clients can use the system to send us photographs of court summons or
to document evidence of housing code violations such as mold on their walls,
vermin infestation, and broken windows or damaged door locks. If a client does
not have access to a smart phone or a fax machine, text messaging may be the
only way to quickly access this information.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS:
ELIMINATING SEARCH DEAD-ENDS
Technologists and lawyers brainstorm at the "Coding Justice" event
hosted by the Washington Council of Lawyers during D.C. Pro Bono
Week in October 2017.

One of the Pro Bono Center's primary technology initiatives is hosting and
maintaining LawHelp.org/DC, a website that houses hundreds of legal
resources for pro se litigants. The website receives more than 60,000 page
views each month. On the Internet, though, useful information can be easily
buried by the sheer amount of other content.

Photos by Tracy Schorn

http://www.LawHelp.org/DC

Washington Lawyer - January 2018

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