2020 in review: Legal software for working remotely — from abajournal.com by Nicole Black
Excerpts:
State Court Budget Forecast: Stormy with Rising Backlogs — from law360.com by Andrew Strickler
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
As state lawmakers begin preparing for upcoming legislative sessions amid a resurgent pandemic, a scattered but largely grim outlook for state court funding is beginning to take shape.
With some judicial administrators already dealing with staggered budgets and new technology costs, experts and advocates say court leaders have their work cut out for them to convince budget analysts and lawmakers to pay for pandemic recovery efforts.
Perhaps nowhere is the coming financial strain more apparent than in Florida, where legislators began gathering Tuesday in Tallahassee to face a historic $5.4 billion budget deficit over the next two years.
There, court leaders have drawn on their experiences dealing with a crush of foreclosures and other litigation following the 2008 financial crisis to project that nearly 1 million additional cases will be in front of the state’s trial courts by the middle of 2021.
…
In New York, where the next fiscal year promises to include a gaping $14.5 billion budget hole, dozens of appellate judges over age 70 are being forced into retirement, a move court administrators said would save $55 million in the coming years and help prevent staff layoffs.
Addendum on 11/24/20:
The recordings of every Civil Justice Fest webinar are now available! Visit https://t.co/TCyoXN26aj to start watching, and keep an eye out for the #12DaysofCivilJustice beginning this Friday! pic.twitter.com/SEW0Ll6glj
— MasonLEC (@MasonLEC) November 24, 2020
Civil Justice Fest: A Month of Dialogues On the Most Pressing Civil Justice Issues — from vimeo.com
Judicial Education Program & Congressional Civil Justice Academy Law & Economics Center Antonin Scalia Law School George Mason University November 2020 Virtual
Bloomberg Law 2021 — from pro.bloomberglaw.com
Excerpt:
Our Bloomberg Law 2021 series sets the stage for a new year, previewing the themes and topics that our experts will be watching closely, so you can effectively navigate the dynamic legal landscape. Our team of experienced legal analysts leverages the latest data and technology to deliver expert perspectives on the legal market to the legal market.
How to Work Remotely as a Lawyer: A Guide — from clio.com by Teresa Matich; with thanks to Nelson Miller for this resource
Excerpt:
Whether you’ve looked at working remotely as a lawyer in the past (or as a paralegal, legal assistant, legal professional) with dreams of traveling the world, or whether you’re looking into it for the first time now, this guide contains clear, practical tips for opening a remote legal practice without interruption. We’ll cover:
Illinois Supreme Court Issues Pandemic-Related Court Orders, Expands Criminal Appeals Pro Bono Program — from legaltechmonitor.com by Laura Bagby
Excerpt:
The Order on Remote Jury Selection in Civil Matters permits circuits to conduct jury selection in civil cases via video conference. This expands upon rules that were amended in May to support the use of remote hearings.
Meet the Hackers Who Are Reengineering Legal Operations Technology — from onit.com
Excerpt:
Are you ready for a friendly legal operations technology competition? These legal leaders raised their hands and said, “Hack, yeah!”
Two weeks ago, we announced our new hackathon: Hack the House.
The competition unites Onit customers, partners and staff to re-imagine legal operations technology. With the no-code Onit Apptitude platform, they’re creating Apps to address real challenges faced by corporate legal departments.
The competition, held in conjunction with Cosmonauts, welcomes five teams, including Team IP, Team HR, Team Europe, Team Diversity and Team Pro Bono. Each team has three weeks to identify a problem, define requirements and build the solution.
Also see:
Also see:
Addendum on 10/28/20:
Main players in the Legal Operations Software Global market: SimpleLegal, TeamConnect, Lawtrac, Acuity ELM, eCounsel, LexisNexis CounselLink, BusyLamp, DataStore, Dazychain, Intellinx, Law Vu and others. (source)
Attorneys create free, virtual clinic to give immigrant Asian business owners legal help — from chicago.suntimes.com by Elvia Malagón
Lawyers Helping Our Community helps the Chinatown business community with civil issues ranging from evictions to insurance claims.
Excerpt:
Those memories are why Yang, a commercial finance attorney at the Katten Muchin Rosenman law firm, recently co-founded a free, virtual legal clinic aimed at those in the Asian community in Chicago whose primary language isn’t English.
Lawyers Helping Our Community, under the umbrella of the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, launched in June as a completely virtual clinic to help the Chinatown business community with civil issues such as evictions and insurance claims.
…
The clinic, which includes about 60 volunteer attorneys and law students, has worked with about 30 clients. The volunteers speak various languages like Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese, Yang said.
On LawNext: Rocket Lawyer Founder Charley Moore — from lawsitesblog.com by Bob Ambrogi; with thanks to Gabe Teninbaum for this resource from his Lawtomatic Newsletter
Excerpt
In September, Rocket Lawyer became the first national company approved to participate in Utah’s regulatory sandbox, a pilot program for licensing new and alternative forms of legal providers and services. For Charley Moore, who founded Rocket Lawyer in 2008, it was yet another step in his quest to deliver high-value legal services at an affordable price.
…
In this episode of LawNext, Moore recounts the founding and development of Rocket Lawyer and its expansion into Europe starting in 2012. He also explains why he wanted the company to participate in the Utah sandbox and what he expects to happen there. Finally, as one of the few Black CEOs in legal tech, Moore discusses his thoughts on expanding diversity in the industry.
Also see:
Also from Gabe, see:
Justice-as-a-Service — from Henrik Zillmer
Excerpts:
There’s a new wave of customer empowerment coming. It’s called Justice-as-a-Service (JaaS), and you need to know about it because it benefits you – you just don’t know it yet.
Justice-as-a-Service is an on-demand service, powered by tech, that challenges private and public companies by representing the consumer in their fight for justice/compensation based on laws, consumers’ rights, and contract of carriage.
Why is there a need for JaaS?
The justice gap in the United States is striking. It ranks 103rd out of 126 countries in accessibility and affordability of civil legal services, according to a World Justice Project survey. More than 80% of those in poverty, as well as a majority of middle-income Americans, receive inadequate civil legal assistance, the nonprofit Legal Services Corporation found.
From DSC:
If the public doesn’t have access to justice — and the majority of those involved with civil-based law cases (vs. criminal law cases) don’t — the system has failed. Throughout the last several years, I have thought about the topic of access to justice (#A2J) many times on my walks past the Michigan Hall of Justice building in Lansing, Michigan.
I am hoping that a variety of technologies can help address this problem — at least in part. The impact of the Covid19 pandemic is pushing us in the right direction, but it never should have taken that horrendous event to occur in order for such innovations and changes to take root.
6 “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
Also see:
Legalweek Announces a New Virtual Experience for 2021 named Legalweek(year) — from prnewswire.com
Legalweek originally to be held in-person on February 1-4 will now be a series of 5 interactive virtual events held throughout the year to guide legal leaders through the new legal landscape.
Excerpt:
NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Beginning on February 2-4, 2021, Legalweek(year) will bring together thousands of legal professionals for a series of 5 innovative virtual legal events that tackle the changing legal landscape and provide actionable insights to help legal leaders restructure, rebuild and reinvigorate today’s law firms and legal departments. The Legalweek(year) virtual series aims to serve as the anchor for the legal community during an unprecedented time, as well as a guide throughout the coming year to inform legal professionals of emerging trends, cutting edge legal technology and expert analysis of the tectonic shifts in the industry.
Progress in the time of COVID-19: Reconsidering gender equity in the legal profession — from abovethelaw.com by Amanda M. Fisher
Here are five ideas to advance gender equity in the profession.
Excerpt:
Law is steeped in tradition, but COVID-19 ravaged several pillars to which the legal profession was moored. For example, time at the office was the highest currency before the pandemic, despite many lawyers, often parents — usually mothers — requesting flexible schedules and remote options. Yet during COVID-19, employers were forced to reassess whether time in the office is worth more than the safety of their employees. So, if we can make changes to keep the profession running during a pandemic, we can also reimagine the profession in a less-gendered way. Here are five ideas to advance gender equity in the profession:
WMU-Cooley Innocence Project helps earn release of Lacino Hamilton after 26 years in prison — from cooley.edu and WMU-Cooley Law School’s Innocence Project
Excerpt:
Today, Wayne County Judge Tracy Green set aside the conviction of Lacino Hamilton who was wrongfully convicted of second degree murder and felony firearms in 1994. DNA testing facilitated by the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Innocence Project was used to help win Hamilton’s release. Assistant Prosecutor Valerie Newman, director of the Wayne County Prosecutor Office’s Conviction Integrity Unit, moved to have Hamilton’s conviction vacated and requested dismissal of all charges. The motion was joined by Hamilton’s legal counsel, Mary Chartier (Johnson Class, 2002) and Takura Nyamfukudza (Moore Class, 2013) of CN Defenders. Both are WMU-Cooley law graduates and well-respected defense attorneys.
Civil Justice for All — from amacad.org
Excerpts:
This report calls for the legal profession, the courts, law schools, tech professionals, and partners from many other fields and disciplines to coordinate their efforts to provide necessary legal assistance to many more people in need. Past efforts to improve access to justice offer strong evidence that such an effort would have a profound effect on American society—measured in financial savings, greater trust in law and social institutions, and the safety and security of families and communities.
THE PROJECT’S SEVEN RECOMMENDATIONS ARE:
First, and above all, dedicate a consequential infusion of financial and human resources to closing the civil justice gap, and seek a significant shift in mindset—extending beyond lawyers the duty and capacity to assist those with legal need—to make genuine strides toward “justice for all”;
Second, increase the number of legal services lawyers who focus on the needs of low-income Americans;
Third, increase the number of lawyers providing pro bono and other volunteer assistance, to supplement the corps of legal services lawyers;
Fourth, bring many new advocates—service providers who are not lawyers—into the effort to solve civil justice problems;
Fifth, foster greater collaboration among legal services providers and other trusted professionals—such as doctors, nurses, and social workers;
Sixth, expand efforts to make legal systems easier to understand and use through the simplification of language, forms, and procedures and the wider use of technology; and
Seventh, create a national team, or even a new national organization, to coordinate the efforts listed above, collect much-needed data on the state of civil justice, and help identify and publicize effective innovations that improve access.
Hear five chief justices read Goodnight Status Quo, a loving tribute to Goodnight Moon.https://t.co/hKWH8cQQiS
— Daniel Christian (@dchristian5) September 23, 2020
With thanks to Gabe Teninbaum for posting this in his Lawtomatic Newsletter| Issue #104, September 23, 2020
As Gabe points out, also see:
