A far-reaching effort by the Texas Access to Justice Commission, the Texas Access to Justice Foundation and leading law firms has given legal aid programs across the state access to new, state-of-the-art technology -- and an opportunity to greatly expand their capacity to help the four million Texans who live below the federal poverty line.
Through statewide initiatives such as TexasLawHelp.org and local use of tools like video conferencing, Texas has long used robust technology to help provide low-income Texans with the information they need to understand and exercise their rights. As in other places, however, the story was different inside many legal aid offices, where basic equipment was often lacking and staff was working with outdated computers and software.
The Texas Access to Justice Commission’s Technology Committee, composed mainly of the chief information and technology officers (CITOs) of major firms working pro bono, recognized that without adequate technology infrastructure, legal aid providers are hampered in their ability to provide services efficiently and effectively.
To remedy this, Committee members spent more than a year applying their professional expertise to survey and analyze the status of technology in 37 legal aid offices around the state. The surveys assessed not only the programs’ technology needs but also how programs use technology in their day-to-day work. To further probe these questions, Committee members conducted small group interviews of legal aid staff at a statewide meeting in July 2007.
“The CITOs were deeply committed to understanding and evaluating the context in which technology is used in legal aid programs,” said Hong Tran, an attorney with Texas Lawyers Care who staffs the Commission’s Technology Committee. “Their goal was not only to enhance the programs’ baseline equipment, but also ultimately to help programs use technology to improve service delivery for clients.”
Working with the survey results, the Committee developed a statewide technology plan to address the deficits and bring technology up to base level. But the Committee didn’t stop at the planning stage; it researched the costs associated with the plan and sent an RFP to six vendors with which Committee members had business relationships through their firms.
That’s where the Texas Access to Justice Foundation came in. The Foundation administers statewide funding for legal aid and works closely with the Texas Access to Justice Commission. Based on the Technology Committee’s recommendation, the Foundation’s Board agreed to make a one-time, bulk purchase of approximately $680,000 worth of equipment and software, and donate it to the legal aid organizations. The equipment purchased included 124 desktop computers, 181 laptops, 59 business-grade printers, 18 color printers, 4 portable printers, 29 scanners, relevant peripheral equipment and more than 300 licenses of Microsoft Office 2007, Adobe Acrobat and Symantec. It was delivered just before Christmas. Had the legal aid organizations purchased the equipment on their own, the aggregate cost would have approached $900,000.
David Hall, the Executive Director of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, said the hardware and software will make it easier to serve clients and access resources to help them navigate the legal system. “With this support, TRLA attorneys will be able to take advantage of the latest technology to provide justice for all,” he said.
Legal aid programs will be responsible for maintaining the equipment, but the Technology Committee is working to ensure that the potential of the donation is fully realized. Working with other staff in their firms, the Committee instituted a summer training program in 2007 for legal aid staff on basic and advanced Microsoft Word skills. One Committee member referred this initiative to his firm’s national training manager, who coordinated with other firms to host the trainings at the firms’ facilities across the state. The firms provide all training materials, which are also made available through TexasLawyersHelp.org. The Committee intends to offer additional training in the summer of 2008.
Technology Committee members donated more than 1,000 hours of their time for the project, amounting to more than $120,000 worth of pro bono assistance.
“Being able to assist in providing this kind of technology to Texas legal aid organizations through the efforts of the Commission and the Foundation has been a privilege and an extremely rewarding experience,” says Mark Hendrick, Technology Committee member and Director of Information Technology at Baker Botts, LLP. “I look forward to the future as the Committee continues to focus on improving these agencies’ technology as they strive to provide the best possible aid to those in need of legal representation.”
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Members of the ATJ Technology Committee include: C. Lynn McGuire, chief information officer, Andrews Kurth LLP (Houston); J. Mark Hendrick, director of information technology, Baker Botts, LLP (Houston); C. Kirk Scruggs, director of information systems, Bracewell & Guiliani LLP (Houston); Scott Preston, chief technology officer, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP (Houston), and Dennis Van Metre, chief technology officer at Vinson & Elkins (Houston). Additionally, Nick Altizer, director of information systems for Lone Star Legal Aid (Houston), and Ryan Gravelle, general counsel for BSG Alliance Corp. (Austin), also serve on the committee and donated countless hours to the project. Other members on the ATJ Technology Committee include Lisa D. Melton, Special Projects Manager at the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, Neish Carroll, Staff Attorney at the Texas Legal Services Center and Texas Statewide Website Content Coordinator (Austin), George Elliott (Lubbock), Mary Faithfull (Austin), David Hall (Weslaco), and Clint Sare (Amarillo). Jeff Edwards, of Whitehurst, Harkness, Ozmun & Brees in Austin, serves as the Technology Committee’s chair.
