A light bulb went off inside Michael Hertz’s head three years ago while he was shopping for a sweater on the Lands’ End website. He was having trouble and needed help. The search function wasn’t working; scrolling, clicking, and reloading the page weren’t either. Hertz came upon the customer service section of the online catalog and clicked the help button. In doing so, he stumbled upon a service whose popularity was rapidly growing on retail websites. Prompted for his phone number, Hertz entered it. Almost immediately his phone rang. On the line was a Lands’ End representative, who directed him to the webpage advertising the sweater he sought. Lands’ End had its sale; Hertz some new winter wear.

Hertz’s experience inspired the latest innovation on the way from an increasingly tech-savvy national legal services community. Hertz, who runs Pro Bono Net, a nonprofit organization that uses technology to increase access to justice, realized that a similar help button could be useful for legal websites that seek to help self-represented litigants make their own case. Hertz’s new online innovation is called LiveHelp, only instead of making it easier to get sweaters, LiveHelp simplifies the process to get justice. Legal Services Corporation recently awarded a $170,000 grant to Montana Legal Services Association, which will partner with Iowa Legal Aid to pioneer implementation of the new feature.

LSC has already invested more than $13.8 million in statewide websites and online tools and services to address poor people’s legal needs. In 29 states, LSC has partnered with Hertz’s company to develop LawHelp.org, a pro se website template that can be customized according to each state’s laws and local requirements. However, for some self-represented clients, LawHelp is an incomplete solution. Two issues related to the so-called “digital divide” affect the website’s effectiveness. First, those who have no Internet access do not benefit. That’s why legal services groups work with libraries, senior centers, shelters, and other locations that offer public computers with Internet connections. Second, those without proper education or computer training do not benefit. Sometimes, low- to moderate-income people in search of legal assistance either can’t find what they need or don’t know what to do with what they find.

LiveHelp will be tested next year on two pro se websites: MontanaLawHelp.org and IowaLegalAid.org. Users with problems navigating the site or finding legal information will be prompted to click a LiveHelp button and enter their phone number. A trained volunteer will call them back and help them find what they need.

The LiveHelp service can be staffed by anyone with the proper training, including non-lawyers. “Virtual volunteers” can log on for shifts whenever they’re available. This flexibility makes it easier to staff than other kinds of hotlines. The service would be especially valuable in rural areas, where legal services offices are spread out over wide areas.

Iowa Legal Aid has invested in 98 computers placed in senior centers around the state. They have already had some success with their self-help website, but many seniors drop off before getting all the advice they need. Two examples from Iowa’s case files illustrate how LiveHelp might work:

• In March 2003, Barb from Truro, Iowa, lost her husband. The house and car were in both of their names. Barb had her husband’s will but did not know how to transfer the possessions to her name. So she logged onto IowaLegalAid.org and found information about how to fill out an “affidavit of surviving spouse.” However, she had no idea what to do with it until she called legal services and was told how to file the documents at her local courthouse. According to Charlie Leist, technology coordinator of Iowa Legal Aid, many users get to the point where they have found the form they need, such as a transfer of power of attorney, but don’t know how to fill it out or what to do with it once it’s completed. “Especially with older adults, sometimes verbal encouragement is what makes legal information truly useful,” he says.
  

• In another example, an Iowan with Alzheimer’s disease logged on to the same site and found a list of benefits programs for which he might qualify. He and his wife were stumped about how to apply, though, until they called legal services. With their help, he soon began receiving free in-home care from the state. “Learn­ing to use a computer is the first major hurdle to overcome, but the uncertainty of how to use the information they find is yet another,” Leist notes.

In both cases, the legal services clients were able to get what they wanted. But for everyone who realizes that they can call for help, there are others who give up out of frustration. With LiveHelp, a relatively inexpensive technology, clients with problems like these would have an easier time getting someone on the phone quickly. For those who have trouble using the phone because of a disability, LiveHelp can also be conducted as an instant messaging conversation using the keyboard.

After using a real-time help feature on the Lands' End website to buy a sweater, a light bulb went off in Michael Hertz's head. He realized that a similar option could be utilized on legal aid sites that help self- represented litigants make their own case.

Hertz has found corporate support for his plan. At meetings with prospective donors and attorneys, he has demonstrated the idea, using the Lands’ End site to show them how smoothly it can work. When he learned the clothing site was powered by Cisco, he convinced the company to provide approximately $50,000 worth of free software for a legal services adaptation. Shore Group, a firm that installs Cisco technology, agreed to contribute another $50,000 in discounted services to make sure the pilot works.

The total budget for the project is $290,000. The biggest contribution came from LSC. At a September news conference in Helena, Montana, LSC President Helaine M. Barnett was joined by Chief Justice Karla Gray of the Montana Supreme Court to announce the $170,000 grant. Montana Legal Services Director Klaus Sitte accepted the award on his program’s behalf.

This year, LSC awarded $3 million in funding through its Technology Initiative Grant program. Glenn Rawdon, an LSC program counsel who oversees technology, says he was particularly excited about the LiveHelp grant proposal. “This has national implications,” says Rawdon, explaining that it is scalable to many other statewide legal services websites. Another important initiative related to the effort is an online document assembly program called HotDocs, a technology developed by Lexis-Nexis that asks users simple questions in a basic interview format and then outputs properly formatted court forms consistent with state and local requirements. Once technologies like HotDocs and LiveHelp are fully implemented nationally, the quality of online legal help will be vastly improved, Rawdon said.

A small minority in the legal services community still worries that the $3 million could be better spent on hiring more staff attorneys. Pat McClintock, an administrator at Iowa Legal Aid, rejects that argument. “It is correct that there aren’t enough lawyers, but there aren’t enough lawyers because there aren’t resources,” he says. “Technology is a means of doing more with the resources that are available.” Kate Bladow, who oversees Montana’s technology efforts, says that computer-friendly assistance is often the best way to serve Montanans, many of whom live hours from the nearest legal services office. In Montana only 14 full-time attorneys serve 190,000 potential clients spread over a state the same size as California. “Lower-income people may not have had the exposure to technology through their jobs,” Bladow says. “LiveHelp allows them to click a button and get connected with a remote volunteer.”

Hertz is extremely excited about getting LiveHelp up and running. He took an extended leave of absence from his job as a litigation partner at Latham & Watkins in New York in 1998 to start Pro Bono Net. His company developed the LawHelp pro se statewide websites, which LiveHelp will enhance. Hertz says the goal is to have LiveHelp operational in Montana and Iowa by next summer.