Yesterday, the CALI Spotlight Blog featured three participants from the Access to Justice Clinical Course Project that will be integrating A2J Author into their courses a part of a hybrid clinical experience. Three other participants in the A2J Clinic Project will integrate the use of this software into more traditional clinical courses.
“The A2J Author provides a different lens or perspective from which to view the interviewing process,” explains Professor Joe Rosenberg, director of the Elder Law Clinic at CUNY’s Main Street Legal Services. “It will be instructive to compare and contrast the approaches we use for client interviews with the A2J Author and consider client needs in both contexts.”
Rosenberg’s Elder Law Clinic focuses primarily on guardianship issues and, over the last few years, students in Rosenberg’s clinic have developed a packet of information to provide some assistance those who cannot gain full representation from the clinic. Next year, as part of the A2J Clinic Project, students in the clinic will work to update this information and develop A2J Guided Interviews to provide further assistance to these self-represented litigants. Rosenberg plans to connect this development work with the interviewing, counseling, ethical and substantive legal work that students undertake.
In the Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic at Columbia Law, taught by Conrad Johnson, Brian Donnelly, and Mary Marsh Zulack, students are divided into working groups and assigned to help a certain legal aid agency or court address a specific legal problem. Throughout the semester, the students develop a thorough understanding of the legal issue involved through in person meetings with a subject matter expert. Then they research the legal systems available before developing a solution that can be implemented by the requesting legal aid. In the past, students in this clinic have developed A2J Guided Interviews for use by the housing courts as well as a web-site explaining how a person reclaims property seized by the police.
Students in the Health Rights Clinic at the University of Miami, a Medical-Legal Partnership, work directly with patients at Miami-area hospitals to address the legal needs that arise as a result of their health care. JoNel Newman and Melissa Swain teach their students about substantive law in areas such as public benefits, advanced directives, and immigration. For many of these issues, they have already developed flowcharts and written manuals to help students assist their clients. After automating these processes, students in the clinic will be able to take on more clients. Finally, because of the diverse population of students and clients in the Miami area, all of their forms are developed in English, Spanish, and Haitian/Creole.
Throughout the last two weeks, the CALI Spotlight Blog has previewed different symposium presentations. Look through our archive:
• June 5, 2013: Marc Lauritsen, “Liberty, Justice, and Legal Automata”
• June 6, 2013: William E. Hornsby, Jr., “Gaming the System: Approaching 100% Access to Legal Services Through Online Games”
• June 7, 2013: Conrad Johnson and Brian Donnelly, “If Only We Knew What We Know”
• June 8, 2013: Richard S. Granat and Stephanie Kimbro, “The Teaching of Law Practice Management and Technology in Law Schools: A New Paradigm”
• June 10, 2013: Oliver R. Goodenough, “Developing an e-Curriculum: Reflections on the Future of Legal Education and on the Importance of Digital Expertise”
• June 11, 2013: Tanina Rostain, Roger Skalbeck and Kevin Mulcahy, “Thinking Like a Lawyer, Designing Like an Architect: PReparing Students for the 21st Century Practice”
• June 12, 2013: Ronald W. Staudt and Andrew P. Medeiros, “Access to Justice and Technology Clinics: A 4% Solution”
• June 13, 2013: Hybrid Courses of the A2J Clinic Project
o Tanina Rostain & Roger Skalbeck, Technology, Innovation and Law Practice: An Experiential Seminar at Georgetown University Law Center
o Judith Wegner, Becoming a Professional at UNC School of Law
o Sunrise Ayers, A2J Clinic at Concordia University School of law
• June 14, 2013: Traditional Clinical Courses of the A2J Clinic Project
o Conrad Johnson, Mary Zulack & Brian Donnelly, Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic at Columbia Law School
o Joe Rosenberg, Main Street Legal Services, Elder Law Clinic at CUNY School of Law
o JoNel Newman & Melissa Swain, Medical Legal Clinic at University of Miami School of Law
• June 15, 2013: Kevin D. Ashley, “Teaching Law and Digital Age Legal Practice with an AI and Law Seminar;” and Vern R. Walker et al, “Law Schools as Knowledge Centers in the Digital Age”
Professor Ashley and Professor Walker are unable to attend the in-person symposium on June 15, 2013, but their valuable contributions will be published with the printed edition of the Chicago-Kent Law Review that accompanies the live symposium.