Idea Labs

We’re adding a new feature to this year’s Access to Justice Conference: Idea Labs. These 15 minute labs are an opportunity to sit down one on one with a subject matter expert who can provide advice on a particular challenge, brainstorm new ideas and suggest additional resources. These labs will take place during the two afternoon breaks on Saturday, June 15 between 1:15pm – 1:45pm and 3:00pm – 3:30pm. Sign up for a 15 minute Idea Lab when you check in at the registration table. Space is limited to one 15 minute session per person (2-3 colleagues may sign up to meet with an expert together to discuss a team challenge or question). The Idea Labs are not available for CLE credit.

Idea Lab Topics and Experts

Managing Up, Down, & Through: Navigating Management & Leadership Challenges

Whether you’ve been avoiding conflict, preparing for a difficult conversation, or feeling just plain stuck, perennial mentor and JustLead Lead Coach Ada Shen-Jaffe will be in the house to provide support. Bring your team, program, professional development, or organizational challenges for a fresh perspective and new strategies for working through your management and leadership challenges.

• Ada-Shen Jaffe, Lead Coach, JustLead Washington, & Leadership & Equity Consultant

Building a Formal Pro Bono Program: How to create a new program at your firm or expand an existing program to a larger platform.

Are you looking to create a new pro bono program at your firm? Regardless of firm size, you will need to consider a variety of factors including pro bono policies, budgets, marketing, external and internal reporting, creating partnerships, focus areas, firm buy-in and much more. A solid program foundation can help your firm leverage resources to optimize pro bono legal service, both for your attorneys and pro bono clients. Or, are you with an in-house legal department or legal services organization looking for guidance working with your law firm partners? Leah Medway will be on hand to answer questions and offer guidance to those looking to create, expand or improve pro bono programs.

• Leah Medway, Firmwide Pro Bono Counsel of Perkins Coie LLP

Lessons Learned from LegalServer: Getting the Most out of Your Organization’s Data

Many non-profit legal services providers use LegalServer to manage their case files but do not have the time to spend on pulling that information for use in analyzing their organization’s case flow, case management benchmarks, client base, and legal issue. This is a jump-start lesson on how to get the most out of your LegalServer site and pull useful data to answer concrete questions and develop answers to larger issues that might not, at first, seam amenable to data-driven responses.

• Anna Creed, Data Coordinator, WSBA Moderator Means Program

After You Have Done the Time, What Next? Records Sealing

Advocates will offer advice on how criminal records result in collateral consequences that may create problems for individuals with housing, family law and other consumer matters. The advocates will problem solve with participants how they may help mitigate these issues through juvenile record sealing, modifications to Legal Financial Obligations, sealing of adult felonies and how to address these issues with background checks. We will provide forms or links to the forms so that you can share with clients or others for their self-help. We may not know everything but would be glad to problem solve with you.

• Juvenile Records Sealing: Rosey Thurman, Staff Attorney, TeamChild
• Juvenile Records Sealing: Tom Tremaine, Retired, Kalispel Tribal Court and Northwest Justice Project
• Legal Financial Obligations: Jefferson Coulter, Managing Attorney, Northwest Justice Project
• Adult Record Sealing: Cam Zorrozua, Staff Attorney, Center for Justice
• Driver’s Re-license: Virla Spencer, Relicensing Program Director, Center for Justice

Washington Forms Online: using technology to help unrepresented litigants

The Technology Assisted Forms Project is creating a free online system of interactive interviews to generate completed court forms with plain language instructions for the most common family law actions. Walk through an interactive interview. Explore how to make your volunteer legal clinic, unbundled services, or court facilitator assistance more effective by using this new resource.

• Laurie Garber, Technology Assisted Forms Project Manager, Northwest Justice Project

Tips, Tricks and Tools for Social media

Chat with us about how social media is an important tool to stay connected to the community, clients, and donors. We will answer your questions about how to get the most out of platforms like Facebook and Twitter to amplify, strengthen, and support your communications efforts. You’ll walk away with tips, tricks, and tools for how to use social media effectively, even if you don’t have much time to devote to it.

• Sart Rowe, Northwest Justice Project Tech and Law (1:15 – 1:45 only)
• Will Livesley O’Neill, Communications and Advocacy Director, Legal Foundation of Washington
• Elizabeth Fitzgearld, Executive Director, Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program (3:00 – 3:30 only)

Incorporating Technology into Advocacy

Attendees can find out about technological tools and best practices that can be useful in a legal aid context or private law firm context, including creating client-centered services and how to select and use project management software and techniques.

• Project and Practice Management: Jennifer Ortega, Legal Technician Division (1:15 – 1:45 only)
• Technology and Social Media: Sart Rowe, Northwest Justice Project Tech and Law (3:00 – 3:30 only)