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hard to establish, sustain, and explain opportunities for public service law graduates to obtain loan forgiveness from the federal government, state government, and law schools . See Equal Justice Works, http://www .equaljusticeworks .org/ed-debt/public-service-loan-forgiveness; see also American Bar Association, Directory of Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (“LRAP”), https:// apps .americanbar .org/legalservices/probono/lawschools/pi_lrap .html .
6. Medical Legal Partnership Movement, Library Initiatives, and Legal Aid in New Settings
– Civil legal aid is increasingly available in new and diverse settings where advocates help to solve people’s pressing legal problems . Some legal aid programs partner with clinics and hospitals to help resolve problems that lead to illness . See National Center for Medical Legal Partnerships, http://medical-legalpartnership .org/ . In libraries, people obtain help and access to new technologies to prepare, defend and advance legal claims . www .aallnet .org/mm/Publications/ products/atjwhitepaper .pdf . Civil legal aid is present in community colleges, veterans service agencies, homeless outreach centers, nursing homes, schools, and diverse social services agencies .
7. Pro Bono Models – Courts, law firms, corporations and other stakeholders are testing new models of pro bono service that include engaging senior attorneys in new roles, enlisting “lawyers for a day,” using high school and college students as volunteers in courts, experimenting with “unbundled” legal assistance, linking law firms to specific legal aid programs, building specific subject matter expertise in specific law firms, and more . See e.g., http://www .nycourts .gov/attorneys/probono/index .shtml . The ABA, http://www .americanbar .org/groups/probono_public_service .html, and the Pro Bono Institute, http://www .probonoinst .org/, with state bar associations, courts, and other stakeholders, are helping to advance these efforts . The Association of Pro Bono Coordinators, APBCo, supports strategic initiatives that increase the impact of pro bono . http://www .apbco .org/impact/ .
8.Technology–Newtechnologiesarere-shapingandexpandingaccesstojustice .LSC’sTechnology Initiative Grant Program (TIG), http://tig .lsc .gov/, makes grants to legal aid recipient programs to increase access to justice through the use of technology, often through partnerships with courts, social services organizations and other stakeholders, including in projects that promote e-filing systems, expand availability of do-it-yourself pleading software, and coordinate client intake . Pro Bono Net, www .probono .net, www .lawhelp .org, promotes the use of technology and collaboration among courts, legal services providers and other community partners to support effective state justice networks, increase the efficiency of traditional service models, enable self-help and promote innovation in service delivery . Pro Bono Net’s www .lawhelpinteractive .org, and the Center for Access to Justice and Technology’s A2J Author, www .a2jauthor .org, are making it easier for people to produce their own pleadings (on the model of Turbotax software) . Legal Zoom, Rocket Lawyer, WethePeopleandotherfor-profitcompaniesaresellingself-helpservices,includingon-lineservices . Research is needed to evaluate the new programs, and to gauge the relative value of court-provided services, non-profit provided services, and for-profit services . See generally, http://www .theatlantic . com/business/archive/2014/05/is-there-such-a-thing-as-an-affordable-lawyer/371746/ .
II. research, Data & Indexing
9. Indexing, Including Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goal16 Indexing – In the U .S ., the Justice Index, www .justiceindex .org, created by the National Center for Access to Justice, www . ncforaj .org, is using indicators and data to promote the replication of best practices for access to justice in the states (including increased numbers of civil legal aid lawyers, systems for self-represented litigants, systems for people with limited English proficiency, and systems for people with disabilities), by creating incentives for states to adopt those practices, and by making it easy to recognize and copy those practices . United Nations “Global Goal 16” calls on all countries, including the United
Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice