Alternative legal groups are using technology to bridge the gap for access to justice

“Access to Justice should be frictionless for those who need legal services. The fact that legal service has such a high price tags illustrates one of the many potential frictions that exist for those needing these services.There are approximately 4 billion people on the Earth who live on less than 10$ a day. The legal infrastructure is too expensive for these individuals to obtain an attorney,”Eddie Hartman, Co-founder of LegalZoom.

“There are over 25,000 pages of immigration law, which means that those needing immigration help need attorneys to help them with the paperwork. Only 15% of the individuals who need immigration help have the necessary funds to access it, leaving 75% underserved,”Javad Khazaeli, Founder of Road To Status LLC. In an attempt to bridge the gap for access to justice, companies like Road to Status and Paladin are using legal technology tools to serve the underserved population better.

Road to Status –

The goal of “Road to Status” is to assist those in need of help with citizenship with obtaining and filling out the necessary documents.Road to status has created an online platform that allows the client to complete all of their administrative work themselves. Road to status has provided pictures that illustrate the required information needed for each form, these forms are written in a way the best explains the information that is needed. To ensure that clients have submitted the necessary forms correctly, Road to Status uses of artificial intelligence to flag potential issues. Clients are also provided with attorney to support them and provide further review before submitting their documents.

Paladin –

There are more than 1.3 million American Attorneys who are required to perform at least 50 hours a year of pro bono work. This means that there are at least 65,000,000 hours that could be used to help bridge the access to justice. However, the legal system and profession does not provide a viable solution for how to effectively use these hours for representation of the unrepresented. Paladin is using technology to make pro bono easy, by working with law firms, in-house legal teams and law schools to reduce the administrative costs of pro bono to improve outcomes. Paladin provides personalized opportunities for these organizations to streamline, coordinate, and automate legal representation through workflow management.