Document Assembly: How To Get Started

Document Assembly: How To Get Started Kate Bladow, Pro Bono Net Claudia Johnson, Pro Bono Net Rachel Medina, A2J Author

Agenda

Overview

Building a Program

Introduction to Software

Resources

Document Assembly Is . . .

Document assembly software helps users answer questions and uses those answers to fill out forms, which can be printed or filed electronically.

The advantages of document assembly include

providing additional informational support to people who complete the forms,

eliminating the repeated entry of information, and

focusing a user on the information that they need to fill out the form.

The process of filling out the forms also educates the litigants and advocates on what is relevant to the claim and what should therefore be presented in court.

What is Document Assembly? Advocates or self-represented litigants answer questions during an interview. A personalized document is created from the answers. The answers can be saved and reused.

Document Assembly Examples

Example - EZLegalFile http://www.ezlegalfile.com/go.jsp?act=actShowHome

Example - NPADO http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/ smallclaims/secdepletter.htm https://www.illinoislegalaid.org/ index.cfm?fuseaction=home.dsp _content&contentID=6002

Example – I-CAN! http://www.icandocs.org/ca

Example – OCAP http://www.utcourts.gov/ocap/

Document Assembly’s Impact

Impact on Access

Document assembly

makes filling out forms easier

gives meaningful guidance and information at convenient times and locations

frees resources for who in need of more help

Impact on Effectiveness

Document assembly

generates forms that are correct, complete, and formatted according to court requirements

improves the quality of staff and volunteer work

boosts staff morale

Impact on Efficiency

Document assembly

reduces the amount of time needed to draft documents

decreases processing time

allows judges to handle more cases

Agenda

Overview

Building a Program

Resources

Building a Project - Process Launch Assess Develop Plan

Building a Program – Essentials

Forms

Support and Buy-In

Project Manager

Partnerships: Why?

Successful document assembly projects are done in partnership with:

courts

private bar

client groups

legal aid staff

Partners Can Help You With

Getting everyone to agree on the form, use the form, and accept the form

Testing the templates

Outreach

Evaluation

Resource identification and sharing

Tracking filed forms and outcomes

Partnering

Communicate often—keep your partners appraised of development, including obstacles

Gather feedback from partners at the beginning of project (baseline), during, and after the project is implemented

When you create an outreach strategy, include your partners

First steps

Identify the area of law and the form

Bring in template developer

in house

outside contractor

Test the template

Post the template on website

Test some more

Post for the public/outreach

Time Considerations

Be ready to change your time frame—allow room for the unexpected

Be open to modify your outreach after implementation

If you are incorporating court kiosks, start discussion of staffing and maintenance w/the courts early—before templates are posted

How Do You Get Started?

“ Just do it”

After you have identified the person who will develop the template, carve out time for that person to work in HotDocs and A2J Author. Give them room to learn if beginners, or to create templates if advanced. Don’t delay after training

Evaluating the Program

Draft an evaluation plan.

Design and test data collection instruments.

Collect baseline data.

Collect additional data.

Analyze data and report findings.

Repeat steps 4 and 5.

Sustaining the Program

Evaluation

Partnerships

Minimized Maintenance

Creative Thinking

Agenda

Overview

Building a Program

Resources

Automate documents using HotDocs® & A2J Author ®

Together they provide a solution for both advocate-assisted and self-help document production

Each presents its own set of benefits and limitations

Edit document template in Word

Add automation instructions (i.e., variable names, etc.) using the HotDocs toolbar

Petition for a Protection Order

HotDocs®

the authoring interface is slightly more complicated than A2J Author®

the end-user interface is somewhat form-like and less pro se-friendly than A2J Author®

it generates documents

it provides an efficient interface for advocates

A2J Author®

it does not create documents;

the end-user interface is typically inefficient for advocates

gathers and provides information in a friendly, intuitive way suitable for self represented litigants;

has a simple authoring interface

HotDocs Templates (document or form) + A2J Guided Interview (interview or data collection tool) National Public Automated Documents Online (NPADO) “ National Server” CREATE STORE SERVE

Steps to creating a template:

Review the document for which you want to create a template

Create the permanent text of the document

Add variable names for each missing piece of information

Make the document template intelligent by adding conditional logic, repeat dialogs, etc.

Create a HotDocs template or at least review the document for which you want to create an interview

Create various variable names for each piece of data that should be collected

Add questions to the interview

Add fields to each question

For each field define the appropriate variable name

Child name TE Child DOB DA Child address TE Child county TE

Child name TE Child DOB DA Child address TE Child county TE A2J Author Answer File (.anx)

John Doe 01/22/2006 123 My Street OurCounty .anx (answer file) + document template = completed document A2J Author Answer File (.anx) National Public Automated Documents Online (NPADO) “ National Server”

Agenda