It was not very long ago that our law firm, like other businesses, was growing, and everyday in our offices were filled with the somewhat-excited-somewhat-nervous chatter of clients speaking a wide range of languages and dialects. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 crisis, and its direct fall out, hit our law firm square in between the eyes, and in August 2020 we find ourselves in a place where we have …
A Quick Guide for How to Find a Good Legal Clinic Venue
A legal clinic venue can make or break an event Would it surprise you to hear that most university campus's are not good places for a legal clinic? Would it surprise you to know that churches are probably the best venues? Would it surprise you to know that no matter the venue, having the right on-the-ground partner is critical? If no to all, then you know what you're doing. If yes, let's …
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Immigration Hotline – is it really that complicated? (Yes)
We spoke recently with a big organization that is trying to figure out the best approach for possibly setting up a hotline for refugees trying to find asylum in the United States, consequently finding themselves in need of timely legal and tactical guidance. The hotline is a default solution to an information problem. So while I offered advice on how to think about approaching a hotline build, …
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Facebook Groups for Lawyers – Can we do better?
Facebook groups for lawyers are the Dominant Legal Collaboration Tool Chances are the as an advocate or lawyer you use Facebook to promote events, advocate for causes, and, critically, to keep abreast of information. Moreover, you don't just keep current, you likely contribute to a growing information stockpile within one, or more likely several Facebook groups, many of which are "secret" (and …
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Advocacy Tech Spaghetti and How to Avoid It
Tech spaghetti is when various software/app programs start to combine and twist around one another without any sort of guiding principle, and at the end of the day no single person in an organization knows why all of the software is there and how it is all supposed to work together. Too often advocacy orgs use too much technology, inadvertently creating a tech spaghetti problem. How do you …
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National Case Placement Models: the Case Placement Paradox and an Easy Solution
If orgs focus on national case placement, as a KPI proxy for representation, they may in fact be reducing the representation they are trying to promote" The National Case Placement Model (As always, I'm jumping straight into the weeds, as this blog is for advocates who already care.) A collaborative law model - I'll call it "national case placement" or "scalable case placement model," for …
