Technology at NWLS

Technology, especially the Internet, is changing the world around us.

The question we ask ourselves about technology at NWLS is simply this -- how can we use it to enhance the cause of justice, and to make our region a better place to live?

The answer is found in our technological efforts to expand the reach of legal services to clients who might otherwise do without the benefit of civil legal aid. We want to say “yes” to more people who need our help, and we accomplish this goal by integrating appropriate technology, both internally and externally, throughout the entire organization. While technology will never replace the importance of direct representation and counsel by skilled law workers at NWLS, it is clear that it does offer important advantages for our low-income community.

These advantages are displayed most prominently on the Internet. The NWLS Website, www.nwls.org, contains a wide variety of community education tools that offer information on substantive areas of the law such as housing, government benefits, unemployment compensation, family law, and consumer issues. There are also a whole host of important links that bring low-income clients in touch with programs and services that can be of great benefit to them. Low-income clients, for example, can use the links to download applications for government benefits such as food stamps and cash assistance grants, and they can learn more about important programs designed to help them achieve economic self-sufficiency.

While technology offers the promise of increased access to our client-eligible community, it also provides for increased efficiency within our organization. In 2003, we installed new case management software in order to create a common platform for data collection and record keeping with other legal services programs across the state. We also continued in our efforts at modernizing our high-speed connections between our staffed offices -- improvements that enable us transfer important documents in “real time, and ultimately help our clients in their civil legal concerns. Our Intranet site has also greatly expanded our ability to network internally among all program staff, and it provides immediate access to important information we need to do our work for the people we serve.

Technology enables us to reach out to more individuals and families who need our help, and we measure our success by the lives that we touch in the process of seeking justice on their behalf. In that sense, technology at NWLS is a really a partner in what we do, and how we go about doing it -- an important tool to be used in our mission to assess and respond to the civil legal needs of low-income people in the communities we serve.

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