Document Assembly: How To Get Started

1
Document AssemblyHow To Get Started

• Kate Bladow, Pro Bono Net
• Claudia Johnson, Pro Bono Net
• Rachel Medina, A2J Author

2
Agenda

• Overview
• Building a Program
• Introduction to Software
• Resources

3
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.

4
What is Document Assembly?
5
Document Assembly Examples
6
Example - EZLegalFile
http//www.ezlegalfile.com/go.jsp?actactShowHome
7
Example - NPADO
8
Example I-CAN!
9
Example OCAP
10
Document Assemblys Impact
11
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

12
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

13
Impact on Efficiency

• Document assembly
• reduces the amount of time needed to draft
  documents
• decreases processing time
• allows judges to handle more cases

14
Agenda

• Overview
• Building a Program
• Introduction to Software
• Resources

15
Building a Project - Process
16
Building a Program Essentials

• Forms
• Support and Buy-In
• Project Manager

17
Partnerships Why?

• Successful document assembly projects are done in
  partnership with
• courts
• private bar
• client groups
• legal aid staff

18
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

19
Partnering

• Communicate oftenkeep 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

20
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

21
Time Considerations

• Be ready to change your time frameallow 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 earlybefore templates are posted

22
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. Dont delay after training

23
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.

24
Sustaining the Program

• Evaluation
• Partnerships
• Minimized Maintenance
• Creative Thinking

25
Agenda

• Overview
• Building a Program
• Introduction to Software
• Resources

26
HotDocs A2J Author

• 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

27
The HotDocs Authoring Interface

• Edit document template in Word
• Add automation instructions (i.e., variable
  names, etc.) using the HotDocs toolbar

28
The HotDocs End-User Interface
29
A2J Author Pro Se Interface
30
A2J Author Pro Se Interface
31
A2J Author Pro Se Interface
32
A2J Author Authoring Interface
33
A2J Author and HotDocs
Petition for a Protection Order
34

• 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

35
HotDocs Templates and A2J Guided Interviews for
Document Assembly
CREATE
STORE
SERVE
National Public Automated Documents Online
(NPADO) National Server
HotDocs Templates (document or form) A2J
Guided Interview (interview or data collection
tool)
36
Creating HotDocs Templates for Document Assembly

• 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.

37
Creating A2J Guided Interviews for Document
Assembly

• 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

38
Creating A2J Guided Interviews for Document
Assembly
Child name TE
Child DOB DA
Child address TE
Child county TE
39
Capturing the Data Collected in A2J Guided
Interviews
Child name TE
Child DOB DA
Child address TE
Child county TE
A2J Author Answer File (.anx)
40
Document Assembly (Data Document)
A2J Author Answer File (.anx)
National Public Automated Documents Online
(NPADO) National Server
.anx (answer file)document template
completed document
John Doe
01/22/2006
123 My Street
OurCounty
41
Agenda

• Overview
• Building a Program
• Introduction to Software
• Resources

42
Tools and Resources

• Pro Bono Net DA Support Site
• LSNTAP LSTech Resource Library
• A2J Author Site
• SelfHelpSupport.org