I have just inked a deal with the State Bar of Michigan to assist the Technology Committee of the Judicial Crossroads Taskforce to finish up a set of recomendations regarding “how Michigan can implement an integrated and cost effective court information system in the light of the economic challenges and transformational changes underway in the state”. 

I will be spending the better part of next week in Michigan; working with a very dedicated group to create a flexible viable vision of court technology.

Update: The Report has been completed as promised.  Check out my testimonials page for what a Tech Committee member had to say about my work.

I am currently working with the Texas Access to Justice Foundation doing an industry review of grant management software.  TAJF is considering an upgrade from their current system in an effort to take advantage of web based technologies and streamlined reporting.  The white paper should be completed by the end of April, 2010 and they have agreed to share the review information with the broader legal aid community.  I will publish here once the project is complete.

Update:  The report has been delivered to TAJF and is under review.
Update 2:  Grant Mgmt Software Review – Public Version
Update 3: TAJF is currently in the process of selecting a new grants management software.  It is anticipated that a new system will be selected by year end and the start date for the system implementation will be Jan 1, 2011.
Update 4: TAJF has continued my engagement to include project management assistance during the implementation of their new grant management system. The new system should be installed and fully operational by October, 2011.

Task: Joyce serves as the project manager overseeing the implementation of a new statewide legal services website.

Using grant money from the Legal Services Corporation’s TIG program as well as substantial funding from the Connecticut Bar Foundation, the legal aid programs of Connecticut are collaborating on the creation and implementation of new statewide website using the Drupal OST.  The project is spearheaded by New Haven Legal Assistance Assocation (NHLAA), ably headed by Pat Kaplan, who is the overseeing the project.  Other members of the CLAN team include Kathy Daniels of Statewide Legal Services, Whit Freer of Connecticut Legal Services, and Susan Nofi-Bendici of NHLAA.  My work as project manager includes working with Urban Insight - the OST developer and the website implementation vendor – , the project team, the Connecticut Bar Foundation and its Technology Advisory Committee.  I am also responsible for all TIG grant reporting and the project is currently running within its payment schedule.

Prior to even beginning to manage this website implementation, I helped the Technology Advisory Committee and the legal aid programs of Connecticut determine which of the website templates (PBN or OST) where they going to implement.  I wrote a “compare and contrast” report that articulated the major differences and similarities of the two templates (with a brief discussion of Plone as a viable alternative) and then facilitated an on-site meeting of the committee with the goal of choosing a template.  After much thoughtful and vigorous discussion, the committee chose the Drupal OST.

Under “Other duties as required” for this project: I drafted a job description and researched appropriate salary ranges for the soon to be hired Web EContent Manager who will manage the site and its related outreach beginning in early 2010.  I assisted with the hiring process by “pre-screening” all the applicants for specific technical expertise and experience helping the program to narrow the in-person interviews to only very well qualified candidates, saving the project time and money.

I also helped the program locate and hire a logo designer for the newly created site.  When the first logo designer turned out to be a dud, I quickly found David McClure, a very creative and professional designer who not only turned out terrific work but was great fun to work with, all at a reasonable price.

All in all my goal for this project is to keep it moving, assist in any way necessary to ensure the project team has the information they need so they can focus their time and energies on what matters most – the creation of a state of the art website.

Update:  Check out the site at www.ctnla.org.

Task: Joyce served as the project manager of a team of consultants assisting Legal Aid of Wyoming creating a new non-profit organization providing free civil legal services to low income residents of Wyoming.
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Newly funded by LSC – Legal Aid of Wyoming is in start up mode endeavoring to create a new legal aid program from scratch while providing a range of legal services to low income individuals in Wyoming from three offices; Cheyenne, Casper, and Lander.  I am leading a team of consultants working with them to create the necessary infrastructure to establish and operate a program delivering high quality legal aid throughout Wyoming.  In short my duties include:

1) Managing a team of consultants at the direction of the ED and Board.  Typically this includes managing communication and work assignments between the consultants, program staff and Board.

2) Creating written work product as requested as well as compiling and editing written work product from multiple sources.

3) Staffing the Legal Aid of Wyoming Board Strategic Planning Subcommittee

4) Providing the program with research services related to specific areas of inquiry at their direction – for example: creating maps illustrating poverty populations, providing information related to emerging service delivery trends within the legal aid community, and securing documentation and other resources from existing legal aid programs.

5) Providing personal expertise and guidance with regard to the establishment and management of a non-profit organization.

My goal for this engagement was to provide ongoing support to the program and management team so they establish a highly functioning delivery system in Wyoming that continues to thrive long after my work has ended.

Task: Joyce created and implemented a technology audit subsequently providing recommendations on strategic technology investments and educating the community on current technology trends.
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Shannon Scruggs, Executive Director of the South Carolina Bar Foundation, was looking for a way to use the current “down economy” to her best advantage.  She determined that the best way to use this time was to create a snapshot of the status of all the legal aid programs she funded, especially with regard to technology. 

After working with Shannon to determine what specific things she would like to know about her programs, it was clear that an online survey would be the most effective (and easily the least expensive) way to begin to gather that data.  Using LSNTAP‘s Poverty Law Survey Tool I created a survey asking questions about everything from virus protection to website content creation.  After the survey was completed by staff of each of the programs, I did followup interviews where necessary to understand the information provided or to gather additional data.

Next I did a standardized review of all the program websites (for those programs that had websites) and established a minimum standard for usability and content based on my own experience and generally accepted industry “rules of thumb”.  This provided Shannon with an overall sense of how her programs made use of current online technologies as well as detailed information regarding specific capacities and functionality.

The final piece was to pull all the data together.  I produced a written report comprised of three chapters: 1) Detailed Technology Review of Each Program, 2) Current Industry Trends and a Context for Making Technology Decisions, 3) Recommendations regarding Technology Investment In Priority Order.  This report represented not only a thorough and comprehensive review of the technology infrastructure of each program but also a cogent and compelling set of recommendations aimed at positioning the programs to be able to embrace and exploit currently available technologies as well as future technologies as they evolve.