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Need
A Kiosk in the Courthouse
A Kiosk on the Internet
Possibilities and Benefits
In the State of Maryland, many studies have documented how difficult it is for low-income persons to receive legal assistance with their civil problems generally, and their family law problems in particular. In Maryland, as in other states, there are large numbers of people who cannot obtain either adequate legal information or legal representation in domestic and family law matters. In its study, Increasing Access to Justice for Maryland's Families, the Advisory Council on Family Legal Needs of Low Income Persons found that one of the major problems that low income persons face in domestic cases is the unavailability of legal information, advice and representation.
This access to justice problem in domestic cases is one that moderate-income persons share. This has been confirmed by two separate and recent "unmet legal needs" surveys conducted by the American Bar Association (a national study) and Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research, Inc. (a Maryland study).
The access to justice problem is created by a combination of the volume of domestic cases, which comprise over 50% of the annual filings in Maryland's circuit courts and several factors that place private legal representation beyond the reach of the significant majority of consumers.
One response to this problem has been the development of
simplified forms for pro se litigants in domestic matters
by a special Task Force convened by the Chief Justice of
Maryland's highest court. These domestic pro se forms,
with accompanying instructions, have greatly simplified the task
of creating pleadings in domestic cases. A recent evaluation by the University of Maryland
School of Law, discussed elsewhere in this issue, assesses the
benefits and limitations of this approach, which on balance has
proved to be very promising for certain categories and types of
cases. One of the findings of the study is that pro se
litigants need more detailed legal information to be effective
and that they need follow-up support at different stages of the
legal process.
The idea of a stand-alone computer-based kiosk located in the
courthouse that generates legal forms in response to input from
the user was considered as a means of providing additional legal
information support to pro se parties in Maryland. First
pioneered in Maricopa County, Arizona, under the sponsorship of
the Arizona court system, kiosks located in courts in Maricopa
County are now used to generate no-fault divorce documents, child
support petitions, domestic violence petitions, and documents
that are used in landlord-tenant actions. These kiosks have
proved to be so popular that the number of kiosks is being
increased from 4 to a total of 150 located throughout the county,
in a joint venture with the manufacturer, North Communications, Inc.
Users will be charged a fee of approximately $25.00 for each set
of legal documents in order to create a source of revenue to
finance the expansion of the program, provide a source of revenue
to the county, and a return on investment to the developer. The
programming for these kiosks includes an extensive video
component, in the form of a lawyer portrayed by a professional
actor, who explains how to complete the forms. The kiosks are
expensive to manufacture and maintain, since each kiosk consists
of a special cabinet housing a computer, a laser or hard disk, a
printer, that is designed to serve users under a variety of
physical conditions. The most expensive component of creating a
kiosk is the cost of creating the software programs. Creating
multimedia programs that have the capacity of producing legal
documents in response to information provided by the user has
been a complex undertaking requiring expensive authoring systems,
and sometimes costly hardware system that support proprietary
authoring tools. The video component is especially expensive to
produce. Without the user fee, the cost of each kiosk to the
court system might be in the $10,000-$15,000 range, including the
amortized cost of software development. Because of fiscal
constraints in Maryland, and reluctance to charge users
relatively high fees for each use, we sought a different approach
to providing access to legal information to pro se
litigants and the legal service organizations that serve low
income pro se litigants.
Rather than create free-standing kiosks placed in limited
number of locations, our planning group developed the idea of
utilizing new emerging Internet technologies, primarily the World
Wide Web, as a platform for creating a broad network of
community-based pro se (self-help) legal information
centers.
The core component of this network is a Website that is
organized as a set of libraries in major substantive areas, such
as family law, consumer law, and landlord-tenant law. Each of
these libraries contains explanations of the law in lay terms,
legal forms, instructions on how to complete the forms, and
step-by-step procedures on how to file the forms. The user can
complete the forms directly on the screen and print out the forms
on their local printer replicating the functionality of the stand
alone kiosk. The authoring tools that we are using to develop
this Website are relatively inexpensive and easier to use than
higher end multimedia authoring tools. The major contrast between
delivering legal information over the Internet and a stand-alone
kiosk, is the absence of a video component. A video component
requires a large storage capacity in the form of either a CD-ROM
or laser video disc. Sending large video clips over the telephone
line is presently impractical because of the time that it takes
to down-load video files into the user's local computer. An
alternative to video is streaming audio and "illustrated
audio", delivered over the Internet. utilizing recently
released products such as Microsoft's NetShow On-Demand.
Normally, when accessing multimedia content over the Internet, a
user has to wait for the entire file to be transferred before
they can use the information. Streaming audio allows a user to
hear the information without having to wait. "Illustrated
audio" is a new way of sharing ideas and information on
narrow networks such as the telephone system. The concept is very
simple: synchronize graphic images, such as still pictures or
slides, with an audio track to create an interesting and
effective multimedia presentation. The production costs of a
program augmented by audio is about 10% of the cost of program
that utilizes video. We think that text, augment by graphic
presentations, and streaming audio can be as effective as
multimedia presentations that incorporate a large amount of
video.
Establishing a core presence on the Internet in the form of a
Web Site leverages the investment in development by increasing
the number and kind of distribution outlets many times. To access
the site requires a simpler computer architecture: a computer,
ideally 486 or better, a modem, a local printer, Internet access,
and an Internet browser such as Netscape or Microsoft's Explorer
(which is free). To access the audio component the user would
have to have a sound card and a pair of speakers. Many community
organizations, legal service programs, pro bono law
offices, and other local institutions, already have the necessary
hardware, or could acquire the extra components at relatively low
cost.
Consider some of the possibilities:
The Internet-based approach has other advantages when compared
with the typical stand-alone kiosk:
Within Maryland, it is estimated that almost 20% of a total
population of 5,000,000, already have Internet access, either at
home or at work. This number increases monthly. We believe that
The Peoples' Library, as this project is called, will be popular
with moderate and middle income individuals and families, and
that a certain percentage of this segment of the population will
pay be willing to pay a small annual membership fee to belong to
the Library. These fees will be used to offset the continued
costs of maintaining and updating materials in the libraries. On
the other hand, organizations that serve low income clients will
be permitted free access to the Peoples' Law Library. A broad
enough membership base should result in a system where dues
paying members subsidize the delivery of legal information
services to low income individuals and families.
The idea of a state-wide legal information system for
non-lawyers that provides resources and tools that enable
citizens to represent themselves, is an important step towards
achieving the goal of access to the legal system and equal
justice under the law.