Virtual Lawyers in the Library
Remote volunteer attorneys provide legal information and advice using technology at a staffed site. The purpose is to provide a 20 – 30 minute consultation with individual community members to answer individual inquires in a confidential setting. The subject matter may be restricted or may be open.
Services are in limited scope, limited to the consultation only. There is no ongoing relationship between the attorney, and the community member and the legal services agency involved and the community member.
Using equipment provided by the Pro Bono Project (donated by Lenovo and Xerox) the community member and attorney communicate with each other using Cisco’s Webex, a virtual meeting software. Community member and attorney can review documents together, share documents with each other, and print directly to virtual clinic location. All communications and documents can remain confidential.
Staff or non-attorney volunteers are required to recruit and schedule community members, set up and operate equipment on community members side (with technical help from the Pro Bono Project), get the community member disclaimer signed, and manage the community members as they enter the virtual clinic.
The technology and equipment needed for the virtual clinic are as follows:
- confidential space for community members to meet with attorney
- wifi or other high speed internet connection
The laptops, webcam, and multi function printer/scanner are provided to the partner site by the Pro Bono Project.
