2012 LSC/TIG Conference January 11-13, 2012 - Albuquerque, New Mexico

The US Legal Services Corp (LSC), through its Technology Initiative Grant (TIC), has been hosting these networking and innovation  conferences since 2007 but this is the first time it has moved away from it's typical Austin location to New Mexico this coming year.

From The TIG/LSC website: (You should also check out the rich repository of past conference materials here)

Download the 2012 TIG Conference Tentative Agenda (15KB)

Registration: Click here to register online for the 2012 TIG Conference.Registration for TIG attendees is $420, which includes all sessions, breakfast and lunch and one evening reception.

Where: LSC will be holding the 12th Annual TIG Conference in Albuquerque, NM at the Embassy Suites Albuquerque, 1000 Woodward Pl. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102. The TIG Conference rate is $81/night single occupancy and $101/night for double occupancy. Go to http://bit.ly/TIG2012Hotel to book a hotel room online.

Namati's Website is in Beta!

Namati is a new Legal Empowerment organization I have heard a lot about while it is in the works to being launched. Through esteemed colleagues in the Legal Empwerment/Access to Justice field- like Stephen Golub, Martin Mgramatikov and the microjustice network- I've been looking forward to its web presence, and finally it's here in Beta.

You can access it at http://namati.org (The administrators are asking for user feedback so do particulate if you have any thoughts about how to make it even better.)

World Bank hosts first Law, Justice and Development Week 2011 - Innovation and Empowerment for Development, November 14-17, Washington, DC

For the first time, Law, Justice and Development Week 2011 will be a Bank Group-wide event organized by the World Bank Legal Vice Presidency, IFC and MIGA Legal Departments, and ICSID. This will be a forum to explore how legal innovation and empowerment can contribute to development. Registration now open !

Study reports access to justice gaps in many South Pacific nations

via Access to Justice Blog by mgramatikov on 10/27/11

Recently published Needs evaluation survey by the South Pacific Lawyers Association reveal significant access to justice gaps in most of the studied countries:

• Australia 
• Papua New Guinea 
• Cook Islands 
• Republic of the Fiji Islands 
• Kingdom of Tonga 
• Samoa 
• Kiribati 
• Solomon Islands 
• Nauru 
• Timor Leste 
• New Zealand 
• Tuvalu 
• Niue 
• Vanuatu 
• Norfolk Island 

Tools to Create an Unbundled-Orriented Lawyer Referral Service

via Richard Zorza's Access to Justice Blog by richardzorza on 10/31/11

The time is long past for every jurisdiction that allows unbundling — and of course now most do, to have such services available through lawyer referral and information services, ideally through a panel of the existing lawyer referral system. Lets face it, thats where the clients without lawyers enter into the system, and it is hard to understand why more LRIS do not offer this crucial affordability tool, particularly given the poll data on the public's interest in exploring the option.

So it is important to draw attention to these LRIS Unbundling materials developed to assist in the creation of such a panel. (Remember, of course that state law governs as to who is allowed to operate such a lawyer referral service.)

About the MetaLex Document Server for legal information

via Legal Informatics Blog by legalinformatics

Dr. Rinke Hoekstra of the University of Amsterdam's Leibniz Center for Law has posted The MetaLex Document Server, on the VoxPopuLII blog, published by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University Law School. In this post, Dr. Hoekstra describes the technology of the MetaLex Document Server, a new service that provides free public access to Read more of this post.