Technola : Public Interest Law & Technology Updates & Commentary : Matthew Burnett & Kate Bladow : Tech Advice for the Non-Profit Legal Sector

For over 10 years, the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada and the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas have partnered to teach community education classes covering several areas of law for the public. In order to extend their reach, the law school and legal aid program collaborated with their local PBS affiliate Vegas PBS to record one of their bankruptcy classes. Now this class is available to everyone on YouTube in seven short segments. - K

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Yesterday in my post "Thanking the Lawyers Who Go Above and Beyond: National Pro Bono Celebration 2009," I mentioned the message of National Pro Bono Celebration--recognizing volunteers who help increase access to justice and encouraging more legal professionals to participate. (Or in the words of the Montana Justice Foundation: "Recognize, Recruit, Mobilize!")

What I didn't know was that the medium that organizations would be using to deliver this message would be video. (Okay, so I had a hint when I highlighted Maryland's video, but I didn't know how popular video would be.) At least six states have posted videos praising lawyers who provide free legal services and encouraging others to get involved:

• Alabama: Alabama State Bar Pro Bono Week Message
• Arkansas: Perspectives on Pro Bono
• Florida: One Promise Florida
• Illinois: CBA/CBF Pro Bono Week 2009 Kick Off Video with Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne M. Burke
• Maryland: National Pro Bono Week 2009
• Ohio: Pro Bono Celebration

All are nice examples of how video can be used to promote an event and a cause.

So, am I missing any? Let me know in the comments. - K

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Even the Chief Judge of the Maryland Court Appeals is involved in the National Pro Bono Celebration. He's part of a short video that talks about how providing pro bono legal services is important to ensuring justice. My favorite part, hearing from a lawyer about how he started providing pro bono legal services, starts about 4 minutes in.

For those who don't recognize the city landscapes, they are from around the University of Maryland Law School in Baltimore. - K

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Equal Justice Works, an organization mobilizing the next generation of public interest lawyers, just launched a YouTube Channel. This channel features several videos, including short spots where Equal Justice Works Fellows describe their projects. Take a few minutes to watch. The variety of programs and areas that they represent is amazing. - K

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YouTube now lets nonprofit organizations that are part of its Nonprofit Program include a call-to-action on their videos, like the one seen in the image from the charity: water video below. (Full video available on YouTube.)

Example of YouTube Call To Action

This tool lets nonprofits ask people to act on what they are seeing, such as asking them to make a donation. Both idealist.org's post "YouTube's New 'Call to Action'" and Frogloop's post "YouTube Adds Call To Action Tool For Nonprofit Videos" discuss using this tool for fundraising.

However, this tool may have other interesting applications for legal aid and pro bono programs. For instance, in the video "Filing a Pro Se Answer to a Lawsuit," Arkansas Legal Services Partnership could point people to additional legal information, send them to an online application for legal aid, or direct them to online automated documents that help them fill out the answer. Alternatively, a pro bono program might use the tool to recruit new volunteer attorneys. For example, videos, like this video from Weil Gotshal Pro Bono Program, could include a link to the National Pro Bono Opportunities Guide.

Is your program one of the many legal aid programs on YouTube? Are you using a call to action yet? If so, how are you using it and what do you think of it so far?  - K

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Recently, the LSTech e-mail list participants were asked whether or not they had posted material on YouTube. Many had, and Eva was nice enough to document that conversation on her blog, so that you can quickly go look at the videos of those who responded.

For those of you who haven't posted material on YouTube but are thinking about it, I want to highlight a few resources from see3 communications, a group that works with nonprofits to "create compelling visual media and Internet marketing initiatives." A few articles for you to start with include:

• Join the Video Bandwagon
• The Age of YouTube: Using Online Video to Reach the Masses
• The Challenge of Viral Video
• 11 Tips for Using Online Video to Raise Money
• Good Contracts for Video

But what I've listed here is only the beginning of what you can find on see3 communications' blog. If you've got the time, I'd recommend paging through all of the posts that they've tagged with "video." (Thanks to Jon Stahl for pointing this group out.) - K

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You've found the perfect training to solve that nagging problem. Perhaps it's for that attorney who keeps asking you the same Word formatting questions, the sys admin who needs to brush up on their skills, or even your officemate who hums off key. But it's incredibly expensive. Why, oh why can't you find cheap, but good, trainings?

Well, here's Technola to your rescue. Today, I present a few free training options.

• LSNTAP.org. If you are in a legal aid program and don't know about the Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project (LSNTAP), you've likely been hiding under a rock. But just in case you haven't heard, LSNTAP regularly holds and records technology trainings on a wide variety of subjects: MS Word, LegalMeetings, document assembly, Internet trends, website best practices, and so on. Check out their training calendar and their archived trainings. LSNTAP also holds monthly Tech Noodling Roundtables. While not really a training, it is a great opportunity for legal aid techies to interact with their colleagues and get some support.
• Lynda.com. Most of the technology training content that Lynda.com provides is available for a low monthly subscription fee ($25); however, you can check out chapters of many of their titles for free. For example, you can get a brief overview of XML, learn the basics of search engine optimization, introduce yourself to the basics of computer privacy and security, and figure out how to navigate PDFs.
• YouTube.com. Yes, YouTube has plenty of material that couldn't even be remotely classified as "training." But it does have useful material, too. For example, the officemate mentioned above might want to check out Singing Lessons with Nikki Scrase. Or perhaps you want to introduce your office to social bookmarking. Instead of creating your own materials, you could just point them to Social Bookmarking in Plain English.

So there are a few sites where you can find free trainings. But there are many more. Let us know in the comments below if you've got a favorite free training site. - K

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