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Using I-CAN! In a Clinic Setting

William T. TannerDirecting Attorney

Legal Aid Society of Orange County

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Legal Resolutions Center

• Self-Help Center

• Self-Help Clinics

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Self-Help Center

• Small Claims Advisor, LRS, Self-Help (I-CAN!), and WEConnect Center

• Since 2004 assisted over 175,000 litigants– Over 125,000 Small Claims calls– Over 40,000 LRS referrals– 8,653 walk-ins (2006-2008)

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Who Are the Staff?

• Paralegals and paralegal interns, law students and pre-law students, law graduates and attorneys.

• The center is supervised by an attorney

• One attorney, 4 FTEs, approx. 9 interns each quarter

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Who Do We Help?

• Anyone who walks in - the center is open to the public

• No income guidelines

• There are no appointments

• Days and hours: M-F, 9-5pm

• All services provided in the center are free

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Self-Help Clinics

• The Legal Resolutions staff has held weekly clinics in: – Landlord Tenant– Civil Harassment– Small Claims– Family Law

• All use I-CAN! to prepare their documents

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What is I-CAN!?

• An internet based program helps litigants complete the paperwork

• The web address is: www.icandocs.org

• No longer kiosk based

• Access anywhere you have the internet

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I-CAN!

• ICAN! is an alternative to filling out legal forms by hand

• The litigant answers questions displayed on a series of screens

• I-CAN! places the litigants answers in the correct spaces on the forms required for their particular legal matter

• Similar to Turbo Tax or ezlegalfile.com

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I-CAN!

• I-CAN! Can assist litigants who read English, Spanish and Vietnamese languages

• Through I-CAN! the litigant will create a personal password

• The litigant can login and make changes to their information any time and from any computer with internet access

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How I-CAN! Helps Litigants?

• We evaluate to determine if I-CAN! can help the litigant

• Fills out forms for a variety of legal matters, including, divorce, domestic violence, paternity petition, order to show cause and fee waiver

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Clinics

• The Legal Resolution Center holds weekly clinics

• Clinics are successful in helping a large group of litigants dealing with similar same legal proceeding at one time

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Self-Help Clinics-FAMILY

Why Family Law Clinic—3 Reasons

• to assist the many pro per litigants with rejected court documents who came to us– Opened prior to self-help center at LJC

• Unmet needs of family law litigants

• And we wanted an evening clinic

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Who attends?

• Legal Aid schedules up to 20 litigants

• LR Staff schedule people who call or come in and cannot immediately help

• Follow ups from other clinics– We assisted with Step 1 Divorce and they

need to complete Step II and III

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Tools

• 12 Computers with internet access

• 7 additional computers

• Printers at each station

• Staff/Volunteers somewhat familiar with family law forms

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Summary of Services

Jan Feb Mar Apr YTD

# Attend/ Scheduled

35/48 40/51 40/62 46/69 161/230

70%

I-CAN! Modules

64 54 77 85 280

Other Forms

6 5 12 7 30

Other Forms: Mostly Application and Order to Post (Alternative to Publication)

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Types of Cases

• Dissolution/Legal Sep./Annulment – Step I, II, III (Judgments)

• Paternity• OSC

– Initial and Modifications– Custody, Support

• Name Change• Guardianships*Motions to Transfer, Dissolution of Domestic Partnership

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Assessment/Triage

• Determine what assistance and modules– Attendee states, “I need custody”

• Dissolution, Paternity, DCSS

• ID modules– Fee Waiver, Paternity, OSC, Income and Expense

– Mostly OC but we have LA, SD, SB, Riv. and we can serve all over the state.

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Who Helps at the Clinic?

• Lawyers, Law Students

• Paralegals, Paralegal Students

• Undergraduates

• Attorneys who are clerks

• Great way to use volunteers who want to help and learn

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Training

• On the spot-learning by doing

• They complete divorces using I-CAN! themselves, then help litigants

• Cheat Sheets

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Limitations of I-CAN!

• Does not complete local forms– If you have a local form I-CAN! Could print a

blank, or fill out the information already collected in the module

• Only has courthouses we could find. – If you have one not listed email me

btanner@legal-aid.com (what kinds of cases are filed there)

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Unintended Benefits

• With volume we have a sense of what is happening at the courthouse

• Application and Order to Post

• Meet with clerks to review processes

• Processing Judgments

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Questions

William T. Tanner

Legal Aid Society of Orange County

2101 N. Tustin Ave

Santa Ana, CA 92701

714-571-5277

btanner@legal-aid.com

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www.icanefile.org

• I-CAN! has a tax program too

• Free federal and state tax filing– Focuses on 10 states – $102,000,000 returned to US taxpayers

• $30,000,000 in EITC

• Listed on IRS website