discoverable client issues using public big data

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JANUARY 15, 2016 DISCOVERABLE CLIENT ISSUES USING PUBLIC BIG DATA Russ Bloomquist MARYLAND LEGAL AID Matthew Stubenberg MARYLAND VOLUNTEER LAWYERS SERVICE

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Page 1: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

JANUARY 15, 2016

DISCOVERABLE CLIENT ISSUES

USING PUBLIC BIG DATA

Russ BloomquistMARYLAND LEGAL AID

Matthew StubenbergMARYLAND VOLUNTEER LAWYERS SERVICE

Page 2: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

CLUE/TRACE OVERVIEW1. Client applies for services at Maryland Legal Aid or

MVLS.

2. Name, DOB, and address are run through a series

of databases to see if there are any hits.

3. If there is a hit the results are analyzed to see if

there is a problem.

4. If there’s a red flag the attorney is automatically

alerted.

Page 3: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

PUBLIC DATABASES & EXAMPLES Every State has public record databases. Public record databases contain information from state and local government agencies including: utilities records, tax records, housing records, court records and more.

EXAMPLE DATABASES:

1. Case Search:http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/casesearch

2. Water bills: http://cityservices.baltimorecity.gov/water

3. Property Taxes: http://cityservices.baltimorecity.gov/realproperty

Page 4: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

WHY EXPUNGEMENTS?

An expungeable record can cause many legal

ramifications including:

1.Employment Discrimination

2.Housing Discrimination

3.Financial Hardship

4.And Other Issues…

Page 5: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

WHY WATER BILLS?

A water bill over $350 in Maryland can result in major legal issues for low-income people across the state including:

1. Tax Sale Foreclosure

2. Bankruptcy

3. Eviction/Homelessness

4. 40% rise in water bill rates over the last 3 years.

5. Utility Shut Off – Life health and safety

Page 6: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

WHY PROPERTY TAXES?Overdue property taxes in Maryland can result in major legal issues for low-income people across the state including:

1.Tax Sale Foreclosure

2.Bankruptcy

3.Eviction/Homelessness

4.Loss of home

5.Utility Shut Off – Life health and safety

Page 7: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

WHAT IS DATA SCRAPING?

Data scraping (also called web scraping) is the

process of extracting information from

websites. Data scraping focuses on

transforming unstructured website content into

structured data which can be stored in a

database. The Google bot is a perfect example

of data scarping. The Google bot comes to your

website and looks at all your content and then

stores that content in its database that users can

search on a website called Google.com.

Page 8: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

THE PROCESS

THE PROCESS

Page 9: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

DEMO

http://trace.mdlab.org/Demo/demo.php#exp

Page 10: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

Maryland Legal Aid - ANALYTICS

97%

3%

Expungements

Water Bill

Property Tax

Breakdown of Discovered Cases

70%

40%18%

• 97% of clients opted into the program

Only 22% of applications had a discoverable

issue

• 70% of clients had unpaid taxes over $750

• 40% of clients had a water bill over $350

• 18% of records found were expungeable

Program Participation

Page 11: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

Heatmap Geo Coded Cases

Maryland Legal Aid - ANALYTICS

Page 12: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

62%

38%

Expungeable Not Expungeable

MVLS – Expungement ANALYTICS

• The program successfully found criminal

cases for 25% of clients with an average

of 5.3 cases per client

• 62% of those cases are expungeable

Page 13: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

22%

78%

Water Bills Over $350

Less than $350

MVLS – Water Bill ANALYTICS

• The program successfully found a water

bill for 50% of Baltimore City clients

• 22% of clients had a water bill over $350

• 26% of clients had a shutoff notice in

place.

Page 14: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

16%

84%

Unpaid taxes

No Tax issue found

MVLS – Property Tax ANALYTICS

• The program successfully found a property

tax issues for 44% of Baltimore City clients

• 16% of clients had unpaid property taxes

• 41% were principal residences

• 16% had applied for the City homestead tax

credit

• 6% had received the State Homeowners tax

credit

Page 15: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

LESSONS LEARNED

o Decide what data you want to record

early on.

o Spend a lot of time crafting your

database and focus on the format in

which you will store the information.

o Build each piece as an individual

component so it can be shared with other

organizations that want to implement it.

Page 16: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

HOW TO IMPLEMENT

1) Identify public and free databases in your

state.

2) Will that information significantly benefit

your organizations purpose? (Think both on

the individual level and the database as a

whole)

3) Estimate the success rate of being able to

pull the information or connect it with an

individual client and whether that rate is

high enough.

4) Estimate cost of both building the system

AND connecting the system to your current

Case Management System.

Page 17: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

ETHICS

1) Finding issues our clients didn’t ask us to

find.

2) Public databases that prohibit data

scraping.

3) Security of collected public data.

Page 18: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

CONCLUSION

Page 19: Discoverable Client Issues Using Public Big Data

CONTACT INFOMatthew Stubenberg, Esq.

IT Director/Staff Attorney

Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS)

[email protected]

Office: (443) 451-4066

Russ Bloomquist

Web Developer

Maryland Legal Aid

[email protected]

Office: (410) 951-7808

Cell: (402) 612-5655

Session Evaluation: tinyurl.com/tigeval