lsc technology initiative grant conference 2015 | session materials - tools of choice
TRANSCRIPT
This Session
The World of Choice(Choosing Tools and Other Things)
Audience Participation:Reflect on a Recent Decision
Discuss
Choice ManagementTools for Choosing
Law-related Choices
Clients and Self-helpers
• Ways to deal with legal problems
• Lawyer/firm selection
• Business decisions
– Entity type
– Hiring/firing
– Employee/contractor
– Compliance, risk management
• Negotiation and settlement
Professionals
• What position to take, what advice to give
• Case triage
• Litigation– Where to file
– What witnesses to call
– What arguments to make
• Business– What software or hardware
– What vendors/consultants
– Who to hire
Lawyering Tasks
• Client counseling
• Document drafting
• Contract negotiation
• Project management
• Dispute resolution
• Litigation strategy
• Advocacy
• Adjudication
Legal Services Contexts
• Which types of cases to accept
• Which particular clients to help, with what forms of assistance
• Case strategy – what claims to make where; what arguments/evidence to emphasize
• Contract/settlement negotiation – which package of terms lets you ‘get to yes’
• Which office technology to adopt
What makes a good decision?
• Consideration of all relevant options
• Consideration of all relevant factors
• Consideration of all relevant interests and perspectives
• Open, mindful, respectful process
• Appropriate focus and weighing
• . . .
What makes a bad decision?
• Missed options
• Missed factors
• Missed interests and perspectives
• Closed, unmindful, non-respectful process
• Inappropriate focus and weighing
• . . .
Problems we encounter
• People have difficulty making good
choices.
– Hard to compare options, balance
considerations.
– Many procrastinate or are tormented.
– Some make snap decisions without enough
data and deliberation.
– Misinformation, miscommunication.
• Hard to help others make good choices.
– Data overload. Time famine.
– Reinvention and repetition.
Decisional Traps
• Availability
• Confirmation bias
• Inattentional blindness
• Overconfidence
• Conjunction fallacy
• Statistical errors
• Loss aversion
• Endowment effect
• Sunk cost
• Social proof
• Subliminal influences
• Targeted ads
Twelve Mantras
• Wake Up
• Embrace the Complexity
• Separate the Separable
• Be Humble
• Plan the Work
• Work the Plan
• Consider Multiple Perspectives
• Tap the Team
• Enlist the Contenders
• Tool Up
• Focus
• Stay Open
Tools & Methods
• Gathering info– Vendor literature
– Demos
– Consultants
– Calls to peers
– Web research
– List serves (LStech)
– References
– LSNTAP
– . . .
• Deciding & justifying– Checklists
– Pros & Cons
– Word tables
– Whiteboards
– Spreadsheets
– . . .
14
Hi folks, I am looking into a new case management system for the Law Center. I'd like to do some initial research into our options and pricing as we are budgeting for 2013. If any of you really love or hate the systems you're using, I'd appreciate a quick note with the name of the program and anything you can tell me about what you particularly like or dislike about it. You can email me at … . Thanks for your help! Apologies to those who receive this request over multiple lists.
We are considering using Vidyo as an office web conferencing solution over Polycom. Has anyone in the community used Vidyo as a solution?If so what is your feedback/ pros and cons.
Hi there- we are looking at switching to AppRiver’s Secure Tide or Mimecast for anti- spam after a disastrous Postini/Google switch. Anyone using either one? And like them or not!
Has anyone … ?
Aspen Workflow LawBase Practice Manager(RealLegal)
Practice Master Time Matters
The product
Essential features
Tickler
Conflict checking
Remote access
Reporting
Other product factors
Document mgt
Timekeeping
Custom intake screens
Integration with DA
Relevance to graduates’ practices
Security options
Vendor stability
User community
Other law schools?
Pre-built modules?
Cost (product & any newly required software)
The services
Customization
Training
Cost
Other notes
Databases are great for
• Gathering, storing, and retrieving information
• Searching and finding information
• Not just numbers and texts, but images, sounds, video, …
• Statistics, reports
Document assembly is great for
• Creating customized documents and forms
• Intelligent questionnaires and checklists
• Information gathering
• Individualized guidance
A2J guided interviews are great for
• Gathering information needed for document assembly, case intake, or other purposes
• Audio, video, images
• Making online resources more accessible
• Individualized guidance
Expert systems are great for
• Rule-based reasoning(backward and forward chaining)
• Non-procedural (‘declarative’) knowledge
• Explanation
• Individualized guidance
Going beyonddatabases,
document assembly,guided interviews,
andexpert systems
Supporting choicerequires
Choices involvecompeting values and perspectives
They’re not algorithmic
You can’t look up or compute the answer
Factors in play
• Recipient needs, interests, & circumstances– Nature of ‘stake’ and likelihood of success– Capacity for self-help
• Provider resources, interests, & circumstances– Availability– Priorities / Preferences
• System/Society interests– Fairness– Overall impact on just outcomes– System improvement
Challenges
• Demand greatly exceeds resources
• Complex recipient circumstances
• Changing provider circumstances (resource availability, priorities)
• Competing views about which kinds of problems deserve which kinds of assistance
HOWEVER …
Most decisions involve many “hands”:
• more than two options, and • more than a couple considerations, • of varying degrees of importance, • with people disagreeing both about the relative importance of considerations and how the options ‘do’ on them.
What would an ideal choice management system look like?
persistent
transparent
simple
complete
granular
easyfun
beautiful
accessible
collaborative
inclusiveself-learning
autonomy enhancingdynamically reconfigurable
universal
What do choosers want to know?• What do I need to know and do to make a good choice?
• What are my options? (Have I missed any good ones?)
• What factors should I pay attention to? (Have I missed any important ones?)
• Which factors are most important?
• How do the options compare on the important factors? (features and ratings)
• How significant are the differences? (scores)
• How does everything stack up? (What’s the balance of tradeoffs?)
• Where can I get more information? Who can help me? (Find more options, factors, ratings, opinions, reviews …)
Factor
Factor
Factor
PerspectivePerspective
Perspective
Option Option Option
Rating Rating Rating
Rating Rating Rating
Rating Rating Rating
A choicebox
Features
Interface
Ease of learning
Jane
John
CombinedAce Acme Apex
7 8 9
Best Good Better
6 7 5
Choosing a case management
system
US Legal Services Corporation
Going Deeper• A Decision Space for Legal Service Delivery
• Dancing in the Cloud
• Which – a simple HotDocs-based example of choiceboxing
on LawHelp Interactive [Best viewed in Chrome or IE]
• Preparing Law Students for Choice Jobs(Presentation at 2014 CALI conference)
• 'Boxing' Choices for Better Dispute Resolution, Int'l Journal of Online Dispute Resolution (1) 1, 70-92 (2014)
• LSC Tech Summit case study
• Triage and Expert Systems in Legal Aid
In Conclusion
• A lot of our choices are not well made
• We can do better
• Good choices begin with mindfulness
– Not just about what you’re choosing, but also about how you’re choosing
• Choices are projects that need management
• Technology can help
• We need new tools
What if ?
When you faced a decision, you could
– Easily create a custom choice support environment
– Share it online with colleagues and other participants
– Draw on pre-existing and evolving info and insights
– Filter and sort through your options as you learn
– Have your rationale automatically documented
– Leave a legacy for others facing a similar choice