The only statewide civil legal provider, running without a technology plan.
Legal Aid of Nebraska is the only statewide provider of direct civil legal representation in the state. Its technology had been assembled under pressure, most recently during the pandemic, and no one inside owned the strategy.
Technology bought in an emergency rarely fits the work once the emergency ends.
Legal Aid of Nebraska provides the full range of civil legal services — advice and counsel, brief services for limited scope or self-representation, and direct representation in court — as the only statewide provider of the last of those.
The organization had no internal strategic vision for planning, monitoring, or executing technology projects. Amazon Connect had been implemented to give staff teleworking capacity during COVID-19, but it lacked the sophistication the legal work required.
Files were hard to locate, version control was unreliable, and too much lived on local drives. The public website was difficult to navigate, and LawHelp Nebraska, the intake system, was long and gave applicants no sense of where they were in the process.
The deliverables.
An owner for technology projects
The first recommendation was a person, not a product: an IT project manager to hold planning, monitoring, and execution, because every other recommendation depends on someone inside owning it.
A phone system that fits the practice
Replacing the pandemic-era Amazon Connect and Allworx configuration with a platform sophisticated enough to support statewide legal services rather than one adopted for teleworking under time pressure.
Electronic document management
Addressing the absence of a reliable EDMS — the cause of the difficulty locating files, the version control problems, and the heavy reliance on local drive storage.
Website and intake redesign
Making the website navigable and rebuilding the LawHelp Nebraska intake flow with a guide or wizard, so applicants can see how far through the application they are. For a legal aid intake, abandonment is a person who does not get help.
Status and outlook.
Where it stands
Avèro delivered the assessment and prioritized roadmap covering staffing, telephony, document management, and the public-facing intake path.
Why the intake mattered most
Most technology recommendations improve staff efficiency. Fixing an intake form that people abandon changes who receives legal representation.
Related engagements.
Every engagement is reference-available. Ask us to connect you with the people who hired us.
Thirty minutes.
No pitch.
Tell us where you are. We'll say honestly whether we can help. If we can't, we'll point you to someone who can.