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ideas to full potential. For instance, the North Carolina State Bar, North Carolina Supreme Court,
and North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts joined together to sponsor an Innovation
Fellow to come to the Center for training and to assist with efforts to establish a Center for
Innovation in North Carolina.
In each case, the Center matches fellows with available resources within and outside the
ABA to help the fellows appropriately plan and develop impactful projects.1 Moreover, each
fellow participates in a boot camp that involves training in the people, process, and technology
skills that are needed to transform the delivery of legal services. The Center expects to make the
boot camp more widely available in the coming months.
In the meantime, fellows are taking on a wide range of projects, such as developing an
app to help pro se litigants navigate local civil procedure, assisting low- and moderate-income
renters in knowing their rights, and exploring how blockchain technology can be used in the
fines and fees arena to benefit the public.
The Center for Innovation seeks to expand the fellows program in various ways, such as
by hosting more fellows from state and local bar associations. The bottom line is that bar
associations can provide these kinds of opportunities to help the industry adapt to the 21st century
legal marketplace and facilitate work on cutting-edge projects.
Futures Commissions
Bar associations have an important role to play in educating their members and the public
about systemic legal service delivery issues and large-scale solutions. Many bars are establishing
futures commissions or have recently undertaken such efforts.2 In 2016, the ABA Commission
on the Future of Legal Services completed a two-year review of the legal services industry and
developed a major report that identifies existing problems and recommends a wide range of
solutions.3
Facilitating the Profession’s Use of Cost-Saving Tools
Bar associations can build websites and other resources to help members find appropriate
tools for their practices. During her ABA President-Elect year, Linda Klein met with lawyers in
various small and mid-size communities across the country. One message she heard was that
lawyers, particularly solo and small firm practitioners, are pressed for time and do not know
where to find the basic technology that would make their practices more efficient. To help them,
the ABA developed ABA Blueprint.4
Through an expert system, ABA Blueprint helps lawyers identify the technological tools
that an individual lawyer needs. It also provides access to consultants to answer questions about
recommended products. The ABA will roll out Blueprint 2.0 in the fall of 2018, which will
provide even more tools for solo and small firms.
Accelerating Solutions that Help to Close the Access to Justice Gap
1 Meet Our Fellows, ABA CENTER FOR INNOVATION, http://abacenterforinnovation.org/fellowships/meet-our-fellows.
2 Resource Pages, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, www.americanbar.org/groups/bar_services/resources/resourcepages/future.html.
3 Report on the Future of Legal Services in the United States, ABA COMMISSION ON THE FUTURE OF LEGAL SERVICES (2017),
http://abafuturesreport.com.
4 ABA BLUEPRINT, www.abablueprint.com.
202
and North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts joined together to sponsor an Innovation
Fellow to come to the Center for training and to assist with efforts to establish a Center for
Innovation in North Carolina.
In each case, the Center matches fellows with available resources within and outside the
ABA to help the fellows appropriately plan and develop impactful projects.1 Moreover, each
fellow participates in a boot camp that involves training in the people, process, and technology
skills that are needed to transform the delivery of legal services. The Center expects to make the
boot camp more widely available in the coming months.
In the meantime, fellows are taking on a wide range of projects, such as developing an
app to help pro se litigants navigate local civil procedure, assisting low- and moderate-income
renters in knowing their rights, and exploring how blockchain technology can be used in the
fines and fees arena to benefit the public.
The Center for Innovation seeks to expand the fellows program in various ways, such as
by hosting more fellows from state and local bar associations. The bottom line is that bar
associations can provide these kinds of opportunities to help the industry adapt to the 21st century
legal marketplace and facilitate work on cutting-edge projects.
Futures Commissions
Bar associations have an important role to play in educating their members and the public
about systemic legal service delivery issues and large-scale solutions. Many bars are establishing
futures commissions or have recently undertaken such efforts.2 In 2016, the ABA Commission
on the Future of Legal Services completed a two-year review of the legal services industry and
developed a major report that identifies existing problems and recommends a wide range of
solutions.3
Facilitating the Profession’s Use of Cost-Saving Tools
Bar associations can build websites and other resources to help members find appropriate
tools for their practices. During her ABA President-Elect year, Linda Klein met with lawyers in
various small and mid-size communities across the country. One message she heard was that
lawyers, particularly solo and small firm practitioners, are pressed for time and do not know
where to find the basic technology that would make their practices more efficient. To help them,
the ABA developed ABA Blueprint.4
Through an expert system, ABA Blueprint helps lawyers identify the technological tools
that an individual lawyer needs. It also provides access to consultants to answer questions about
recommended products. The ABA will roll out Blueprint 2.0 in the fall of 2018, which will
provide even more tools for solo and small firms.
Accelerating Solutions that Help to Close the Access to Justice Gap
1 Meet Our Fellows, ABA CENTER FOR INNOVATION, http://abacenterforinnovation.org/fellowships/meet-our-fellows.
2 Resource Pages, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, www.americanbar.org/groups/bar_services/resources/resourcepages/future.html.
3 Report on the Future of Legal Services in the United States, ABA COMMISSION ON THE FUTURE OF LEGAL SERVICES (2017),
http://abafuturesreport.com.
4 ABA BLUEPRINT, www.abablueprint.com.
202
