User-friendly legal services from British Columbia

Talking to Bonnie Hough of the California Judicial Council last week, she recommended checking out several great projects coming out of Canada — specifically British Columbia — for inspiration about how courts can be more user-friendly. Many of them are efforts of the Justice Education Society, which is a public-oriented organization that is developing new tech tools & new user-oriented approaches to delivering legal services.

Here are some of the highlights.

Guides to help a person have difficult conversations. These give a small training in the mindsets and approaches a person can use to get to better outcomes. It’s not just the step-by-step of the process, it’s about changing lenses & strategies.

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Small claims online, through an online dispute resolution system as well as other options to at least get you started with filing the forms & tackling the process. Notice also the lady in the bottom right corner — she’s a virtual assistant who speaks in a friendly, conversational way to tell you what the site has to offer and get you started with using the services.

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This page gives you the two main options they have to help you recover your claim — giving you a diagramatic view of what each has to offer & what you can start doing now. It’s action-oriented as well as informative.

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