Customer Solution Case Study
/ Law Firm and Legal-Aid Groups Help Low-Income Clients with Online Video Calling
“Skype helps us expand the pool of law firms, programs, and pro bono clients we can work with.”
Ellyn Josef, Pro Bono Counsel, Vinson & Elkins
Vinson & Elkins wanted to assist low-income clients by working with the Houston Volunteer Lawyers program to help intake new pro bono clients, but its attorneys found it difficult to schedule time to work at the intake clinics. The firm used Skype to develop a virtual law clinic that allows attorneys to communicate with pro bono clients via the Internet. Now Vinson & Elkins can help more pro bono clients and expand the program to other firms.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published March 2014
Business Needs
Vinson & Elkins is an international law firm with a broad-based corporate and litigation practice. At its Houston, Texas, offices, the firm provides the opportunity for its attorneys to assist low-income clients by working with Houston Volunteer Lawyers (HVL), a nonprofit group that provides legal services to thousands of people each year by recruiting lawyers to accept cases pro bono. Interested attorneys and legal professionals at Vinson & Elkins volunteer to help the HVL intake new pro bono clients.
At a typical intake clinic, as many as 200 people line up outside community centers all over Houston just to complete the initial paperwork. The difficulty in recruiting enough volunteer lawyers contributes to long waits at the clinic. People can wait all day and not see a lawyer, and have to come back at a later date. Just arranging transportation or child care to get to a community center in Houston—often from outlying areas— can be a hardship for many people.
Vinson & Elkins attorneys want to help, but they find it difficult to schedule time to work at the live clinics. Most attorneys are already engaged with full-time, billable work, and it is often important for them to maintain high visibility in their offices.
Pro Bono Net is a New York–based organization that works to increase access to legal aid for low-income people. With a vast network of legal aid organizations, volunteer pro bono lawyers, and clients, Pro Bono Net looks for ways to ease collabor-ation between lawyers and their pro bono clients. Both Pro Bono Net and Vinson & Elkins use information technology to help make it easier for lawyers to volunteer their time.
Solution
Instead of having lawyers volunteer at the clinics in-person, Vinson & Elkins began recruiting lawyers to participate in the program remotely through a virtual law clinic that uses Skype software, which lets people send instant messages and make voice and video calls over the Internet. Rather than work through long first-come, first-serve lines, Vinson & Elkins attorneys use Skype video calls to intake clients.
Ellyn Josef, Pro Bono Counsel at Vinson & Elkins, launched the virtual clinic during National Pro Bono Week in conjunction with HVL. Josef has been impressed by how easy Skype is to use and the reliability and immediacy that it brings to communication. She is convinced that Skype is the ideal tool for communicating with pro bono clients.
The clients come to the HVL office at an appointed time to meet via Skype with their assigned lawyers for 30-minute consultations. From their offices, Vinson & Elkins attorneys hold these video calls with the pro bono clients at HVL and conduct an intake interview, so that they can be matched with the proper volunteer attorney. If an interpreter is required, Skype can accommodate multiple callers. In-person follow-up meetings are then scheduled as needed.
Josef believes that the virtual clinic offers Vinson & Elkins many opportunities to partner with other firms and programs. “From my desk—or from anywhere I want—I can use Skype to help a potential client anywhere—in Brownsville, Texas; Arizona; or Massachusetts,” she says. “Skype helps us expand the pool of law firms, programs, and pro bono clients we can work with.”
Benefits
By using Skype, Vinson & Elkins can help clients receive legal aid at the time and place that works well for them, while lawyers can remain at work in their offices and help three or four pro bono clients in a single afternoon.
Minimal Investment, Lower Costs
Vinson & Elkins uses Skype to help more pro bono clients at little or no additional cost. “Instead of being out of the office, attorneys can use Skype to help several HVL clients a day and still work on their billable projects,” Josef explains.
Skype is easy to adopt and use, and startup costs are low, making it a viable alternative to expensive conferencing equipment. “If the PCs are available, the startup cost for a virtual clinic is low,” says Josef. “I purchased 10 headsets and we were ready to go.”
Greater Flexibility and Convenience
Skype offers excellent call quality and access from multiple devices, so pro bono attorneys and clients can work effectively together from anywhere with an Internet connection. “Skype supports confidential and immediate communication between lawyers and clients,” says Adam Licht, Director of Product Management at Pro Bono Net. “It can help deliver all the benefits of an in-person meeting except the handshake.”
By making it easier for attorneys to take on pro bono cases, Josef believes the HVL intake clinics could expand from once a quarter to once or twice a month. “It was near impossible to recruit enough volunteers for the live clinics,” she says. “But I have never had one space go unfilled in the virtual clinic.”
Increased Support for Low-Income Clients
Pro bono clients who may have difficulty traveling to the clinics can now receive legal aid without having to wait in line and risk being told to come back next time. In fact, people are now rarely turned away at the HVL intake clinics.
Josef and Licht are both excited to expand the virtual clinics to other cities and into rural areas. “If you could repeat what Ellyn has accomplished at Vinson & Elkins across the 200 biggest law firms in the country, it would be a game-changer,” says Licht.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published March 2014