Illinois Legal Aid Online was created in March 2001 as the Illinois Technology Center for Law & the Public Interest, according to its’ website.
The “tech center” was created by twelve partner organizations as a statewide collaboration of Illinois legal services providers, funding entities, the private bar and law schools.
Illinois Legal Aid Online was housed at Chicago-Kent College of Law for its first four years, and the law school donated space and technical resources to the organization, in addition to supporting it financially.
The Chicago Bar Foundation, the Lawyers Trust Fund and Chicago-Kent were all instrumental in the formation and growth of Illinois Legal Aid Online and provided not only necessary funding, but early leadership, motivation and vision.
Illinois Legal Aid Online provides the statewide technology infrastructure that helps streamline the delivery of free and pro bono legal services to the poor, and provides legal information and pro se assistance to the public, according to its website.
Executive Director Lisa Colpoys said the organization’s mission is to use technology in innovative ways to increase access to legal services for low-income residents. It created three websites that serve three distinct audiences, Colpoys said.
Illinoislegalaid.org provides legal information for the public; illinoislegaladvocate.org provides support for legal aid advocates; and illinoisprobono.org provides tools for volunteer attorneys.
On illinoislegalaid.org, for example, people can access everything from instructional videos about how to go to small claims court to a large library of automated documents that help them complete legal documents. Colpoys said judges love this website because it helps prepare people for their day in court. The site receives about 80,000 visits a month, she said.
Lawyers can use illinoisprobono.org to find volunteer opportunities that fit their needs, she said. And once they find an opportunity they can receive training through webcasts. They can also utilize automated libraries that help lawyers get up to speed in an area they may not have a lot of experience in.
Illinoislegaladvocate.org is a portal for communication within the community, and provides training and practice support for legal aid advocates, she said.
“It’s really rewarding. I’ve been in legal aid almost my whole career,” she said about working with this organization. “It’s exciting to be able to be involved in something innovative and new that helps people in ways they haven’t been helped before. It’s a fun job.”
