Properties:
Use Cases
Class Litigant |
Class SolutionProvider |
Help potential litigants identify typical legal problems that they might have.
Help potential litigants identify related legal problems.
Help potential litigants determine what outcomes they want.
Help potential litigants decide how best to resolve their legal problem
Help litigants decide if they need full legal representation
Help potential litigants decide what kind of legal assistance they need.
Help potential litigants find the kind of legal assistance they want.
Automatically route eligible clients to appropriate providers.
Help litigants navigate the legal process.
Help litigants make key decisions about their legal cases.
Help litigants make key decisions about their legal cases.
Help litigants execute desired legal actions.
Automatically route eligible clients to appropriate providers.
Automatically support provider intake processes.
Automatically report provider outcome information to the portal
Collect litigant satisfaction with outcomes
Automatically update provider systems with result data.
Class MasterRecord |
Components
Component RegistrationLoginModule |
Litigants may use the portal anonymously by not registering or logging in. If users wish to save their inputs or outputs and return at a later time, they must register in a way that enables identification of them in some unique way (although not necessarily in a way that permits actual identification of the person).
Comments and Issues: Partner organizations will probably want to use their login methods, so the most efficient approach would be a consistent single sign on model for all of the partner organizations. Achieving this goal could be difficult. It is a classic governance problem.
Stereotype: service
provided classes : RegistrationLoginInterface
Component DescriptionNavigationModule |
This module describes the capabilities of the portal and provides basic navigation to the desired module or between modules. Users may still enter other modules directly if they know how to get there. They may also navigate directly from one module to another module as desired.
Comments and Issues: Navigation must work simply and seamlessly regardless of where the user enters the portal and in which order they want to use the various modules.
Stereotype: service
provided classes : DescriptionNavigationInterface
Component ProblemIdentificationModule |
This module prompts the user to describe their problem in a way that will enable the portal to determine if it is a legal problem. Of course, that determination is not entirely an objective one, so it is more a matter of suggesting available legal strategies when appropriate. The module will prompt for information that enables the portal to determine if it is a legal problem within the scope of the portal, and maps the legal problem to a court case type. Again, there may be several possible case types or causes of action for a particular legal problem, so the module should suggest all alternatives and explain the tradeoffs. If there is not a legal problem, or not one that the portal can respond to, the litigant may still gain value by exercising the solutions module.
Comments and Issues: Once correctly mapped to the appropriate court case type, there may be rights in certain cases to full representation by a lawyer. The portal should recognize these instances. Of course, a litigant may still choose to forego a lawyer or may decide to acquire their services through an eligible provider, so they still should not bypass the Assistance module.
Some case types like domestic violence may require emergency responses, so the portal should recommend appropriate actions in those cases. Similarly, some case types should be confidential, possibly requiring different data handling and the exclusion of some information to some partners. Perhaps most innovative and also most challenging, the portal should make the appropriate handoff for cases that are out of scope (not legal problems) if possible.
Stereotype: service
provided classes : ProblemIdentificationInterface
Component SolutionOptionsModule |
If the problem identified is not a legal problem, the portal may suggest several generic non-legal solutions with an appropriate handoff. If the problem is a genuine legal problem, it should suggest several alternative solutions, some of which involve the formal legal system and some of which do not. In both cases the module should provide appropriate tradeoff information to aid the litigant in making a choice.
Comments and Issues: Some non-traditional options may be appropriate in some cases. For example, in some states one option might be a tribal court. Legal problems that appear to track the traditional court process may be open to various types of diversion at various points in the process. The portal should make those options clear, even where the litigant does not have full control over the decision. Policies around data transparency and access must be made clear to all users of the modules in the portal, especially for this module (and the Capacity Assessment module below).
Stereotype: service
provided classes : SolutionOptionsInterface
Component AssistanceModule |
The assistance module will determine whether the litigant likely requires formal representation by a lawyer or not. If so, the portal will provide a set of possible sources of representation with seamless hand off to the selected resource. If a lawyer is not desired by the litigant, the module will determine the most cost effective form of assistance required and hand off the litigant to that assistance seamlessly.
Comments and Issues: All forms of appropriate assistance, if available, should be described. Some may be less mainstream than others. Common forms include legal aid, court help centers, public libraries, law school clinics, bar-sponsored pro bono clinics and services, and public defenders. More controversial and innovative forms may include unbundling of legal services, the creation of non-lawyer legal services roles, and online dispute resolution websites. The portal must also be intelligent enough to recognize which forms of assistance are constrained to only certain case types or problems.
Stereotype: service
provided classes : AssistanceInterface
Component TradeoffPreferencesModule |
This module assesses the litigant's preferred tradeoffs between cost, time, convenience, and due process. The tradeoff information will be used by other modules to recommend solutions and types of assistance. The links between tradeoff preferences and portal recommendations will be reported transparently.
Comments and Issues: Describing choices among options with different amounts of due process to litigants in simple and understandable ways when more than one case processing path exists may be challenging. Traditionally, both courts and the bar have been relatively resistant to accommodating litigant preferences, particularly when it entails informational transparency about things like case cost and time to disposition.
Stereotype: service
provided classes : TradeoffPreferencesInterface
Component ProbabilisticOutcomesModule |
For court cases, this module provides descriptions of the most likely or common alternatives and actions in a particular type of case. It will also report probabilistic or statistical information on the likely outcomes of each alternative, based on court data.
Comments and Issues: Some evidence suggests that most common case types, especially those with many self-represented litigants, often follow only two or three simple case paths, with a very small percentage involving significant case complexity.6 Therefore, courts may be able to provide simple descriptive statistics on what usually happens when each possible path is chosen. Note that the portal does not make any recommendations about which path to take, so there is no issue around the practice of law or giving legal advice. It merely describes what typically happens (win or lose, amounts awarded, etc.).
Stereotype: service
provided classes : ProbabilisticOutcomesInterface
Component CapacityAssessmentModule |
This module will assess the capacity of the litigant to both use the portal and to utilize various forms of assistance other than formal representation. This module is optional because not all jurisdictions may choose to include this capability, some litigants may not want to be assessed, and the ability to validly and appropriately assess such capacity is still not well understood.
Comments and Issues: Considerations such as case complexity or levels of hostility should be handled by the Assistance module. Indices of case complexity may be case type specific. Here we are primarily interested in the ability of the litigant to competently understand information and make certain decisions required by the portal. Attempts to do this to date have not been encouraging. It has either proven to be too difficult or too paternalistic to do successfully.
Stereotype: service
provided classes : CapacityAssessmentInterface
Component LitigantPortalSystem |
Stereotype: service
Class AddressType |
Class AssistanceInputMessage |
Class instance AssistanceInputMessage |
type :AssistanceInputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
AssistanceInputMessage
Class CategoryType |
Class ElementType |
Class IdentifiedIssue |
Class IssueType |
Class LevelOfServiceType |
Class ReferralType |
Class SelectedSolutionType |
Class SolutionProviderCapacity |
Class SolutionProviderProfile |
Class AssistanceOutputMessage |
Class instance AssistanceOutputMessage |
type :AssistanceOutputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
AssistanceOutputMessage
Class MasterData |
Class ReferralType |
Class SolutionProviderSelected |
Class instance CapacityAssessmentInputMessage |
type :CapacityAssessmentInputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
CapacityAssessmentInputMessage
Class ComputerLiteracy |
Class Disability |
Class DisabilityType |
Class ImmigrationStatus |
Class LanguageProficiency |
Class LanguageType |
Class Literacy |
Class TechnologyAvailability |
Class VisaType |
Class CapacityAssessment |
Class instance CapacityAssessmentOutputMessage |
type :CapacityAssessmentOutputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
CapacityAssessmentOutputMessage
Class instance DescriptionNavigationInputMessage |
type :DescriptionNavigationInputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
DescriptionNavigationInputMessage
Class LegalIssueOutcomeType |
Class Outcome |
Class ReferralStatusType |
Class ReturnToReferralSystem |
Class ServiceType |
Class instance DescriptionNavigationOutputMessage |
type :DescriptionNavigationOutputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
DescriptionNavigationOutputMessage
Class instance ProbabilisticOutcomesInputMessage |
type :ProbabilisticOutcomesInputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
ProbabilisticOutcomesInputMessage
Class HistoricCaseData |
Class JurisdictionType |
Class CourtType |
Class CaseType |
Class ClaimType |
Class JudgmentType |
Class HistoricalIssueData |
Class IssueType |
Class IssueResolutionType |
Class PathwayType |
Class PathwayType |
Class instance ProbabilisticOutcomesOutputMessage |
type :ProbabilisticOutcomesOutputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
ProbabilisticOutcomesOutputMessage
Class instance ProblemIdentificationInputMessage |
type :ProblemIdentificationInputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
ProblemIdentificationInputMessage
Class IssueDescriptionFromUser |
Class LocationInformation |
Class UrgencyType |
Class UrgencyLevelType |
Class instance ProblemIdentificationOutputMessage |
type :ProblemIdentificationOutputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
ProblemIdentificationOutputMessage
Class LegalProblem |
Class IssueDescription |
Class Jurisdiction |
Class UrgencyAssessment |
Class instance RegistrationLoginInputMessage |
type :RegistrationLoginInputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
RegistrationLoginInputMessage
Class LoginInformation |
Class OauthToken |
Class instance RegistrationLoginOutputMessage |
type :RegistrationLoginOutputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
RegistrationLoginOutputMessage
Class RoleType |
Class AssistanceType |
Class Expense |
Class ExpenseType |
Class FinancialInformation |
Class Income |
Class IncomeType |
Class PaymentFrequencyType |
Class Property |
Class PropertyType |
Class PublicAssistanceType |
SolutionOptionsInputMessage
Class instance SolutionOptionsInputMessage |
type :SolutionOptionsInputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
Class UserPreferences |
Class instance SolutionOptionsOutputMessage |
type :SolutionOptionsOutputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
SolutionOptionsOutputMessage
Class Cost |
Class DueProcess |
Class Time |
Class instance TradeoffPreferencesInputMessage |
type :TradeoffPreferencesInputMessage
Stereotype: niem-profile:niem
Properties:
TradeoffPreferencesInputMessage
Class Tradeoff |
Class instance TradeoffPreferencesOutputMessage |
type :TradeoffPreferencesOutputMessage
TradeoffPreferencesOutputMessage
Class TradeoffType |
Stereotype: framework
Properties:
Class abstract |
Properties:
Class AugmentationType |
Class ObjectType |
Class instance @id |
type :ID
Properties:
Class instance @ref |
type :IDREF
Properties:
Class instance @uri |
type :anyURI
Properties:
Class instance @metadata |
type :IDREFS
Properties:
Class instance @relationshipMetadata |
type :IDREFS
Properties:
Properties:
Stereotype: profile
Properties: