On April 27, 1994 the Board of Trustees of the Michigan State Bar Foundation approved a grant in the amount of $17,575.00 for the development of a Computer Pilot Project for a State-wide computer network. The focus of this project is to begin to fulfill the second of the following objectives developed as a result of the Legal Services Computer Committee's June 1993 Survey of Michigan Legal Services programs:

(1) Assisting all programs in reaching a basic level of computer resources and compatibility among programs;

(2) Assisting in the development of inter-program communication and resource sharing; and

(3) Assisting in the automation of the case management function.

The Pilot Project focuses on four areas in which increased state-wide capabilities could enhance the quality and quantity of services provided:

(1) Establishing a state-wide computer network which will permit e-mail between legal services programs and among the satellite offices within the legal services programs;

(2) Developing an electronic brief and pleadings bank, through which the programs can share pleadings and briefs related to poverty law;

(3) Implementing on-line CD-ROM research of poverty-law-related cases using search software; and

(4) Accessing a national e-mail network dedicated to poverty law issues.

The Pilot project was initially implemented among four legal services programs and the Michigan State Bar Foundation. These programs included Legal Aid of Western Michigan, Legal Services of Southeastern Michigan, Michigan Indian Legal Services, and Michigan Legal Services. In addition, an initial HandsNet subscription was made available to all programs which did not previously have a HandsNet subscription.

Expansion of Pilot Project. On June 28, 1995, the Board of Trustees of the Michigan State Bar Foundation approved an additional grant in the amount of $49,660 for the expansion statewide of the e-mail and brief bank portions of the project. This grant provided software and licenses to all legal services grantees of the Foundation which have adequate computer facilities to permit them to link up with the state-wide e-mail system. Hardware was not included in this proposal (except modems).

Novell GroupWise e-mail software (including the Message Server and the Async gateway, which permit communication with other programs) has now been installed in all programs which have a local area network system in place. One program which does not have a network in place utilizes GroupWise's remote function for e-mail access. All legal services programs funded by MSBF now dial in to a central hub, deliver messages for other programs, and pick up messages from other programs.

Each program completed a Pre-Implementation User Survey, which assists in understanding former communication and research patterns, and provides a baseline for measuring any shift in these patterns, through a follow-up survey which will be given in the near future.

Further Technology Development. Plans are now being put into place to connect the entire GroupWise e-mail network to the Internet (giving each user an internet e-mail address for communication with those outside the statewide e-mail system) and to utilize a fax gateway (giving each user the ability to send faxes from e-mail). In addition, the Michigan Poverty Law Program (the current state support entity) is now designing an Internet Web Page, which will include a searchable brief and pleadings bank. Also being explored is a totally integrated on-line intake and case management/document preparation system which will permit updates from other offices through the GroupWise e-mail system.