Congrats to the Center for Access to Justice and Technology on its release of A2J Author 2.0 last week. I was at Chicago-Kent working on a different project for CAJT when the program was first introduced to the poverty law community. I remember a lot of the early adopters - Idaho, Illinois Legal Aid Online, and Legal Aid of Western New York – and it’s been exciting to watch the program expand to 22 states, the US Virgin Islands, and Ontario, Canada. For more info on the new release, check out the A2J Blog that Rachel Medina setup. (Thanks to Kate Bladow for pointing this out to the LSTech list.)

One aspect of the A2J Author project that often gets overlooked is how effectively CAJT has leveraged law students to create A2J Guided Interviews. The A2J Student Editorial Board has over 15 members and has built an impressive collection of Interviews. As digital natives – young people who have grown up using computers and the Internet most of their lives – begin to enter law school, it’s an important time to consider how they can make a difference in the legal services technology community. Law students are eager to gain legal experience (especially in a tight job market) and are beginning to understand that great tech skills will help them in their legal careers. The Editorial Board establishes a good model for programs looking for creative ways to utilize law students.

Oh, and by the way, the February's statewide website training was devoted to law school engagement. You should check that out too.