Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) celebrates the first anniversary of its Innovation Lab—the first of its kind within a legal services organization. The Innovation Lab was established to identify and implement creative solutions to bridge the justice gap and modernize legal service delivery. In its inaugural year, the lab has made remarkable progress, particularly in serving rural and underserved communities.
The Innovation Lab’s mission is rooted in tackling the two major challenges facing legal aid programs: securing resources to serve more people and developing cost-effective ways to deliver legal help. By integrating technology, human-centered design, and data-driven insights, the lab operates as a hub of creativity, partnering with community organizations, law schools, justice tech experts, and clients to find innovative solutions to systemic issues.
The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) has recognized LANC’s innovative approach, highlighting it as a potential model for improving legal service delivery on its Talk Justice podcast, in an episode titled “The First Legal Aid Innovation Lab.” LSC has also supported this effort through a significant technology and innovation grant. The Innovation Lab serves as a blueprint for modernizing legal aid, offering practical strategies to better meet the needs of underserved communities across the country.
Over the past year, the lab has tackled barriers to access to justice through a variety of projects:
Key Achievements of the Innovation Lab:
- LANC-LIA: In partnership with LawDroid, the lab launched an AI-powered virtual assistant, delivering high-quality legal information and easy access to resources for communities across North Carolina.
- EZ Expunge Tool: The lab revamped the expunction petition process through a tech solution that helps individuals clear their criminal records, opening doors to new opportunities.
- LANCMobile: A mobile legal services unit was deployed to bring on-the-go legal assistance to remote and underserved areas of the state.
- LANC & Libraries: This partnership integrated legal resources and support services into local libraries, expanding access to justice for community members through a trusted, accessible institution.
- Rural Innovation Hub: The lab launched this hub to collaborate with clients, local, and regional partners to create a model for delivering legal services to rural communities.
- Innovation Olympics: The lab established the first-ever Innovation Olympics—a staff-driven program to foster a culture of creativity and cross-departmental collaboration.
- Innovation Fund: Created to support ongoing and future innovation projects, the fund ensures the lab’s continuous efforts to push the boundaries of legal services delivery.
As the lab entered its second year, it launched the National Justice Tech Form—a crowdsourcing platform shaped by input from legal services programs nationwide. This initiative fosters collaboration in developing technology solutions to address access-to-justice gaps, strengthening partnerships between legal services and the broader legal and justice technology community.
Scheree Gilchrist, LANC’s chief innovation officer, said, “Our first year has been a remarkable journey in transforming how we deliver legal services. We are excited to continue innovating, addressing challenges, and sharing these solutions on a national scale.”
The need for innovations like these is immense. The U.S. legal system does not guarantee the right to a lawyer in civil matters, and studies show that 92% of civil legal issues among low-income Americans receive little to no assistance. In North Carolina, around two million residents eligible for LANC services still face access barriers, particularly in geographically isolated regions.
A Look Ahead: Expanding on the Foundational Vision
The Innovation Lab was first conceived to address the overwhelming demand for legal help in North Carolina, particularly through the modernization of LANC’s helpline, which receives more than 360,000 calls annually. Of these, 260,000 calls go unanswered due to capacity limitations. The lab’s inaugural project aimed to reimagine this entry point to legal services, enhancing how individuals can access help via multiple platforms like text messaging and community partner networks. This remains a core focus as the lab continues to innovate ways to better serve North Carolinians.
As the lab marks this milestone, it reaffirms its commitment to using cutting-edge technologies, collaborative solutions, and data-driven insights to bridge the justice gap and serve as a national leader in legal services innovation.
To learn more about the Innovation Lab and its mission, visit legalaidnc.org/innovation-lab.