I recently wrote an article for Bar Leader on the ABA Center for Innovation, a project of the American Bar Association designed to spur development of apps and other technologies that will help close the gap of unmet legal needs. The Center combines new or recent law school grads with people who’ve worked in the technology or legal field for several years or more.

The center hopes to create a “tech startup/incubator/laboratory” atmosphere, says Sarah Glassmeyer, the ABA project specialist manager who will oversee day-to-day operations. An attorney and law librarian who worked as a research fellow in the Harvard Law Library Innovation Lab, Glassmeyer wants to encourage fellows “to experiment, fail, pick themselves up and try something new, keep hacking away at a problem until they get to a solution.”

Planned projects include:

• an app that will help pro se litigants deal with the vast amount of rules and regulations governing local civil procedures;
• a web-based project to provide help to Chicago residents facing eviction;
• a study of how emerging technologies such as blockchain can help with the delivery of legal services.