I'm not talking about the kind that you lace up! In the technical world strings represent characters of text. In the legal world, we manipulate strings extensively. When we write motions, client letters, notices, etc. we are basically manipulating strings. It is for this reason that string manipulation is essential to a real elawyering application.

Personalization

When it comes to personalization in elawyering applications I am an extremist. In order to implement extreme personalization, you have to know how to manipulate strings in a way that delivers a dynamic and personal experience. For example, if you were sitting there and reading questions to your clients from a standard intake form, you would try to personalize the experience. Instead of asking "How long has the child lived in the State of Washington?", you would ask "How long has Adam lived in the State of Washington. See how easily manipulating strings can make a service more personal?

Dynamic Presentation

Dynamic presentation is tightly coupled with extreme personalization. if we manipulate strings in the proper way we can account for differences in presentation based on the facts of a particular client's situation. For instance, if we asked the question above for more than one child, how would we account for the extra punctuation and length of the string? This is where dynamic presentation comes in. In an elawyering application, I might determine the number of children and modify the string accordingly.

Beautiful Integration

When done correctly, proper string manipulation in elawyering applications can make a world of difference. As a legal professional and a programmer, I see the powerful possibilities of dynamic string manipulation. Of course we programmers must unleash our full arsenal in order to make a full-fledged elawyering application work. This requires artful integration with strong attention to intelligent personalization and tight user interface design.

What follows is the client registration use case for the ABIEE™ (Alliance of Bankruptcy Information and Expert Exchange). If you were following the previous related post, you will see that the client registration use case specifically builds upon the global client use case. Before the client can access any major features of the application, he/she must register an account. Although it is possible to allow anonymous browsing and functionality, up front registration makes the most sense.

The Registration Process Overview

Basically, a client will complete a brief and painless registration form. When they click submit, pertinent data will be entered into a database table. Next, the client and the site administrator will receive notification of the event.

Developer's Perspective

The programming portion of the registration use case is fairly straight forward. Once the client enters information on the form and clicks submit, logic will be written to add that information to a database table. Additional code will be written to confirm the registration with the client. Finally, code will be written to notify the site administrator that a new user has in fact registered an account.

Designer's Perspective

The eventual graphic design of this input form will reflect the overall look and feel of the application (the graphic design will come much later in the process). The focus should be on modern design techniques with an emphasis on usability.

Marketing Perspective

At this point, it is important to realize that the client has an open mind and may be interested in additional services/offers. One thing that I will add here is an opportunity to opt-in to marketing  communications such as newsletters and special offers. One more marketing feature that I will add here is an opt-in for a printed information packet of some kind.

Conclusion

Once the client is registered we will have non personally-identifying identity parameters to use for future programming, design, and marketing implementations.

Client_Reg_UseCase.pdf (143.40 kb)

This is part 2 of series on building the elawyering application ABIEE™. You can find all related entries by selecting "ABIEE" in the category list.

Portion 1: The Software Requirement Specification for client/consumer users of ABIEE™

In entry 1, I roughly outlined most of the features that I envisioned ABIEE™ containing. I also mentioned the size and complexity of the task at hand. Finally, I noted the fact that I would break the development and design process down into manageable chunks. I decided to start the development/design process by outlining the Software Requirement Specifications (SRS) for the client/consumer portion of ABIEE™. You can see a preliminary list of the features for the client in entry 1. The following list is more refined and should be considered the official SRS for the client/consumer portion of ABIEE™. of course this list is also subject to change as the elawyering application development/design process progresses.

Official Software Requirement Specification for the Clients/Consumer Portion of ABIEE™

Pre-Filing Stage

1. Unregistered clients can browse library of resources (RL  SRS Pending)
2. Clients must register and login for additional features
3. Clients can organize case related documents that the BKP will need for document generation (BKP SRS Pending). Case related documents include scanned (.pdf or .xps) versions of documents such as bills, tax returns, etc.
4. clients can view the documents they have uploaded
5. Clients can send documents to BKP when necessary (BKP SRS Pending)
6. Clients can build a personal library of resources and use standard methods to manage their library such as add, delete, and sort (RL SRS Pending)
7. Clients can follow a process checklist which will guide them through the appropriate processes to completion of BK case (intermittently updated as development progresses)
8. Clients can browse information about BKP such as BKP supplied BIO, experience, etc. on public BKP list)(BKP SRS Pending)
9. Clients can inquiry/message BKP they are interested in hiring (BKP SRS Pending)
10. Clients can hire a BKP and complete retainer agreement/service agreement (BKP SRS Pending)
11. Clients can submit payment to BKP (BKP SRS Pending)
12. Clients must submit case review/means test to hired BKP (BKP SRS Pending)
13. Clients can receive case review/means test result from BKP ((BKP SRS Pending)
14. Clients can receive completed document copies from BKP(BKP SRS Pending)
15. Clients can inquiry/message BKP they have hired (BKP SRS Pending)
16. Clients can create reviews for BKPs they have hired (BKP SRS Pending)
17. Clients can complete questionnaires for later use in document generation.

Post-Filing Stage

1. Clients can have case-level calendars updated by BKP (BKP SRS Pending)
2. Clients can receive standard built-in information about upcoming hearings

Note: BKP = Bankruptcy Professional -- RL = Resource Library

I have written at length about the inner-workings of next-generation e-lawyering applications. I have also explored some of the components that make up an effective e-lawyering solution. As you know, the applications that I discuss reside on the internet. Consequently, we have to consider the overall structure of the elawyering application as well as the components of the elawyering application.

Legal information

One thing that is somewhat of a pain to develop and maintain is the inclusion of substantive legal information and instruction. In my experience, one of the most frequently asked questions by potential users of e-lawyering applications involves post-document support. As I mentioned in a previous post, an effective elawyering solution has a solid plan for post-document support.

One form of post-document support which can also serve as an effective marketing tool is the inclusion of substantial legal information and instruction related to your Tactical Practice Component™. How you organize this information is up to you. You are also free to decide what mixture of media you will provide to ensure an engaging and up-to-date reference for your clients.

I'd love to hear any ideas you might have regarding this topic. Let me know.