ONE CLICK LEGAL AID

What's good for the goose: Bill Pollak, ALM's CEO, spends a lot of time on airplanes, and thus, gets to keep up on a lot of magazines. He often sends me interesting clips, but he recently forwarded a fascinating article, from Equal Justice Magazine, that was especially near and dear to his heart. It describes how Michael Hertz, (right) who runs Pro Bono Net, had an inspiration when shopping on Land's End for a new sweater. (Bill's on the board of this wonderful non-profit organization that uses tech to increase access to justice.)

Hertz, it seems, ran into some glitches with the search function, and clicked on the site's "help" button - and to his surprise, got great, fast customer service. The experience inspired him to see if a similar "help" button could be used on legal websites that serve self-represented clients. The idea morphed into "LiveHelp," and now, the Legal Services Corp. has awarded a $170,000 grant to the Montana Legal Services Association, which will partner with Iowa Legal Aid to pioneer the effort, writes David Whelan (a reporter with the Silicon Valley bureau of Forbes magazine.)

You never know where inspiration will strike!

Michael Hertz photo courtesy of Harvard College.