Ep 270: How One Legal Tech Company Is Donating Its Software To Pursue Justice In Atrocity Crimes
Dec 2, 2024
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Claret Vargas and Daniel McLaughlin are dedicated senior staff attorneys at the Center for Justice and Accountability, focusing on seeking justice for victims of atrocity crimes. Joanne Sprague directs Everlaw’s initiative providing free e-discovery software to legal aid groups. They discuss the transformative impact of Everlaw for Good on human rights litigation. Topics include tackling the complexities of document management, navigating legal challenges in atrocity cases, and leveraging advanced technology to enhance justice efforts worldwide.
The Everlaw for Good program provides free software access to legal aid organizations, significantly enhancing their ability to pursue justice in complex cases.
CJA's innovative approach to handling atrocity crime cases combines deep investigations with technology, promoting accountability and broad societal impacts against human rights abuses.
Deep dives
Historical Case Management
The discussion highlights the challenges of managing historical cases, often spanning decades, that involve extensive documentation in various languages. These cases may have previously received only initial investigations, resulting in voluminous files that legal teams must sift through. With a limited number of staff, the legal team focuses on transforming the handling of these complex cases into a more efficient process. This efficiency is crucial as it allows them to invest more time in substantive legal work rather than in the logistical challenges of managing information.
Everlaw for Good Program
The Everlaw for Good program exemplifies a commitment to social justice by providing free access to essential software for legal aid organizations and nonprofits. This initiative specifically aims to level the playing field in the legal system by offering resources to those who may lack them, including investigative journalists and educators. The program seeks to promote justice by illuminating truth, addressing the disparity in resources among legal practitioners. It exemplifies how innovative technology can support nonprofit efforts in human rights and accountability, facilitating access to modern legal processes.
Center for Justice and Accountability's Impact
The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) engages in litigation aimed at addressing atrocity crimes, often involving cases that are emblematic in advancing justice beyond individual situations. Their efforts focus on holding perpetrators accountable in the U.S. legal system while collaborating with international organizations to strengthen domestic accountability measures in victims' home countries. CJA's approach includes in-depth investigations that analyze historical evidence and secure legal actions against those responsible for human rights abuses. This multifaceted strategy not only supports victims in seeking justice but also promotes broader societal impacts to combat impunity.
Technological Advancements in Legal Work
Implementing Everlaw's software has revolutionized the case management process for organizations like the CJA, significantly reducing the time needed for document review and analysis. The ability to perform global and proximity searches on large volumes of documents has made it easier to extract pertinent information quickly. This technological shift allows the legal team to focus on deeper investigative work and create a baseline understanding of cases that were historically challenging due to language barriers and document logistics. Ultimately, this enhanced capability fosters more effective collaboration and efficiency in their ongoing pursuit of justice.
Everlaw for Good is a program run by the e-discovery company Everlaw, through which it makes its software available at no cost to legal aid organizations, nonprofit organizations, and investigative journalists.
One beneficiary of that program is the Center for Justice and Accountability, a human rights nonprofit that works to seek justice on behalf of victims of atrocity crimes, including torture, genocide, and war crimes. At the recent Everlaw Summit, the CJA’s work using the Everlaw platform was honored with the Everlaw for Good award.
LawNext host Bob Ambrogi was at the summit, which was held in San Francisco in October, and he had the opportunity to sit down to record this conversation with two of the CJA’s lawyers, along with the director of the Everlaw for Good program. Today’s guests are: