Legal Solutions Designer

Legal Solutions Designer

About Us

Pro Bono Net is a national nonprofit that creates innovative and sustainable digital solutions that bring the power of the law to all. From connecting attorneys to those in need, to creating legal tools to help individuals advocate for themselves, we make the law work for the many and not the few. Last year, our products helped more than 8 million people across the US access essential legal information, self-help resources, referrals to legal aid, and apply for services.  To learn more about our work, visit probono.net and connectingjusticecommunities.com.

About this Role

The Legal Solutions Designer will lead the design, development, and maintenance of legal screening tools, guided legal forms, and other novel digital legal help products for people living on low incomes, low-wage workers, rural communities, and others facing systemic barriers to accessing legal help. This is an excellent opportunity for candidates interested in working hand-in-hand with legal nonprofits, pro bono initiatives, courts, and community-based organizations to help make our civil justice system fairer for everyone. Examples of initiatives this position will lead include: 

• Developing guided legal forms, powered by our LawHelp Interactive program, that enable people to create the court forms and self-advocacy letters they need to resolve a legal problem
• Collaborating with elder justice partners to develop and enhance the Legal Risk Detector, our legal issue-spotting and referral app designed for use by social workers conducting legal health “check-ups” and referrals for vulnerable older adults 

The position is remote-friendly, but New York area staff are welcome to take advantage of Pro Bono Net office space in lower Manhattan, co-located with other nonprofits. Candidates for this role must be based in the US.  

Core Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of online issue-spotting and referral tools and online legal forms
• Liaise with technical collaborators to troubleshoot and resolve issues, as needed
• Lead scoping and requirements-gathering processes for new projects, including creating requirements documentation and workflow mock-ups, and facilitating engagement of stakeholders and subject matter experts in project design 
• Lead regular meetings with project partners to update them on the project status, and to keep them informed and engaged throughout the product development lifecycle 
• Advise and support partners on user testing plans and methods, and stakeholder engagement in user testing; assist with analyzing and prioritizing testing feedback
• Help to cultivate project and community success by identifying, capturing, and sharing effective practices on UX design, plain language, stakeholder engagement, training and rollout 
• Work with program managers on community support activities, trainings, and product demos to help grow awareness and adoption of new tools 
• Maintain reporting systems to document project progress and keep internal stakeholders apprised of updates
• Participate in relevant PBN work groups, and efforts to grow in-house product design capacity and practices
• Support project budget monitoring and management processes, as needed

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience and familiarity with civil legal issues impacting people living on low incomes
• Experience developing or managing technology initiatives in the access to justice or civic tech field 
• Experience with expert system and guided interview authoring software (for example Neota Logic, A2J Author, HotDocs and/or DocAssemble) and development methodologies, and willingness and ability to learn new approaches
• Understanding of principles of user experience design and user testing methods
• Strong relationship management skills, with the ability to work with individuals with a range of technological expertise in an effective and empathetic manner
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of projects from planning through execution
• Strong analytical, problem solving and diagnostic skills, with excellent attention to detail
• Excellent listening and communication skills (written and verbal), including the ability to track, synthesize, and simplify information in a clear and accessible manner
• Strong self-motivation, with the ability to thrive and be resourceful in a dynamic environment with new challenges to solve
• Excitement to understand, learn and guide the development of current and new tools
• Demonstrated interest in the public interest, nonprofit or social justice arena

Salary Range: The salary range for this position is $70,000 - $80,000 DOE