The Legal Action Access Line (Hotline) at the Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach (LAFLB) was instituted in response to LSC funding cuts in 1996. The cuts caused LAFLB to reduce its attorney staff from 7 to 5 and its paralegal staff from 3 to 1. Scheduling in-house appointments for each client who called the office was no longer a viable option.

As with many other legal services providers, most of LAFLB’s clients received either advice and counsel, brief services or a referral to another agency. In 1996, LAFLB began exploring the feasibility of creating a centralized telephone intake and delivery system. After installation of new phone and case management systems and a redesign of staffing, supervision and training methods, the Legal Action Access Line began taking calls in April, 1998.

LAFLB operates mainly with LSC funds. These are supplemented with some IOLTA monies as well as funds raised in local events. With a California twist on fundraising, LAFLB holds a yearly two-week long event called the “Grand Cru”. These festivities combine a wine competition open to domestic and international vintners and eateries which pay a fee to enter with a wine tasting where members of the public pay to sample the wines. No specific funds are earmarked for hotline expenses; they are included in the regular LAFLB operating budget.

LAFLB’s Executive Director is Toby Rothschild, who is one of the five attorneys in the program. Three areas of law are program priorities: Family Law, particularly Domestic Violence, Housing, and Public Benefits. Each of the attorneys is a specialist in one of these areas.

The Hotline Managing attorney has the assistance of an administrative law paralegal. Michael spends about 50% of his time managing the hotline and the other 50% on his Public Benefits caseload. Two of the attorneys work in the Housing area and one attorney is the Family Law specialist. Neither the Housing nor Family Law unit has a paralegal.

During the past year, the hotline served as the entry point for 1659 intakes, which represents about 50% of LAFLB’s cases; the remainder came in through outreach programs, workshops, and walk-ins. About 90% of the hotline’s intake is resolved via advice and counsel or brief services.

The LAFLB service area includes the Long Beach, San Pedro and outlying communities  in Los Angeles County commonly known as the “harbor area”. The service area contains a low-income population of about 100,000.

The office is located in downtown Long Beach in an historical 13^th story  building built in 1926, close to the courthouses and Civic Center. LAFLB occupies most of the 4th floor. The Hotline is housed in one of the larger LAFLB offices. It has two partitioned workstations which contain computers and telephones. A third station is set up but is not always staffed. The hotline duty attorney also sits in this room and the hotline brochures for mailing are  kept here as well. The remaining staff attorneys all have their own offices on the floor.

The Hotline is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1-3:30. Expansion in planned in the near future to include some morning hours. The hotline staff consists of the Manager, the on-duty staff attorney, the telephone receptionist, and two or three law or paralegal students per shift who handle the calls. The Hotline Manager is responsible for  the daily operation of the hotline. He monitors the phone status regularly. If he notices too many calls in queue, he will try to get another person on the hotline. About 80% of the time he also serves as the on-duty supervising attorney. He reviews the intake sheets daily when possible but at least weekly. If he has any questions about the advice given he routes the call to a specialist on the LAFLB staff. He drafts memos regarding hotline issues and procedures and trains new intake screeners and volunteer attorneys.

The phone receptionist position is always manned. She routes callers to the hotline queue during call hours if the caller hasn’t selected the automated option. During non-hotline hours, she tells the callers to call back during hotline hours of operation.

A duty attorney is in the hotline room at all times when the hotline is open. His job is to listen to the calls as they are handled and discuss each call with the students to make sure they deal with each one appropriately. The LAFLB staff attorneys serve as hotline duty attorneys on a rotating calendar.

Volunteer attorneys also come in to sit as duty attorneys. There are presently two volunteers who each come in twice per month. They are former legal services attorneys. However, the hotline is moving away from looking for volunteers to serve in this capacity. Michael finds it is much better to have LAFLB staff attorneys  in this position mainly because private attorneys tend to have little knowledge of public benefits which limit their value to the hotline service.

The intake screeners, as the callhandlers are referred to in this program, are students from the local law schools as well as from two paralegal schools in the area. The law students get credit or a grant for their hotline work. LAFLB is in the process of working out a formal program with the directors of the paralegal schools to develop a credit system for the students.

The telephone receptionist, who is an experienced legal service staff member, also mans one of the intake screening stations during each hotline shift.

All calls come in on the Legal Aid phone number. A telephone receptionist answers all the calls during non-hotline hours and determines if the call is suitable for the hotline. She tells those clients to call back during a hotline shift.. During hotline hours, the caller may route himself to the hotline queue by making the touch-tone selections. If he fails to do that, he will get the receptionist who will then place him in the queue. The client can choose English or Spanish at this point . The caller listens to a 60 second forced message explaining eligibility requirements and is placed into the Automated Call Distribution queue.

If the caller is still waiting after another 60 seconds, he hears a second message that reiterates the eligibility requirements. After another 90 seconds the caller hears the final message informing him that it will be the last message he will hear before a screener answers the call. The system limits the wait time to 60 minutes. The usual wait time is about 5 minutes. The most anyone has ever waited is 30 minutes.

The average number of calls coming in per day is 20-30 with the range being 10-40. The average number of intakes handled is 20 per day, with two screeners on duty. This is the optimal number for smooth hotline functioning. If less then 15 calls come in during a hotline shift the screeners are waiting for a calls; if the call volume reaches 40, Michael finds a 3rd intake screener to help with coverage.

Once a screener picks up a call, he takes down eligibility and demographic information. He checks for the type of legal problem and runs a conflicts check. If the client meets the income, geographic and alienage requirements, the screener inputs the information into the computer case management system “CLIENTS“. Callers who are over-income are referred to the Long Beach Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service at this point.

If the call concerns Public Benefits, Housing, or Family Law, the screener proceeds. If not, the caller is referred to an appropriate resource at this point. The screener tracks the reasons for rejection such as alienage or out-of-service area.

LAFLB priority area calls then proceed to the next step. The screener takes down the fact pattern by leading the client through questions in the screeners manual that have been developed for each of the three priority areas. The screener then places the caller on hold and consults with the duty attorney. The duty attorney provides advice for the screener to relay to the client or determines that an appointment with a staff attorney is needed. The caller can also be set up to come to one of six workshops run by LAFLB. There are two housing workshops: Eviction Procedures, and Repairs to the Home; two Public Benefits workshops: Social Security/SSI, and How to Represent yourself in a Government Benefit Hearing; and two Family Law workshops: Paternity, and Modification. In some of the workshops the attendees meet individually with paralegals or staff attorneys. Three workshops are held per week and the hotline intake screener gives the caller the time to come in and signs the client up for the workshop.

The intake screener can also send out instructional packets such as “How to File an Answer to an Eviction” in the mail, or  refer the caller to another agency. If the call is complex the duty attorney may take the call himself.

All calls come in on the Legal Aid phone number. A telephone receptionist answers all the calls during non-hotline hours and determines if the call is suitable for the hotline. She tells those clients to call back during a hotline shift.. During hotline hours, the caller may route himself to the hotline queue by making the touch-tone selections. If he fails to do that, he will get the receptionist who will then place him in the queue. The client can choose English or Spanish at this point . The caller listens to a 60 second forced message explaining eligibility requirements and is placed into the Automated Call Distribution queue.

If the caller is still waiting after another 60 seconds, he hears a second message that reiterates the eligibility requirements. After another 90 seconds the caller hears the final message informing him that it will be the last message he will hear before a screener answers the call. The system limits the wait time to 60 minutes. The usual wait time is about 5 minutes. The most anyone has ever waited is 30 minutes.

The average number of calls coming in per day is 20-30 with the range being 10-40. The average number of intakes handled is 20 per day, with two screeners on duty. This is the optimal number for smooth hotline functioning. If less then 15 calls come in during a hotline shift the screeners are waiting for a calls; if the call volume reaches 40, Michael finds a 3rd intake screener to help with coverage.

Once a screener picks up a call, he takes down eligibility and demographic information. He checks for the type of legal problem and runs a conflicts check. If the client meets the income, geographic and alienage requirements, the screener inputs the information into the computer case management system “CLIENTS“. Callers who are over-income are referred to the Long Beach Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service at this point.

If the call concerns Public Benefits, Housing, or Family Law, the screener proceeds. If not, the caller is referred to an appropriate resource at this point. The screener tracks the reasons for rejection such as alienage or out-of-service area.

LAFLB priority area calls then proceed to the next step. The screener takes down the fact pattern by leading the client through questions in the screeners manual that have been developed for each of the three priority areas. The screener then places the caller on hold and consults with the duty attorney. The duty attorney provides advice for the screener to relay to the client or determines that an appointment with a staff attorney is needed. The caller can also be set up to come to one of six workshops run by LAFLB. There are two housing workshops: Eviction Procedures, and Repairs to the Home; two Public Benefits workshops: Social Security/SSI, and How to Represent yourself in a Government Benefit Hearing; and two Family Law workshops: Paternity, and Modification. In some of the workshops the attendees meet individually with paralegals or staff attorneys. Three workshops are held per week and the hotline intake screener gives the caller the time to come in and signs the client up for the workshop.

The intake screener can also send out instructional packets such as “How to File an Answer to an Eviction” in the mail, or  refer the caller to another agency. If the call is complex the duty attorney may take the call himself.

All calls come in on the Legal Aid phone number. A telephone receptionist answers all the calls during non-hotline hours and determines if the call is suitable for the hotline. She tells those clients to call back during a hotline shift.. During hotline hours, the caller may route himself to the hotline queue by making the touch-tone selections. If he fails to do that, he will get the receptionist who will then place him in the queue. The client can choose English or Spanish at this point . The caller listens to a 60 second forced message explaining eligibility requirements and is placed into the Automated Call Distribution queue.

If the caller is still waiting after another 60 seconds, he hears a second message that reiterates the eligibility requirements. After another 90 seconds the caller hears the final message informing him that it will be the last message he will hear before a screener answers the call. The system limits the wait time to 60 minutes. The usual wait time is about 5 minutes. The most anyone has ever waited is 30 minutes.

The average number of calls coming in per day is 20-30 with the range being 10-40. The average number of intakes handled is 20 per day, with two screeners on duty. This is the optimal number for smooth hotline functioning. If less then 15 calls come in during a hotline shift the screeners are waiting for a calls; if the call volume reaches 40, Michael finds a 3rd intake screener to help with coverage.

Once a screener picks up a call, he takes down eligibility and demographic information. He checks for the type of legal problem and runs a conflicts check. If the client meets the income, geographic and alienage requirements, the screener inputs the information into the computer case management system “CLIENTS“. Callers who are over-income are referred to the Long Beach Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service at this point.

If the call concerns Public Benefits, Housing, or Family Law, the screener proceeds. If not, the caller is referred to an appropriate resource at this point. The screener tracks the reasons for rejection such as alienage or out-of-service area.

LAFLB priority area calls then proceed to the next step. The screener takes down the fact pattern by leading the client through questions in the screeners manual that have been developed for each of the three priority areas. The screener then places the caller on hold and consults with the duty attorney. The duty attorney provides advice for the screener to relay to the client or determines that an appointment with a staff attorney is needed. The caller can also be set up to come to one of six workshops run by LAFLB. There are two housing workshops: Eviction Procedures, and Repairs to the Home; two Public Benefits workshops: Social Security/SSI, and How to Represent yourself in a Government Benefit Hearing; and two Family Law workshops: Paternity, and Modification. In some of the workshops the attendees meet individually with paralegals or staff attorneys. Three workshops are held per week and the hotline intake screener gives the caller the time to come in and signs the client up for the workshop.

The intake screener can also send out instructional packets such as “How to File an Answer to an Eviction” in the mail, or  refer the caller to another agency. If the call is complex the duty attorney may take the call himself.

Telephone

Among the first decisions LAFLB had to make in converting to the hotline system was replacing a phone system that was inadequate to support such a service. After contacting several telephone vendors, LAFLB purchased the Norstar Prelude ACD system because the planners wanted Automated Call Distribution as an efficient way to avoid call-backs. They chose the Norstar system because it included report features that the program believed to be necessary at a reasonable cost. For example, the phone system tracks how many calls are received per day, the number of abandoned calls, the average answering time, as well as historical call reporting. There are 15 lines coming in; no 800 lines are needed for the service area. To date,  the hotline has received over 3000 calls with an abandon rate of 20-25%.

Software

The Legal Action Access Line started using Kemp’s CLIENTS in January 1998. After reviewing three other systems, the managers chose this one because it was within their price range, it was based in Access and contained most of the required features for LSC reporting.

The referral agencies have all been loaded into the software. It contains a timekeeping feature LAFLB finds useful. The staff feels the software is easy to navigate and pleasingly colorful. They were able to accomplish the data conversion process from their old database with the help of a local expert.

LAFLB performs a lot of community outreach where flyers about the hotline are passed out. For instance, they hold informational talks about Social Security issues at senior centers and present substantive trainings at several community organizations. All staff attorneys participate in these outreach efforts.

The Hotline Manager would like to see the hotline expand its hours of operation. Ideally he would like paid staff to man the hotline rather than students or volunteers. His advice to program developers is  to talk with other hotline programs and get a plan of action ready before jumping in.

Brief Services Units: A Preliminary Report, with Appendices

Recommendations and Thoughts from the Managers of the Hotline Outcomes Assessment Study Project, by Robert Echols and Julia Gordon
Reprinted with permission from MIE-Journal, Spring 2003

The Future of Legal Services by Wayne Moore