Inventory of Reforms
Clicklaw
Year:
2009
Description:
Website guide to public legal education and information resources and legal services in BC
Status:
Active
Jurisdiction:
British Columbia
Body Responsible:
Over twenty partner organizations with coordination by Courthouse Libraries BC and funding from the BC Law Foundation
Timeline:
April 2009: Clicklaw website launched
December 2009: HelpMap portion of the site goes on-line
Publications:
Clicklaw
Development:
Clicklaw is a community-driven project sponsored by the Public Legal Education and Information Working Group and funded by the Law Foundation of BC. The PLEI Working Group is an informal body of seven organizations in BC that provide or support public legal education and information. An additional 17 organizations are formally participating in Clicklaw, linking the content on their websites together through Clicklaw. Courthouse Libraries BC is leading the development of Clicklaw.
The development of the project included extensive user testing and revision to develop an interface that could be easily accessed by a diverse public. A public-focused PLEI Taxonomy was developed to classify materials in plain language terms.(Civil Legal Needs at 36).
The PLEI Network undertook a mapping of legal services which has been incorporated into the site as a “HelpMap”.
Purpose:
People are increasingly turning online to access information, and there is a rapidly growing body of legal information on the Internet. But the experience for a member of the public trying to find legal information or legal help online is often challenging:
- the accuracy and reliability of information on the Internet varies widely
- the information is spread across many websites, each with their own structure, search & so on
- the public don’t generally have a legal vocabulary to effectively search with
By offering a unified point of entry online into legal information, education and help for British Columbians, Clicklaw will represent a trustworthy gateway to quality legal information and services
Description of Reforms:
The Clicklaw site includes public legal information and education resources contributed directly to the site by 24 contributor organizations. Various ways of accessing these resources are provided:
- The “Solve Problems” contains resources designed to inform people of their rights and how to resolve specific problems. Guides for common questions are included as results for some searches.
- The “Learn and Teach” section includes education resources on the law and legal system.
- The “Reform and Research” section includes law reform resources.
HelpMap provides a searchable map of legal services in the province.
Revision History:
This summary was last reviewed in Aug 12, 2012