Best practice guidelines for community legal information VLAF - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Best practice guidelines for community legal information

VLAF Online Legal Information Guidelines

Joh Kirby Executive Director Victoria Law Foundation

About the Victoria Law Foundation

• State statutory body
• Focus on Victorians
• Advocacy for plain language and communication skills for lawyers
• Helping them understand the law
• Grants
• Education
• And…

…information

What I will cover

• VLAF online legal information guidelines
• How they came about
• Take you through the guidelines
• Questions?

To start a question

Ever tried to find the answer to a legal question online?

• Could you find what you wanted?
• If you did, could you understand it?
• Was it current? Could you tell?
• Did it relate to your jurisdiction?
• Did it tell you where to get more help?
• Or did it make you want to…

VLAF Online Legal Information Guidelines

• Developed to address these issues
• Ultimately improve the quality of legal information available to the

public online

• Reduce duplication
• Improve coordination

What does this have to do with plain language?

Effective communication

• Plain language fundamentals
• Online you need more
• The whole picture

Their genesis

• New government perceived duplication in community legal information
• In December 2012 held a forum on issue (government, not-for-profits

attended)

• Some duplication, some necessary
• Overall poor quality
• Asks VLAF to consider issues and come back to them

Who is this VLAF?

• Victorian Legal Assistance Forum
• Made up of lead Victorian legal bodies
• Share ideas
• Coordinate
• Allows for sector wide consideration of ideas

VLAF’s approach

• VLAF establishes working group
• Draws together experts in
• Online communication
• Communication
• Representatives of key legal bodies

Objectives

• Establishing best practice guidelines that set out standards for the

development and distribution of resources that reduce duplication and improve efficiency.

• Reference tools
• Involve grant makers
• Newsletter
• Training

The Guidelines

Guideline 1

Conduct research before undertaking a new project

Conduct research before undertaking a new project

Guideline 1

• Do other similar resources exist?
• Is there a real need for the project?
• CLEAR Database and

Everyday-law.org.au, grant bodies

Guideline 2

Online legal information should be audience-focused

Online legal information should be audience- focused

Guideline 2

• Who is your audience?
• Tailor your project to your audience’s knowledge and skills
• Consult with your identified audience
• Don’t make assumptions
• Use reference groups and evaluation

Online legal information should be audience- focused

Guideline 2

• ‘Lead’ audience through information – simple to complex
• Use plain language
• Consider literacy levels
• Provide contextual information

Guideline 3

Websites and other digital formats must meet appropriate usability and accessibility guidelines

Usability and accessibility guidelines

Guideline 3

• Easy to use for all users - well designed, visually appealing
• Accessible to users with a wide range of disabilities (WCAG 2.0, Level

AA standards)

• Evaluate and test at all stages to check that it meets your audience’s

needs

Usability and accessibility guidelines

Guideline 3

• Clear easy-to-use

navigation -

Usability and accessibility guidelines

Guideline 3

• Clear easy-to-use

navigation - clear menus, prominent search tools

Usability and accessibility guidelines

Guideline 3

• Clear easy-to-use

navigation, clear menus, prominent search tools

• Work on multiple browsers

Usability and accessibility guidelines

Guideline 3

• Clear easy-to-use

navigation, clear menus, prominent search tools

• Work on multiple browsers
• Designed to work on multiple formats

Usability and accessibility guidelines

Guideline 3

• Clear easy-to-use

navigation, clear menus, prominent search tools

• Work on multiple browsers
• Designed to work on multiple formats
• HTML over PDFs

Guideline 4

Ensure the information is accurate

Ensure the information is accurate

Guideline 4

• Check information is correct
• Legal – use an appropriately qualified lawyer
• Non-legal – don’t make assumptions
• Use reference groups made up of relevant

experts to assist

Guideline 5

The currency of the information should be clearly noted

The currency of the information should be clearly noted

Guideline 5

• Include the date that the material is legally accurate to

Guideline 6

Maintain material

Maintain your material

Guideline 6

• Review your content at least every 12 months
• Let your audience know how often it is reviewed
• Tell your audience the last date it was reviewed

Maintain your material

Guideline 6

• Review your content at least every 12 months
• Let your audience know how often it is reviewed
• Tell your audience the last date it was reviewed
• Review the effectiveness of your site
• Google analytics
• Ask your users

Guideline 7

The jurisdiction of the legal information should be clear

The jurisdiction of the legal information should be clear

Guideline 7

• Tell your audience where the material relates to

Guideline 8

Link to other relevant resources

Link to other relevant resources

Guideline 8

• Provide access to material produced by other organisations
• Reduces duplication
• Improves user experience
• If linking to primary information explain its purpose

Guideline 9

Provide access to a legal glossary

Link to a legal glossary

Guideline 9

• Explains unfamiliar words
• Victoria Law Foundation has developed a plain language glossary that

can be used by other organisations

Guideline 10

Use standard terms where possible

Use standard terms where possible

Guideline 10

• Car/automobile (taxonomy)
• Builds on knowledge
• Gives your reader the best chance of understanding what they are

reading

Guideline 11

Websites that contain community legal information should include information on how to obtain further advice and support

How to obtain further advice and support

Guideline 11

• Stop the ‘referral roundabout’
• Not just legal advice
• Need to include information on next steps
• Range of services
• Contact details (but check they are accurate)

Guideline 12

Raise awareness of new online legal information resources

Raise awareness of new online legal information resources

Guideline 12

• Let people know what you have produced
• Share your experience
• Promote your publication to your audience
• Host videos of YouTube (not just your website)
• Search engine optimization (SEO) – meta data
• Work cooperatively

In summary

In summary

• Effective communication online must consider the whole picture
• Small steps can make a big difference to your users
• Tell people about the guidelines
• Are you meeting the guidelines?

For more information www.victorialawfoundation.org.au/betterinformation

• More information on guidelines
• Resources for guidelines
• Plain language database (Clarity Journal articles)

Questions?

For more information visit: www.victorialawfoundation.org.au/betterinformation

Joh Kirby Executive Director Victoria Law Foundation jkirby@victorialawfoundation.org.au

For more information visit: www.victorialawfoundation.org.au/betterinformation