Texas Legal Services Center

Empowering Access to Justice: How Live Oak IT Transformed Texas Legal Services Center

Thousands of people in the state of TX depend on a legal non-profit to help them seek justice, guidance, and peace of mind. The organization’s mission is to help as many people as possible, as reliably as possible, despite their ability to pay. 

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic proved that they were limited by outdated technology and unresponsive IT providers. Learn how a modernized technology stack and a reliable IT partner supported them, enabling them to offer more support than ever before. 

The Client

Texas Legal Services Center is a non-profit that offers essential legal services to people below the poverty line in Texas. The center’s goal is to make the law clear and ensure justice is available for all residents, regardless of their financial status. 

Their offerings include chat services, litigation, and more. Through advanced technology, they are currently broadening their services to support more citizens in meeting online court dates. Further, they maintain a robust website offering free and reliable information to all Texans, including guided forms, helpful articles, and other resources. 

The Challenge

Texas Legal Services Center had been working with another managed services provider but needed more robust support heading into the Covid pandemic. As the organization worked quickly to become remote, leadership realized they did not have enough of the proper equipment to enable WFH for necessary staff. To make matters worse, the original managed services partner was slow to respond and not-at-all proactive. 

Dooley Navarro, Texas Legal’s Operations Director, shared that she was spending a significant amount of time shopping for hardware, getting remote workers set up, and trouble-shooting new systems. She even recalls spending hours scouring deals on laptops on black Friday. From lost equipment to convoluted technology platforms and complex billing, the client found themselves spending far too much of their day managing this transition – time they could have spent assisting clients with important legal work during a difficult time in the country. 

After their internal IT professional went through an extensive bidding process, Texas Legal Services found Live Oak IT Partners. This led them on a journey of optimization and improvement, which continues to offer ever-increasing positive outcomes. 

The Work

One of the first challenges Live Oak tackled was accommodating new work arrangements. Dooley had previously obtained all of the necessary laptops herself, which meant employees were working on a variety of hardware on a variety of platforms. Setting up a cohesive, modern system was crucial to effective WFH as well as efficient operations. 

Consolidating products and services helped to streamline processes, ramp up adoption, and add uniform warranties to all of the new investments. This immediately freed up time for Dooley and her team, as she had previously spent hours on the phone each week dealing with service issues, billing questions, etc. Now they make just one call to Live Oak for any issues, and then go about their day. 

Next, Live Oak helped Texas Legal Services to migrate to the cloud. Previously, legacy employees were using a convoluted system of paperwork and personal devices. Often, the people who needed access to something were not able to get it. Live Oak helped to move necessary documents to the cloud, where they are backed-up and easily accessible for key stakeholders. The client shares that one of the biggest benefits of this move is that documents are consolidated and everyone can work on the latest version. 

“Before, there were paper copies everywhere, and we weren’t sure who had the latest version of which item. Now, we know where the latest (and correct) documents are stored, and we can control who has access to them. This has saved so much time for everyone.” 

The Results

According to Dooley, Texas Legal Services did not need to rehire the original technology FTE when they left. Rather, they’re able to rely on Live Oak for real-time responses and support on any technology issues. Live Oak currently manages the acquisition and adoption of any new hardware or system, so everything is consolidated and cohesive.

While some employees were originally hesitant to move to a new system, they’ve come around. “It took a while for staff to get used to using the ticketing system, but we persisted and now everyone is grateful. Live Oak was so responsive, kind, and generous with their time, that our team quickly saw how much the new process was helping the organization,” shares Dooley. 

In addition to saving the overhead of an FTE employee, the non-profit’s team says that there are immense savings of their time. They now have a greater degree of organization which was missing before. Those procedural changes, in addition to the uniform technology and cloud document storage, have saved countless hours for multiple employees. 

Finally, Dooley shares that Live Oak also helped them navigate some compliance issues. “At one time, we found out we didn’t have the necessary compliance measures that we needed. Live Oak staff put in a lot of effort to not only make sure we were compliant, but that we understood it all. They never talk down to us, but spend as much time as we need to make sure everyone is comfortable.” 

The Future

Dooley tells us that Live Oak is continuing their excellent managed services, while also helping with an exciting new project. 

Texas Legal Services is in the process of setting up self-service kiosks in certain public locations, so that more people can access their support where they need it. Users will be able to access hardware like computers and printers, as well as the important legal resources that can be found online, to work through legal issues without having to travel. They’ll even set up some private areas where people can meet with an attorney or work on confidential documents. 

Live Oak is helping to architect that program, including researching and obtaining computers, setting up systems, purchasing necessary components, etc. According to Dooley, this will allow them to help even more people in meaningful ways. “We hope to continue to grow this essential program, and Live Oak will be our partner every step of the way.”