List what a legal-aid applicant stated, before any eligibility decision
Key facts
- Human involvement
- RedLawyer-led
- How AI is used
- List the income, assets, and household facts the applicant stated, and quote the words in which the applicant asked for help. Mark whether those words ask for advice or representation for a named person. Write no eligibility finding, no priority decision, and no advice.
- What the lawyer must review
- You, or the recipient under its policies, decide financial eligibility and priority. The tool does not. A Legal Services Corporation recipient may provide legal assistance supported with LSC funds only to individuals whom the recipient has determined to be financially eligible (45 CFR § 1611.4(a)). Assistance wholly supported by non-LSC funds is outside that sentence if it is otherwise permissible. Under § 1611.4(b), the recipient may determine an applicant financially eligible if the applicant's assets do not exceed the recipient's asset ceiling, or the ceiling has been waived, and either the applicant's income is at or below the recipient's annual income ceiling, or the income exceeds that ceiling and an authorised exception in § 1611.5 applies. Section 1611.5 was not opened. Under § 1611.4(c), the recipient may determine eligibility without an independent income or asset determination where the applicant's income is derived solely from a governmental program for low-income individuals or families, if the governing body has determined that the program's income standards are at or below 125 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and that the program has an assets test. Section 1611.3(a) requires the governing body to adopt financial-eligibility policies and to review them at least once every three years. Section 1611.3(b) requires the policies to specify that only individuals and groups determined eligible under those policies and the LSC regulations may receive legal assistance supported with LSC funds. A case, under 45 CFR § 1620.2(a), is a program service in which an attorney or paralegal provides legal services to one or more specific clients, including advice, brief services, and transactional assistance. A matter, under § 1620.2(b), contributes to the delivery of program services but does not involve direct legal advice to or representation of one or more specific clients. Section 1620.3 requires the governing body to adopt a written statement of priorities that determines the cases and matters that may be undertaken. ABA Formal Opinion 512 requires independent verification of a tool's output.
- Written for / version
- United States versionUS
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Supporting preparation only. Consider narrowly defined preparation support after confirming the tool’s capability and permitted scope. The tool writes nothing into the document. Substantive advice, judgement and any restricted content remain with the responsible human. |
| Lawyer | Perform the substantive analysis and decisions. Independently check any permitted supporting work and approve the exact output for its intended use. |
Checklist
- Trace every relied-on figure to its source, confirm dates and assumptions, and independently recalculate totals or derived amounts.
- Verify the applicable jurisdiction and the version of each relevant law, rule or instrument in force at the material time.
- Confirm the output against the client’s instructions and the complete relevant source material, including omissions or contradictions.
- Resolve exceptions and record the responsible lawyer’s approval of the exact output and intended use.