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Project Management

B515 is taught by B. Henderson, V. Quintanilla

This course will introduce the theory and practice of project management and human-centered civil justice design and will apply these principles to five access-to-justice proposals that will be refined and implemented by student teams. A project is defined as a multi-task/multi-skill job that must be completed according to fixed constraints, such as time, cost, scope and minimum performance standards. Human-centered civil justice design reflects best practices when solving problems that emerge from the human and social dynamics of dispute system design layered within an interconnected civil justice system. The approach draws on psychological and behavioral science on how members of the public experience the justice system, how the public makes meaning around their legal needs, and the best scientific evidence available on designing systems and interventions. The projects will, when fruitful, involve interdisciplinary collaborations with students, faculty, or staff in other departments. This will be a team-based class that encompasses the systematic planning, scheduling, executing, controlling and implementation of projects.

In Fall 2017 - Spring 2018 academic year, the five projects in development are:

1. Creating an online form bank for unrepresented litigants in family law cases, integrating them with easy-to-use software, and making instructional videos for their use;

2. Collaborating with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana s pro bono office to create a web-based software platform for counsel recruited to represent indigent prisoners with meritorious medical malpractice claims;

3. Working with IU s Title IX office to design a restorative justice program for resolving campus sexual assaults;

4. Partnering with the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic to extend its Project GRACE expungement help desk to Bloomington; and

5. Launching a new student organization, Street Law, that will advise and counsel Bloomington residents on debt collection and debt management, and provide problem-based outreach for low-income high school students in southern/central Indiana.

The course is a writing course whereby students will draft, and the instructor will provide feedback upon, multiple iterations of a substantial writing project and/or series of projects. Instructor approval is required to enroll in the course. In allocating the space available, priority will be given to students who have previously contributed to these access-to-justice proposals.