Re: Legal issues and services extension

Hi Timothy,

Yes, perhaps it should be civics, rather than legal. My only concern is that some legal issues aren’t about the government-to-citizen relationship (like civics would imply), but about family matters (divorce, child custody, child support, domestic violence — these are some of the most common-searched legal help topics), corporate matters, contracts, property, etc.

I’ve been working with courts and legal clinics to create an initial classification of the types of information that need to be delivered to end-users, as they search for help.

The information classes are in 4 main categories:

1. Legal conditions (the issues that the legal system can help you solve, like needs for a name change, clearing record, starting a company, getting a divorce, protection against an abuser, response to eviction, etc. — taking how people describe their problems and framing it into legal terms)
2. Service providers (the govt., private, non-profit, and online/DIY services that can help a person deal with this condition, and where they’re located, what their availability is, and what eligibility factors they require)
3. Legal process (the tasks, forms, deadlines, fees, and other procedural information to know to deal with the condition)
4. Legal rules/codes (the official, jurisdiction-specific statements from the govt. about what is allowed, what rights people have, what duties they have, etc.)

The ideal is that search engines can serve jurisdiction-correct, official-sourced information about what a person’s problem is in legal terms, what the local law says about it, what steps they can take to fix it, and who they can reach out to for help.

The legal rules/codes schema may be covered by the wiki categories, and the service providers may be covered by existing schema.org.

Let me know what you think! Best, Margaret

On November 13, 2016 at 9:16:24 AM, Timothy Holborn (timothy.holborn@gmail.com) wrote:

Hi Margaret,

I have a feeling this may be better refined as civics.schema.org  

A few links: 
https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/1337 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Civics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Law
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Rights
However i also understand some forms of lawPractice are far less 'civics' related than others.  The use-cases you've illustrated are well within the civics domain, i'd also add homelessness and amenities (which in-turn have local laws attributed, for instance),

and am otherwise interested to hear your thoughts.

It is very early morning here.  can respond with more info later today. 

On Mon, 14 Nov 2016 at 03:20 Margaret Hagan <mdhagan@stanford.edu> wrote:
Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knew of an extension for legal issues, rules, and/or services.

I work at Stanford Law & d.school, and I’ve got support to build out an extension for information about common legal help conditions, like evictions, domestic violence protection, and clearing your criminal record. The goal is to offer reliable information akin to the medical/health extension.

I wanted to check if there’s anyone else who has been working on a similar law extension, so I’m not duplicating efforts.

Thanks! Best, Margaret