Andrea Demott

During my fellowship, I was deeply involved in developing an online document assembly tool hosted on Law Help Interactive. This initiative employed A2J Author software for guided interviews and utilizes Hot Docs templates for document generation. My primary project focused on automating a fee waiver request form to assist low-income self-represented litigants with court fees, while my supervisor concurrently worked on securing modifications to the form through collaboration with the Virginia judiciary. Although specific usage statistics are pending, we anticipate broad client adoption upon its public release. Additionally, I worked to enhance another document assembly tool for an uncontested divorce form that has been prominently featured on the Virginia Legal Aid website, amassing thousands of "hits" over the years. This update aimed to improve its compatibility with contemporary computer systems. One of the most rewarding aspects of my fellowship was the privilege of working alongside the dedicated staff attorneys at VPLC on a daily basis. Their unwavering commitment to effecting positive change in the lives of Virginia citizens, one step at a time, was profoundly inspiring and reaffirmed my initial motivation to pursue a career in public interest law.