Electronic Tool: Legal Services Commission shoots down project to help non-legally qualified advisers offer basic advice

Three years and some £650,000 after it was dreamed up, Project Eagle - an Internet-based expert system developed to help non-legally qualified advisers give clients basic legal advice - looks destined to remain earthbound for good.


The project was the brainchild of the Legal Services Commission (LSC) and two midlands-based Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABs), which joined forces in 2002 to create a 'real-time', desktop system that would allow advisers to use systematised legal information to help clients with their problems.


Most of Project Eagle's funding came from the government's Invest to Save Budget, an initiative run by the Treasury and the Cabinet Office that backs innovative projects in the public sector. Additional finance came from the LSC and Citizens Advice.


A prototype covering employment law was built that could perform an assessment of a client's situation, consider if the employer had broken the law, find relevant court cases, and suggest ways of solving the problem. It was expected that CABs, trade unions, law centres and other not-for-profit advice centres would use the final system.


However, funding could not be found to create a working system.


The LSC, which owns the project's intellectual property, said Project Eagle was worthwhile but has become unnecessary as other developers make similar systems. These include the TIGER (tailored interactive guidance on employment rights) system developed by the Department for Trade & Industry and advice service Acas.


An LSC spokesman said: 'The pilot has highlighted the potential benefits such electronic tools can provide in the future. However, there are other organisations developing similar systems, and we expect some legal aid providers will do the same. We, and the other funding partners, therefore cannot justify investing public money on the project beyond the pilot, but we expect the knowledge we have gained to be shared with others.'


But Geoff White, a Project Eagle advice and development worker at Bedworth CAB, told the Gazette that the project's leaders are still seeking continuation funding.


A report had claimed the system could help advisers deal with enquiries and write the paperwork in less than half the time it would normally take.


Link: www.projecteagle.org.uk