Lisa Colpoys and Mark Chandler

Pioneers and Pathfinders

Today’s guests, Lisa Colpoys and Mark Chandler, help lead the Filing Fairness Project at the Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School. This project is an ambitious, multijurisdictional effort to modernize court filing systems, widen access to courts, and improve the administration of justice by leveraging readily available technology already used in other sectors. Mark was chief legal officer at Cisco for 20 years, leading it to become one of the most innovative legal departments in the world. After leaving the company, he teamed initially with Professor David Freeman Engstrom and Stanford Legal Design Lab leader Margaret Darin Hagan to tackle the gap between the sophisticated tools available in the corporate world and those used by legal aid organizations and self-represented litigants as they navigate the court system. Lisa, who had already been an experienced leader in legal aid for over two decades, joined the leadership team last spring. Lisa previously led Illinois Legal Aid Online, and also worked at the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts and as a consultant to the Michigan Supreme Court Justice For All Project. Today, Lisa and Mark discuss what led them to Stanford, the goals of the Filing Fairness Project, the biggest challenge the project has faced so far, and the need for additional court funding.