Simplified Web Solution for Legal Services NYC

Legal Services NYC (LS-NYC) is the largest organisation exclusively devoted to providing free civil legal services in the United States with local offices in every borough of New York City. Made up of attorneys and staff, they provide a comprehensive approach to finding solutions to legal problems of clients – single mothers, workers with disabilities, seniors and others.

They provide high quality free legal help on cases involving housing, family, domestic violence, public benefits, income tax, employment, education, consumer rights and economic development which includes assisting the most vulnerable people in the society such as people who are not receiving child support, victims of domestic violence, AIDS and HIV carriers, and elderly citizens facing eviction and unsafe living conditions.

Previously, LS-NYC had a very limited web presence and relied on a different contractor to create and maintain their website, but lack of web design and limited support proved to be a problem. External vendors with experience in providing to non-profit organisations could not meet LS-NYC’s demands in terms of flexibility, delivery timelines and quality; therefore the requirement was to have a web portal that can be managed in-house.

The web portal required was also to fulfil LS-NYC’s need to be more accessible especially to enable in-house staff to maintain and develop content easily as well as manage accounts, and to serve as an important point of presence to communicate its mission and role to the public; especially for clients, research students, potential recruits, funders and sponsors.

LS-NYC opted for EPiX Portal solution - a unified package for information sharing that integrates easily with existing legacy applications. It has content management, resource management and collaboration tools, and can be extensively personalised to enable LS-NYC to tailor the look and feel of their site to suit their corporate image.

The user-friendly interface allows users with basic computing skills to create their internet, intranet and extranet sites with little assistance. It is totally scalable to accommodate growing numbers of users and new functionality.

Information on the organisation is now more accessible to the public. The web portal also serves as a recruiting tool for potential employees, and donors and sponsors now have something tangible to peruse. LS-NYC now have full control over their web portal and existing staffs are able manage the content on the website anytime, anywhere. EPiX Portal solution offers LS-NYC easy and quick editing functions and future expansion into creating an intranet and extranet sites.