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Sparer Symposium speakers discuss technology and access to legal resources

November 17, 2014

On November 14, Mark O’Brien spoke on the value of technology to at-risk communities. O’ Brien was keynote speaker for the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s 34th Annual Edward V. Sparer Symposium, titled “Law 2.0: Progress and Challenges for Justice in the Digital Age.”

By Sarah Hampton C’17

On November 14, Mark O’Brien spoke on the value of technology to at-risk communities. O’ Brien was keynote speaker for the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s 34th Annual Edward V. Sparer Symposium, titled “Law 2.0: Progress and Challenges for Justice in the Digital Age.”

O’Brien is the co-founder and Executive Director of Pro Bono Net, a national nonprofit that works to give the poor higher accessibility to justice.

“I’m not a technologist,” O’Brien noted, but he added that he is interested in legal empowerment. He described himself as someone whose career is rooted in improving the lives of everyday people.

The excitement of his work, he said, is having the opportunity to provide tools to help people. He tries to find appropriate technology to help solve problems of accessibility because in the end, technology “has a much greater impact than downloads and hits.”  

Throughout the Sparer Symposium, the panelists discussed the mixed blessing of technological innovation for the poor. Technology has improved communication, but also creates further marginalization when the poor are unable to access technological resources.

O’Brien said that one of the greatest barriers to poor people is not just a lack of access and funding, but “a lack of understanding that legal help is what they need.”

The solution to tech-based legal services can often be very easy, he noted. Sometimes the best thing is to simply direct people to help, because often, they don’t know what they’re looking for. 

View the full social media stream from the day on Storify.

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