Lift Wisconsin

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LIFT Wisconsin (an acronym for Legal Interventions For Transforming Wisconsin) is a nonprofit legal services organization based in Madison, Wisconsin.. It is a program of the Economic Justice Institute at the University of Wisconsin Law School. LIFT Wisconsin works to remove civil legal barriers that prevent low-income residents from achieving economic stability. The organization operates free in-person clinics, community education, and its flagship digital platform, the Legal Tune Up tool

The Legal Tune Up Tool is an example of civil legal aid. For every $1 invested in legal aid, there is an $8.40 return in economic opportunity for clients.^[1]

History

LIFT Wisconsin was originally established in 2019 as LIFT Dane, and only served residents of Dane County, Wisconsin. The effort was spearheaded by Sarah Davis, a clinical professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, alongside colleagues at the Economic Justice Institute and community organizations including Legal Action of Wisconsin and the Employment and Training Association (EATA).^[2]

In 2016, the initiative won first place in the national Schmidt Futures Alliance for the American Dream competition, a national contest for university-community partnerships funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt. Following early success in Dane County, the program expanded its geographic scope and was renamed LIFT Wisconsin to reflect its statewide mission.

Driver's license reinstatement

147,494 Wisconsin residents had their driver's license revoked or suspended for failure to pay a forfeiture .^[4] LIFT operates in-person driver's license reinstatement clinics in English and Spanish and provides online guidance through the Legal Tune Up tool to help affected residents determine what they owe and navigate the reinstatement process without hiring an attorney.

Criminal and eviction record removal

LIFT Wisconsin assists residents in identifying and removing eligible criminal and eviction records from the Wisconsin Circuit Courts Consolidated Court Automation Programs online public records database. In Wisconsin, certain eviction records are required to be automatically removed after two years, but this process does not always occur automatically; the organization's Legal Tune Up Tool helps users identify such records and initiate removal.^[5]

Child support order modification

The organization's child support work focuses on the modification of existing orders rather than debt collection. Using Wisconsin's Child Support Online System (CSOS), LIFT's tools analyze a user's current order, calculate what the child support guidelines would indicate, and walk the user through filing a motion to modify their order.^[6]

End debt harassment

Approximately 20 percent of Wisconsinites carry consumer debt in collections, and 11 percent carry medical debt in collections. LIFT Wisconsin notes that, while creditors in small claims court are nearly always represented by attorneys, fewer than 10 percent of alleged debtors have legal representation — contributing to a situation in which over 61 percent of Wisconsin small claims debt cases result in default judgments, a figure that more than doubled since 2021. The organization offers free guidance to help individuals respond to debt claims and navigate small claims court proceedings.

[Referrals]

• Health advocacy

The Legal Tune Up tool

The Legal Tune Up (also rendered LegalTuneUp) is a free, web-based legal self-help platform developed by LIFT Wisconsin and designed and built by Theory and Principle, a legal technology product design firm based in Portland, Maine.^[9] It allows Wisconsin residents to identify and address common civil legal problems from a smartphone or computer, without the need for an attorney. The platform aggregates data from multiple Wisconsin state databases, including CCAP (circuit court records), the Department of Transportation's reinstatement database, and the Wisconsin Child Support Online System, to surface legal issues that may affect a user's background check, finances, or mobility.

Features and functionality

The Legal Tune Up tool is organized into several distinct modules, each addressing a different category of civil legal issue:

• Criminal record removal: Searches CCAP to identify criminal records eligible for removal and provides auto-filled court forms for the appropriate city, municipality, or county.
• Eviction record removal: Identifies eviction records that should have been removed from CCAP after two years and guides users through the removal process.
• Driver's license reinstatement : Searches the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's database to determine the specific reason for a license suspension or revocation and outlines steps for reinstatement. "Tune Up Tips" provide additional guidance for suspensions related to demerit points or OWI (operating while intoxicated) offenses.
• Child support modification: Analyzes a user's current child support order against Wisconsin guidelines and guides users through filing a motion to modify the order.
• Consumer debt (small claims): Searches CCAP for pending small claims cases and guides users through responding to or contesting debt claims.
• Health advocacy referral: Provides a referral form to LIFT's partner organization, the Center for Patient Partnerships, for health advocacy services including insurance negotiation and denial appeals.
• Employment and training referral: Connects users with free employment and training assistance through the Employment and Training Association of South Central Wisconsin.

The platform auto-fills legal forms for court filings and provides step-by-step guidance through each process.

Impact and usage

n 2023 alone, over 1,000 people used legaltuneup.org to run background checks on themselves, and LIFT delivered 88 training sessions to more than 1,140 participants — including social workers, librarians, legal aid staff, and community organization employees — to help them assist clients in using the tool.^[10]

The tool has helped more than 300 users modify child support orders and assisted over 200 individuals in identifying eviction or criminal records eligible for clearing.^[10]In 2023, LIFT launched a billboard advertising campaign across several Wisconsin counties promoting the tool, generating over 61 million impressions with an estimated campaign value of $421,910.^[10]

Recognition and awards

Since 2022, over nearly 15,000 individuals have created accounts on the Legal Tune Up tool.platform, with approximately 1,200 new users registering each month.

The Legal Tune Up tool has received recognition from several legal and civic organizations:

• The State Bar of Wisconsin honored LIFT Wisconsin with its Legal Innovator's Award for the legaltuneup.org application.
• In 2023 LIFT Wisconsin was named a finalist in the College of Law Practice Management's national InnovAction Awards, which recognize outstanding innovation in the delivery of legal services.
• The initiative's origins were recognized when it won first place in the Schmidt Futures Alliance for the American Dream competition in 2019.

See also

• Legal aid in the United States
• Access to justice
• Civil Gideon
• University of Wisconsin Law School
• Expungement in the United States

External links

• www.example.com

This article "Lift Wisconsin" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Lift Wisconsin. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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