Whether endowing legal aid organizations with cost-saving automation or enabling local citizens to more easily connect with legal advice, legal technology has played a pivotal role in bridging the justice gap for those shut out of traditional legal services.

And increasingly, such technology is empowering attorneys addressing the justice gap by providing quick access to information. Through partnerships with technology companies, the New York State Defenders Association (NYSDA), a not-for-profit organization that supports New York state's public defenders' offices through training, technology and other support, is making this ability a priority.

The NYSDA recently turned to web application developer Contegra Systems and dtSearch, which provides text retrieval tools for such tasks as web searches, to embed advanced indexing and search functions in its document management platform and the case management system they offer to New York state public defenders' offices.