Ministry of Law, Singapore to use PAVO™ for Legal Aid Bureau Application

August 5, 2003 – The Singapore Ministry of Law awarded novaCITYNETS a contract to replace one of their current legacy systems with a fully integrated web-based solution known as Legal Aid Management Portal (LAMP).

Back in 1958, the Singapore Ministry of Law setup a Legal Aid Bureau (LAB), in order to provide a means of equal access to justice for individuals with limited financial means. The services provided to bona fide cases can be categorized into 3 areas, namely:

  • Legal Assistance – drafting of various legal documents including wills, deeds of separation, deed of severance of cohabitation and deed polls
  • Legal Advice – provision of advice on questions about Singapore laws and procedures,
  • Legal Aid – legal representation in court proceedings for a wide range of civil matters – divorce, adoptions, claims for maintenance, custody of children, wrongful dismissals, tenancy disputes, monetary claims, motor and industrial accident claims and estate/trust matters.

Processing of application for legal aid and subsequent service rendering in LAB are by and large manual with dependency on paper forms. Processing each of these involves sharing of paper documents by different individuals. As expected, physical file movements result in longer turnaround time and greater reliance on clerical staff. With case folders, it also means that LAB officers are unable to access information simultaneously.

Recognizing these limitations and the need to improve client service, MinLaw selected Nova to implement a Legal Aid Management Portal based on PAVO™, Nova’s own collaborative framework product.

PAVO™ was designed to improve the office productivity by managing electronic documents and supports business processes/collaborations within and between departments. PAVO’s unique Case Management module ensures that users are always a point-and-click away from an organized and holistic view of all information related to a single case.

When completed, LAMP will support the access of electronic case folders and processing for up to 50 users over an Intranet. The users comprise of legal officers, interpreters, legal executives, customer service officers, typists, stenographers and other clerical staff, each group with pre-defined access rights. With this fully automated system, the bureau will find case tracking a breeze.

1 PAVO™, is a secure, scaleable and robust e-Government collaborative platform that enables government agencies and private sector to collaborate and carry out any forms of transaction over the Internet. Using PAVO’s foundation Components and e-Business Components, business applications and solutions can be quickly and easily turnaround. With over 1000+ users worldwide, it is also the platform integrating our other products – OCTANS™ & FORNAX™.

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