Lexara Access Saves Hours for Legal Programs
News related to:Lexara · 2 min read
WAUKEE, Iowa, Oct. 21, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Lexara and the Nebraska Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP) have collaborated to develop Lexara Access™, an AI-powered intake and referral tool designed to help civil legal service providers in Nebraska. The tool, which was developed in close collaboration with VLP Director Shannon Seim and her team, is intended for volunteer lawyers, modest-means, and legal aid programs. These programs often struggle with a small staff fielding far more requests for help than they can place with available resources.
The project began with Nebraska State Bar Association Executive Director, Liz Neeley, who recognized how Lexara Engage, the company's intake and conflicts-checking platform for law firms, could be adapted to assist civil legal service providers in Nebraska. The American Bar Endowment and the Lozier Foundation provided grants to VLP, allowing their team to work with Lexara to help build Lexara Access.
The need is significant. According to the Legal Services Corporation's 2022 Justice Gap report, low-income Americans did not receive any or enough legal help for 92% of their civil legal problems, and more than half (53%) doubt they could find a lawyer they could afford. For programs that serve them, intake is often the bottleneck: staff time spent screening eligibility and gathering facts is time not spent connecting people with help. Shannon Seim estimates that the tool can save VLP staff about 40 minutes per intake.
HOW THE TOOL WORKS: Applicants complete a modifiable structured intake that screens for program eligibility, including income and asset guidelines. An AI interviewer then asks follow-up questions based on each applicant's answers. It gives no legal advice. Program staff receive an organized summary of the facts, a timestamped transcript, and a proposed email to send to the applicant with resources. They can also route the intake to a volunteer attorney or refer the applicant to another provider in one click.
The Programs control the tool themselves. Staff can change intake questions and update the resources available to applicants without waiting on a software engineer, so the tool keeps pace as eligibility rules, volunteer availability, and community resources change. The Program decides which resources are most appropriate and beneficial for each person seeking help; the AI's job is to gather the facts that decision depends on.
The Nebraska State Bar Association featured the tool in a statewide CLE program on AI-assisted client intake, provided to other Civil Legal Service organization team members and the Nebraska Supreme Court's Access to Justice Commission.
Lexara offers the tool at no cost to approved volunteer lawyer programs and legal aid organizations through its Access to Justice Initiative. Programs can apply here or on Lexara's website. For law firms, Lexara Engage provides AI-powered client intake and conflicts checking, with a free 30-day trial at lexara.app
Lexara (Lexara Consulting LLC) is an Iowa company that builds AI tools for law practice and advises law firms on AI governance, data governance, AI evaluation, and training. Founder Amy Swaner is an attorney licensed in Iowa and Arizona with over 20 years of legal experience and a Certified AI Governance Professional (AIGP) credential.