Making the justice system

CatalystZone

CatalystZone is a consulting partner to courts, communities, law firms, nonprofits, law schools, government, foundations and others. We create user-centered justice services using design thinking and process improvement to:

Develop Strategy

Build Capacity

Lead Change

Shift Culture

Who We Are

Consulting partner to courts, law firms, legal aid, law schools and foundations. Employing design thinking and process improvement to empower communities, increase agility, accelerate adoption and drive systems change.

Our Focus

Making the justice system accessible, efficient and easy to use for those who need it most.

Our Action

Designing and facilitating engagements that solve problems, create value and transform relationships.

Our Method

Using design thinking and process improvement methods to create user-centered justice services.

three people bringing hands together to represent CatalystZone consulting teamwork
Person holding a hand drawn info graphic that says "Innovation"
Legal Aid Consulting Firm CatalystZone website banner 4 people holding comment signs
Legal Aid Consulting Firm CatalystZone website banner 4 people holding comment signs

Who We Are

Consulting partner to courts, law firms, legal aid, law schools and foundations. Employing design thinking and process improvement to empower communities, increase agility, accelerate adoption and drive systems change.

Our Focus

Making the justice system accessible, efficient and easy to use for those who need it most.

Our Action

Designing and facilitating engagements that solve problems, create value and transform relationships.

Our Method

Using design thinking and process improvement methods to create user-centered justice services.

Develop Strategy

increase creativity & sustainability

More
  • Design targeted strategy process
  • Facilitate strategy engagement
  • Serve as strategic advisor
  • Utilize adaptive strategy methods

Build Capacity

for problem solving, innovation & impact
More
  • Design thinking
  • Design sprints
  • Process improvement
  • Process mapping

Lead Change

with clients, communities & organizations

More
  • Leadership succession
  • Alliances, partnerships & networks
  • Participatory justice & public sector design
  • Interim or transition leadership executive
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Shift Culture

to user-centered, collaborative & accountable

More
  • Multi-disciplinary collaborations
  • Cross-functional team building
  • Team & leadership evaluation processes
  • Meaningful client, community, board, staff & stakeholder feedback loops

Additional Capacities

Teams tailored to your needs

Through its extensive network of management, systems, advocacy operations, technology and other experts, CatalystZone can create and lead a multi-disciplinary team to work for you.

Turnkey delivery for your convenience

Smaller organizations don’t have the resources, and busy professionals rarely have the time, to provide the administrative, operational and/or logistical support larger and lengthier projects may require. Find out how CatalystZone can support you.

Melissa A. Moss

Melissa A. Moss

Founder and CEO

25 years in civil justice leadership.

Melissa A. Moss

In her previous role as Deputy Director for Strategic Initiatives at The Florida Bar Foundation, Melissa initiated three major projects that had a profound impact on her own approach to increasing access to justice:

  • The Escambia Project – which illustrated the transformative power of community-driven legal design and
  • The Toyota Partnership – How developing a continuous improvement mindset helped several legal aid programs address growing demand and shrinking resources.

Melissa formed CatalystZone to integrate design thinking and process improvement with adaptive strategy—to engage people in solving legal problems and changing the justice system. She is particularly committed to co-design, engaging community stakeholders as partners throughout the legal design process.

Melissa has served as Executive Director for two LSC-funded legal aid programs (North Carolina and Alabama), as program counsel and national rural delivery specialist for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) and has participated on peer review teams in several states including Massachusetts, Ohio and Florida.

Her undergraduate degree is from Butler University and her JD from Georgia State College of Law. She is currently working on her certificate in Legal Innovation and Technology from Suffolk Law.

Featured Projects and Media

Projects

Neighbors Designing Justice Project

DC Area Contract Positions available.

Application deadline Friday March 6, 2020
Send cover letter and resume to: melissa@catalystzone.com.

Community Building Engagement Leader Description

Community Lawyering Leader Description

Community Logistics_Volunteer Coordinator

The Escambia Project:

Articles:
Community Design for New Modes of Legal Service: The Escambia Project by M. Hagan

One Year of Legal Community Design in The Escambia Project by M. Hagan

Video Series:
Framing the Challenge – Melissa Moss, CatalystZone (2:19)

Planning & Co-Design Facilitation – Margaret Hagan, LegalDesignLab (3:41)

Wrap Around Services Partner – Connie Bookman, Pathways for Change (3:13)

Overview and Community Launch – Margaret Hagan, Legal Design Lab (3:19)

Community Building & Engagement – Andrea Costello, Florida Institutional Legal Services (4:23)

The 3 Ideas: An Overview – Leslie Powell Boudreaux, Legal Services of N. FL. (2:52)

Smart Intake – Leslie Powell Boudreaux, Legal Services of N. FL. (1:19)

One Stop Life Shop – Leslie Powell Boudreaux, Legal Services of N. FL. (1:58)

Justice on the Block – Leslie Powell Boudreaux, Legal Services of N. FL. (3:25)

Community Lawyering – Alana Greer, Community Justice Project (7:02)

How Escambia Made a Difference – Margaret Hagan, LegalDesignLab and Leslie Powell Boudreaux, Legal Services of N. FL. (6:28)

Escambia Storyboards

Presentations

Introduction to Business Process Improvement CLE State Bar of Michigan & MSULaw Legal RnD

Lean Lawyering: An Introduction to Process Improvement (Student Perspective) Blog Post by Justin Evans, March, 2018

Access to Justice Innovation to Assist Pro Se Litigants (co-presenter & design sprint)
National Association of Administrative Law Judges, 2018 Annual Meeting

PowerPoint

Presentation Resource Guide Handout

Publications

Can Technology Bridge the Justice Gap? By Melissa Moss, The Florida Bar Journal, January 2016

Article

LawHelpMN Guide: Trusted Intermediaries as Users & Facilitators Report By Melissa Moss, March 2019

Human-centered design research & feedback from public librarians, community service providers & faith-based ministries. Report also provides information & resources for those who might be considering a similar project.

Executive Summary
Full Report
Appendices

“Low-income Americans rarely seek professional help for the legal problems they most commonly experience… this pattern suggests we need to completely re-think our outreach strategies— to radically re-think how we connect people to services.”

Rebecca Sandefur, American Bar Foundation Fellow, Access to Justice Research
2018 MacArthur Fellow

“Your empathy is more important than your passion if you’re trying to build a solution to someone else’s problem.”

Caitlin Moon, Director of Innovation Design, Program in Law and Innovation
Vanderbilt Law School

“[m]any people, especially those who have low incomes or who are vulnerable, do not receive help with their legal problems or do not find their way to the legal service providers they need without intervention from a trusted intermediary in a community organization.”

Trusted Help: The Role of Community Workers as Trusted Intermediaries Who Help People With Legal Problems.
Law Foundation of Ontario

“What would legal help look like if it were redesigned from the ground-up? What if it were woven throughout the community for people to find and use on their own terms? What if it were created for people to find and use in the easiest, most supportive ways? And what if we didn’t even frame it as ‘legal’—but just as one more part of a wider set of services?”

Margaret Hagan, Director, Legal Design Lab,
Stanford Law School

“When we listen to those communities to hear what solutions the community wants to see implemented, it makes us more effective and efficient.”

Alana Greer, Co-Founder, Community Justice Project

Let’s Connect

CatalystZone

Melissa A. Moss

PHONE

(317) 750-6075