The Berkeley Legal Aid designed a system to process Dissolutions (California Divorces) in a systematic manner. My job at Santa Cruz was to initiate, implement and develope the system in our office. Within the first year, in the small retirement/hip coummunity of Santa Cruz, our office processed between 35 and 50 per cent of the county's Dissolutions.
As we had standardized and optimized this information mangement and document production system to it's peak, I realized that a small computer could be used to do all the work of so many volunteers pounding on typewriters. I developed a model system, contacted IBM and made proposals to Federal Legal Services until the system was provided a grant for an initial test system. The grant was administered by California Rural Legal Services in San Francisco. By the end of my 2 year contract with the Draft Board, the system was up and running. I, however, fell strangely ill, and moved back to my parent's Santa Clara home where I underwent extensive medical evaluation. It was also around this time time that my divorce was finalized.
