HALT—An Organization of Americans for Legal Reform has always looked for new ways to spread the word about our self-help legal resources and to stay in contact with our 50,000 members. Our quarterly newsletter and website did part of the job, but last year we began a new search to find a vehicle that would allow us to communicate breaking news frequently and economically. In September 2003, we found what we were looking for an e-newsletter compiled by the staff and distributed through an online service, Constant Contact.

The HALT eJournal is a twice-monthly e-mailed publication that informs our members, donors, board members and other interested consumers about our advocacy work, consumer publications and breaking reform news. Each issue of the easy-to-read HALT eJournal includes links to other organizations, helpful Web sites and informative articles about our work. In the six months that we have published our eJournal, we have seen a 75% increase in subscribers, which has translated into a significant growth in both web traffic and member correspondence.

Through the eJournal, we are able to update legal consumers regularly and keep them involved with our activities. Also, HALT is able to advertise our new free self-help resources to interested non-members, with whom HALT had lacked a way to communicate. Finally, the eJournal allows us to keep in contact with the people ¡°in the trenches,¡± which will assure that HALT stays informed and on top of any legal reform issue as it occurs.

As an organization committed to addressing the vast unmet legal needs of low and moderate income Americans, we are delighted with this success. Our eJournal is proving to be a cost-effective means of informing people about self-help materials, non-traditional legal service providers and other affordable methods to address the deficiency of inexpensive legal services. We think an email newsletter like our eJournal is an approach that can be utilized by legal service providers and encourage readers to visit www.halt.org to learn more.

Jim Turner may be reached at jturner@halt.org.