CONTACT:
Len McFatter
March 30, 2004
866-262-5169
lmcfatter@btigroup.com

CHICAGO - A new legal aid hotline aimed at providing legal advice to low-income populations will provide valuable clinical experience to students of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology as well. The pilot project is a joint venture between Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services (CARPLS), Chicago-Kent, and BTI Communications Group.

"CARPLS and Chicago-Kent are very excited about this program," says Allen Schwartz, executive director for CARPLS. "Chicago-Kent was looking for another clinical class for its students and CARPLS needed help meeting the growing volume of calls to our hotline. CARRPLS and Chicago-Kent share a common philosophy about the use of technology in the delivery of legal services and the new clinic relies heavily on emerging technologies, so it's a good fit all the way around."

BTI has installed the Inter-Tel Axxess phone system, and is assisting with telephony solutions for six telephone stations and Internet outlets to be used by one on-site supervisor and five students. CARPLS receives as many as 10,000 to 14,000 calls per month per hotline. The partnership between Chicago-Kent and BTI will help CARPLS tap into volunteer resources that haven't been available previously.

BTI recently donated IP phones for use with a separate pilot project enabling CARPLS staff attorneys to work from home via Voice over Internet Protocol and computer telephony integration.

"Attorneys can be anywhere and can still access our Intake Software, which has all our resources including primary sources such as statutes and annotations to statutes and case law all there via the Internet," Schwartz says. "People can work from home or courthouses. We've gone beyond working within our office space. With these IP phones, basically for us it is 'Have Internet connection, will travel.'"

CARPLS hopes to implement the same VoIP and CTI technology with the Student Legal Aid Hotline in the future, but for now, IP technology and the related applications and technology can be costly. Schwartz hopes to make greater use of this emerging technology in the future as its costs decrease. In the meantime, CARPLS is very excited to be partnering with BTI on long-term technology solutions that will allow us to expand to meet the growing demand for our service.

"BTI is excited to assist CARPLS with both the Student Legal Aid Hotline and the IP phone donations for use by itinerant attorneys," says Eric Brackett, chief executive officer for BTI. "We will continue partnering with CARPLS to provide solutions for these two projects as well as future initiatives."

The hotline will serve as a clinical program to the evening students who are often left out of most of the day-centered clinical programs. Lectures will help to train the students on how to conduct the phone interviews relating to landlord/tenant law cases and family law cases.

"The Hotline is an exciting new clinical opportunity for our students in which they learn important hands-on lawyering skills while at the same time provide legal assistance to clients who might otherwise have no legal help" says Gary Laser, the director of Clinical Programs at Chicago-Kent. "I know that the program will be successful and I look forward to a long and successful partnership with CARPLS."

BTI Communications Group Ltd., an exclusive business partner with Inter-Tel, Inc. (NASDAQ: INTL), offers a unique and comprehensive package of ProfitSolutions TM that integrates both phone and data needs and includes a strategic plan to fit both the client's applications and financial needs.

Inter-Tel recently honored BTI with its 2003 Inter-Tel Exclusive Business Partner of the Year award. BTI's ProfitSolutions TM provides performance-enhancing applications, technically-qualified personnel, support systems, continuing client education, unified billing structure, and a financial program that ensures long-term success measured in a daily return on investment. In addition to telephone equipment and systems, BTI provides local, long distance and Internet access through its affiliate, Great America Networks.

Eric Brackett founded BTI Communications Group, Ltd., in 1985 in Chicago. BTI opened its Los Angeles branch in December 2001 to serve its West Coast clients. BTI's clients include Options Clearing Corp., Lawndale Christian Health Center and Sea Breeze Financial. More information can be found at www.btigroup.com or www.profitsolutionsgroup.net.

About CARPLS

As Cook County's non-profit legal assistance hotline, Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services (CARPLS) strives to help lower income individuals address their legal needs in a timely and cost-effective manner. Volunteer and staff attorneys accomplish this mission by providing legal advice and information, brief services to prevent and minimize litigation, prompt referrals to appropriate legal, government and social service programs, and educational and instructional materials to enable clients to address their own legal needs.

By providing these services, CARPLS aims to increase access to justice, to streamline the legal services delivery system, to expand problem-solving options and to increase available legal resources for our clients by identifying gaps in services and advocating to fill those gaps.

CARPLS has been a client of BTI since 2002.

About Chicago-Kent College of Law

The clinical education program of the Chicago-Kent College of Law (the "Law Offices") has a dual mission - to provide high-quality clinical education to over 150 student interns and externs who enroll each semester; and deliver outstanding legal services to its clients.

The Law offices provides students clinical experiences through seven different in-house programs consisting of the Employment Discrimination Litigation Program, The Criminal Defense Litigation Program, the Health Law Litigation Program, the Mediation and other Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, the Advice Desk Program and now the Student Legal Aid Hotline with CARPLS.

he Law Offices also offers two Externship Programs, the Judicial Externship Program and The Advanced Externship Program, which provide students with educational experiences interning for federal judges or attorneys in a wide variety of practice areas. More information about Chicago-Kent and the Law Offices can be found at www.kentlaw.edu/academics/clinic/.