In Wisconsin, legal obstacles like suspended licenses or forgotten eviction records can quietly block jobs, housing, and life’s opportunities. LIFT Wisconsin started as a collaboration of Dane County nonprofits – and has grown into a statewide initiative offering both online tools and in-person clinics to help people clear those hurdles themselves.
Led by Executive Director Erica Nelson, LIFT uses its Legal Tune Up tool and mobile clinics to empower Wisconsinites: giving them the ability to check and resolve civil legal issues from criminal records to child‑support orders, without needing to hire an attorney. Through tech, training, and community partnerships, LIFT Wisconsin is giving people a clear path forward.
1. What is your company’s mission?
LIFT Wisconsin provides efficient, innovative technology-driven assistance that dismantles the legal barriers preventing Wisconsinites from achieving economic stability. Through our commitment to improving access to justice for everyone, we transform and reform legal systems, increase personal agency, and democratize data.
2. What inspired you to start your company?
LIFT Wisconsin was created by several Dane County non-profit organizations in 2020 to help increase economic prosperity and social justice for Wisconsin residents by removing legal barriers. Now, we collaborate with multiple partners to achieve our mission and expand our reach to provide services in every corner of Wisconsin. We do this through in-person clinics, by training justice navigators, and developing the LegalTuneUp tool.
3. What problem are you solving?
We envision a world without legal barriers. And that means empowering and strengthening communities at the root by using technology to interrupt the poverty machine.
4. Who are your customers?
Wisconsinites who face a civil legal barrier they can’t solve because they don’t know about it or can’t afford an attorney. Examples include: driver’s license restoration, changing child support orders, removing criminal and eviction records, and answering debt claims.
5. What is your business model?
We deliver services through a free DIY, web-based app that is the only one of its kind in the country that combines data sources from multiple agencies into one place. As a 501c3 nonprofit, we stay sustainable through grants and donations.
6. What is your company’s most significant achievement to date?
Our Legal Tune Up Tool hit 15,000 active users in 2024!
7. What are your goals for the next year?
We hope to launch a new module in 2026 in our Legal Tune Up Tool, a power of attorney for healthcare directives. When this is live, anyone in Wisconsin could be walked through simple steps on our free DIY web app to create a power of attorney for healthcare, download it, and sign it!
8. What is your biggest challenge?
Funding. With Legal Services Corporation funding drying up at the federal level, and Wisconsin being one of the only states not to fund civil legal aid at the state level, we rely on grants and private donors to spread the word about our app and keep improving it.
9. What does “justice tech” mean to you?
Using technology to improve access to justice. It’s important to make our legal system more accessible, fair, and efficient for everyone – because access to justice shouldn’t depend on what’s in someone’s wallet.
10. Why did you join JTA, and what do you love about being part of it?
We share a mission with JTA and its members: using tech to enable access to justice for all. We hope to share what’s worked well in Wisconsin with other states looking to build a similar model.
11. Share another organization you love that is working to bridge the Access to Justice Gap, and why.
Unlocked Labs! They do similar work as our partner EXPO, and we admire both organizations’ efforts to invite the participation of those with lived experience in our justice system.
12. How can people learn more about your company?
🔗 Learn more at www.liftwisconsin.org.
🔗 Connect with Erica Nelson on LinkedIn.
Follow and connect with LIFT Wisconsin across social media:
🔗 LIFT Wisconsin on Facebook
🔗 LIFT Wisconsin on Instagram
🔗 LIFT Wisconsin on YouTube
🔗 LIFT Wisconsin on TikTok
🔗 LIFT Wisconsin on Threads
🔗 LIFT Wisconsin on LinkedIn
🔗 LIFT Wisconsin on Bluesky