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Innovation Under Pressure: Strategic Planning When Resources Are Scarce
Wednesday October 21, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EDT
Cincinnati Convention Center
Access to justice innovation has a sustainability problem.  Our field excels at launching pilots—creative, well-funded projects that demonstrate what's possible under ideal conditions. It is far less successful at sustaining them. Grants end. Champions move on. Political priorities shift. Technology evolves faster than organizations can adapt. The pilot that promised transformation quietly disappears, replaced by the next promising pilot.
This session asks a different question: not What should we build? but How do we make strategic decisions that survive contact with reality?
The discussion is organized around a practical decision-making framework that many legal aid organizations and court innovation offices use implicitly but rarely articulate: build, buy, or bend. When faced with a new challenge, should you create something from scratch (build), adopt an existing solution or model (buy), or adapt the people, processes, and technology you already have (bend)? Each approach carries different costs, risks, implementation timelines, and long-term sustainability implications. Yet many organizations default to building without fully evaluating the alternatives.
Three candid case studies illustrate each approach, examining not only what succeeded but also what failed, what proved difficult to maintain, and what leaders would do differently. The conversation then turns to the realities that every innovation effort eventually faces: What happens when funding is reduced by 30 percent? When the lead developer leaves? When a new administration changes priorities? When the technology you've invested in becomes obsolete? Rather than relying on theory, the session draws on real organizational decisions made under pressure.
Participants will also explore how organizations can continue innovating during periods of constraint. Technology and programmatic decisions in legal aid and courts are rarely made under ideal circumstances; they occur amid staffing shortages, budget uncertainty, political transitions, and growing community need. Together, participants will examine how to distinguish between essential, value-adding, and aspirational investments, while recognizing the hidden costs of eliminating training, security, maintenance, and documentation—supports that often appear expendable but are critical to long-term success. The session also highlights collaboration and shared services as practical strategies for reducing risk and increasing resilience.
While technology poses particular challenges, this analysis is useful for a variety of programmatic innovations. The session is highly interactive. Participants are encouraged to bring a current initiative and work through a build-buy-bend decision matrix, assessing organizational capacity, existing solutions, opportunities for adaptation, and the sustainability implications of each option. The goal is to identify weaknesses before a funding cut, staffing change, or political transition forces difficult decisions.
Participants will leave with a practical decision matrix for evaluating future initiatives, a stress-tested assessment of a current project, and a strategic planning template designed specifically for organizations that must innovate despite persistent uncertainty and constrained resources.

Speakers
avatar for Brandon Slack

Brandon Slack

Director of Marketing & Product, Just-Tech LLC
Brandon Slack is Head of Product & Marketing at Just-Tech, LLC, a national legal technology company serving nonprofit legal aid organizations. He co-created JTAI (jtai.law), a purpose-built AI platform enabling knowledge management, agent-based chat intelligence, and intake automation... Read More →
avatar for John Greiner

John Greiner

CEO, Just-Tech LLC
John Greiner founded Just-Tech to advance justice community technology systems and practices. Previously, John was the CIO for Legal Services NYC. He led the integration of disparate technology and systems and advanced technology for service delivery, client access and overall operations... Read More →
avatar for Bonnie Rose Hough

Bonnie Rose Hough

Consultant, Bonnie Rose Hough Consulting
Bonnie Rose Hough is a consultant for courts and legal services on access to justice issues. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Access to Justice Network. She recently retired as a Principal Managing Attorney for the Judicial Council of California’s Center for Families, Children... Read More →
Wednesday October 21, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm EDT
Cincinnati Convention Center 537 Elm St, Cincinnati, OH 45202
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