Clear Information Can Help Millions of Americans Access the Civil Legal System

Research and analysis on strategies to maximize court investments in technology and better support litigants

Roughly 30 million Americans encounter a legal problem related to housing, finances, or family each year, and courts and other civil legal system operators, such as legal aid groups, have developed technology resources to help people navigate those matters. But without associated process improvements, technology projects cannot reach their full potential.

The Pew Charitable Trusts is partnering with Stanford University Law School and Suffolk University Law School to improve the availability, accessibility, and usability of online legal information and court forms. This work seeks to develop technology reforms that can help courts serve more people, and pair those changes with improvements to associated court processes in order to enhance people’s experiences and interactions with the legal system.

The resources collected here describe the scope and scale of the legal information currently available online and offer insights on how courts and others can expand and improve the quality and reliability of those offerings.

OUR WORK

White Paper

September 21, 2022

Study Outlines Promising Practices for Legal Assistance Portals

Online assistance portals—websites that provide information to people navigating civil legal matters, such as child custody, eviction, and debt collections—range widely in scope and quality.

Article

September 21, 2022

Technology Improves Access to Legal Information, But Issues Remain

Access to accurate legal information can help civil court users make informed decisions about their cases and improve court efficiency because litigants are more knowledgeable and better prepared.

Article

August 31, 2022

New California Civil Court Web Portal: A Model for Other States?

Providing legal information to court users is an essential function of civil courts, and California's redesigned online legal assistance portal is an effort to fulfill that critical role.

Article

December 1, 2021

Pandemic Spurs Technology Revolution in State Civil Courts

With courthouses shuttered by COVID-19, civil legal systems in nearly every state moved quickly to adopt new tools to support online operation—a decisive response that enabled millions of Americans to...

Article

October 18, 2021

Simple Tools Can Boost Access to Online Legal Information

For many Americans, Google and other search engines are increasingly popular means of finding legal information and resources. People facing civil justice issues—such as housing disputes or consumer debt...

Article

April 16, 2021

How Courts and Legal Services Seek to Protect Litigants' Personal Information

To help people solve their own legal problems, some court systems and legal service providers are embracing third-party web services to offer critical information and guidance. Well-designed legal...