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
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White Paper
September 21, 2022Study 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, 2022Technology 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, 2022New 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, 2021Pandemic 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, 2021Simple 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...