How Tech Adoption Is Transforming U.S. Courts
Addressing the Justice Gap One Jurisdiction at a Time
New technologies are rapidly changing the legal profession. AI agents, secure, cloud-based document storage and retrieval, and analytics software are helping attorneys, paralegals, and administrative support staff deepen their services and work more efficiently. Technology can also help to “level the playing field” by expanding access to justice in the U.S. legal system.
Experimenting with AI for Docketing and Hearings
For litigants new to the court system, simply knowing when and where to show up can be confusing, leading to missed appearances and creating a drain on court efficiency. A 2024 Thomson Reuters Institute study showed that on average, 17% of hearings were delayed more than 15 minutes due to failures to appear. Automated phone calls and texts can remind self-representing litigants where to go, when to be there, and what they’ll need to bring.
Courts in Louisiana and Los Angeles have implemented artificial intelligence to manage the court docket systems. Self-representing litigants can schedule their own reservations on the court’s docket. The software sends reminders of their appearance via email, phone, and text, along with the material they’re required to complete.
The Superior Court of Maricopa County, Arizona’s virtual office assistant and chatbot handles 80% of customer interactions and manages over 10,000 queries per month, saving the county almost $360,000 yearly, with a 90% customer approval rating.
Perhaps the epitome of the use of technology in law is the hybrid court hearing. Litigants using video teleconferencing can remotely meet with judges and court officials, saving travel time and expense, expediting more cases, and giving greater access to the court system. All 50 states now utilize some form of this service. The National Center for State Courts’ Hybrid Hearing Improvement Initiative spearheaded the use of remote hearing technology. Judge Roy Ferguson of Brewster County, Texas’ 394th District Court, said, “By making hybrid hearings a reality for our courts, this NCSC project enables us to provide higher quality justice for community members who were historically excluded by distance, work, family obligations or low financial means.”
A nonprofit organization called Upsolve created free technology tools that helps litigants complete online questionaries that are used to generate forms for use in court. A Cornell University Law School graduate named Quinten Steenhius authored a similar tool called Massachusetts Defense for Eviction (MADE) that helps Massachusetts tenants facing eviction. Litigants answer questions over the phone about their personal history, the circumstances of the case, and the nature of the eviction. The software then complies the responses into seven court documents required for a hearing.
Tech Must Be Implemented Thoughtfully
As powerful as technological support programs can be, they must be thoughtfully implemented to guarantee success. Poorly designed technology can frustrate users, creating greater barriers to entry into the court system, wasted time, and increased costs. Technological alternatives must be easy to find and simple to use in order to provide satisfactory outcomes. In 2021, the Los Angeles County Superior Court implemented Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) software. It wasn’t easily found on the court’s website and was difficult to use. This resulted in only five resolved cases over a three-year period.
Litigants must have access to the internet and/or a smartphone to use online tools. Self-representing litigants with no connectivity or phone risk being left behind, thus widening the “digital divide” for lower-income households. No matter how powerful the technology, human monitoring and intervention must always be present.
Pro Se Litigants Benefit from Courts Using Tech
According to Researchgate.net, 28% of the 1.5M cases filed in federal court between 1998 and 2018 involved one pro se party. A dearth of affordable attorneys and an overburdened legal aid network are forcing many litigants to represent themselves. According to the Fordham Law Journal, legal service corporations were unable to provide adequate support for 71% of cases requesting legal aid. Another survey showed that more than 90% of low-income Americans were unable to find affordable legal help for their civil legal issues, leaving them no alternative other than to represent themselves.
The large volume of pro se cases has created significant challenges for the legal system to support self-representing litigants. This is especially true for eviction, bankruptcy, divorce, immigration, and debt litigation cases.
To ease this burden, some forward-thinking court systems have turned to AI to help self-litigants with education, scheduling, and resolution. The 2019 COVID pandemic accelerated the use of remote technological solutions. Kristen Sondy, CEO of Paladin, a company working to increase access to the justice system, wrote in an article for Thomson Reuters Online, “Technology is essential for helping self-representing litigants understand the technicalities of court processes, navigate the actual experience, and prepare essential documents.”
Online data hubs, knowledge bases, chatbots and virtual office assistants are taking the place of paralegals and office support by answering basic questions and completing general requests from the public. Properly implemented technology is ideally suited for such tasks: voice-activated assistants can handle exponentially more interactions than court workers, saving time and expense. Voice technology that speaks and understands multiple languages can fulfill any litigant’s needs for online forms and completing virtual checklists. Streaming videos can provide guidance for those unfamiliar with court processes.
Boosting Efficiency, Saving Time
Used effectively, new technologies can offload the more mundane, time-consuming tasks for paralegals and legal professionals who work with the modern court system, freeing their time to apply their expertise to support clients with more complex needs. Well-designed digital platforms—that may or may not rely on artificial intelligence—can help the uninitiated navigate a complex legal system and practice self-advocacy, and allow courts and law practices to operate faster and with greater productivity.
Modern courts run on tech. So should your legal team.
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