Meeting the Needs of Self-Represented Litigants
Executive Summary

Civil justice reform in the United States has failed to address the problems that self-represented litigants experience in their efforts to obtain access to the justice system.  Although the great majority of cases filed by self-represented litigants are factually and legally uncomplicated, many of these litigants struggle to navigate through a procedurally complex court system that is unfamiliar to most lay persons, that employs difficult, even arcane, terminology, and that imposes highly technical requirements for pleadings, motions and evidentiary proofs.  To date, little effort has been spent trying to simplify the court process itself so that self-represented litigants are able to navigate through the courts without undertaking a crash course in civil procedure.

To address this major shortcoming, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) proposes a partnership with the Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute of Design and the Chicago-Kent College of Law to examine court processes and recommend modifications to eliminate or reduce procedural barriers to access for self-represented litigants.  This unique partnership brings together the extensive expertise of the NCSC in court management, the distinguished expertise of the Institute of Design in human-centered systems design, and the nationally renowned expertise of the Chicago-Kent College of Law in the use of technology in the justice system.

The project has three major objectives.  First, it will identify the major barriers to access to justice that self-represented litigants encounter due to court procedures and administrative requirements.  Second, it will employ the latest in system design methodology to redesign court processes to remove these barriers and provide self-represented litigants with efficient and effective access to the justice system.  Finally, the project will translate the conceptual model for the redesigned court system into an Internet-based prototype for implementation in the courts.  To provide expert guidance, particularly with respect to the redesign of the court systems, a 10-person Advisory Committee will review and make comments on the project recommendations.  In addition, the project will benefit from the input of Mr. Richard Zorza, particularly with respect to the development of the Internet-based prototype.

Information about the project will be publicized through a Institute for Court Management (ICM) course offered in a distance-learning format, through information posted on the Justice Web Collaboratory (a joint website of the NCSC and the Chicago-Kent College of Law) and through a series of news releases and brief articles in court-focused periodicals.  Following completion of the project, the NCSC will seek the cooperation of courts in implementing the redesigned court system on a pilot basis for evaluation and adaptation to local needs.

The total budget for this project is $686,368 and is funded by the State Justice Institute ($150,000), the Open Society Institute ($150,000), the Center for Access to the Courts Through Technology ($189,879), and matching funds from the Illinois Institute of Technology ($196,489).