Report: Eighteen Ways Courts Should Use Technology to Better Serve Their Customers (Greacen; IAALS 2018)

Published in 2018, this report provides a path forward to help courts use existing technologies to improve the user experience, particularly for those people who choose to represent themselves.

Among the report’s detailed recommendations are:

• Ensure court information and services are accessible through smartphones and ensure up-to-date wayfinding.
• Allow court users to present photos, videos, and other information from their smartphones in court.
• Enable court users to appear by telephone or video conference.
• Facilitate easier scheduling of hearings using common digital calendar platforms.
• Allow online payment of fees and other costs. Create opportunities for users to access forms and other case-related information remotely and simplify the completion and filing of those forms, including electronic filing, and eliminate notarization requirements.
• Deliver automated court messaging about upcoming hearings or missed events and allow that messaging to help guide users through the process.

This report will offer concrete guidance to courts and other programs as they adopt an integrated hybrid mix of on-line and in-person services.