The Document Assembly Line, created by the Legal Innovation and Technology Lab (LIT Lab) at Suffolk University Law School, helps individuals build open-source access-to-justice tools and resources for court forms, online guided interviews, and e-filing. It provides affordable Docassemble hosting and e-filing tools for courts and legal aid organizations. The LIT Lab has also created free and open-source software for building and e-filing court forms, supported by an active community of courts, legal aid organizations, and volunteers such as:
In May 2025, an eviction sealing law went into effect in Massachusetts. Suffolk LIT Clinic students, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Trial Court, built an online guided interview tool. The tool makes it easy to complete a petition to seal an eviction and e-file it with the court. During the first week, more than 300 people completed the petition using the new guided interview. Learn more: https://suffolklitlab.org/eviction-sealing-tool-launched-with-massachusetts-trial-court/
“A well-designed form allows people to express themselves in a way the court can understand.”
—David Colarusso, Suffolk LIT Lab Co-Director
September 1, 2025
The Nebraska Administrative Office of the Courts and Probation has collaborated with local trial judges, attorneys, and court staff to pilot a court-based Self-Help Center in Douglas County (Omaha, Nebraska). The first of its kind in Nebraska, this self-help center is located in the courthouse and provides on-site access to computers, printers, and legal resources …
August 1, 2025
The National Center for State Courts, in cooperation with the ABA Commission on Law and Aging (COLA) and the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) created technology and data standards for court case management systems for guardianship and conservatorship cases. Most case management systems are designed to track cases from filing to disposition. However, courts are …
July 1, 2025
What if families facing a crisis could receive support before entering the court system? In 2019, the National Center for State Courts received funding to identify promising practices in state and local courts that aim to prevent removal through non-adversarial collaborative team approaches and timely access to treatment and services. The Family Preservation Initiative (FPI) …
June 1, 2025
The Courts in Nevada have invested in the development of electronic systems to improve transparency, accessibility and efficiency of court processes. These investments have significantly reduced the time taken from initiating a case to its final disposition. Unlike most Court processes, guardianships commence at disposition and can last for decades, for example the guardianship of …
May 1, 2025
The National Center for State Courts announces the upcoming “Guide for Remote Dependency Hearings,” a comprehensive resource, funded by SJI, developed as an addendum to the Remote Proceeding Toolkit. Child abuse and neglect hearings require additional considerations for effective remote proceedings given their confidential nature and multiple participants. The Guide for Remote Dependency Hearings offers specialized …
April 1, 2025
In October 2024, the Pennsylvania Courts held a first-ever statewide Behavioral Health Summit that brought together over 500 judges, leaders, and stakeholders to address the growing behavioral health crisis within the judicial system. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty emphasized the increasing severity and frequency of behavioral health challenges and called the summit a “call …