Online Dispute Resolution

What Can It Do For Your Court?

Court ODR is a public facing digital space that allows litigants to resolve disputes by managing a case from start to finish without 75% requiring a user to step foot inside a courtroom. of civil cases Imagine what it would mean to the In Short, ODR May: efficiency of your court system if the small claims docket were reduced by a • Save you time have at least third. • Allow you to revise existing court processes one side with ODR is an opportunity to rethink existing • Result in fewer people coming to court processes – to streamline, improve, court 1 and make more efficient the way litigants no lawyer. interact with your court. Done well, this What Makes It Work? may save you staff time and expense and may reduce litigant confusion. • ODR happens from a computer or Customer Service mobile device. It allows for Over 80% of voters want Studies have shown that litigants are asynchronous communication, more online access to local willing and able to solve their problems meaning that people can access courts. online. Legal information in ODR systems ODR at any time, including doesn’t cross the line into advice and outside of court hours. there can be privacy and security • ODR provides legal information Efficiency & Fairness safeguards built into the system. and triage using right-sized, Available online 24/7. plain-language legal information, Reduced procedural errors. Pilot projects around the country have without giving advice. seen preliminary results that indicate it • ODR allows for negotiation of may be possible to achieve fewer default terms, which can be utilized by Reduce Costs judgments, greater defendant court sanctioned No need for lawyers and engagement, reduced clerk time, and yes, mediators/facilitators. court visits. Saves clerks resolution rates of a third or more via • ODR can provide negotiation time. ODR – meaning that those litigants spaces where litigants can talk never appeared in court at all. through a dispute without a mediator via a secure chat. Even when parties go through ODR but Supported by the Judicial Branch • ODR allows litigants to create, ultimately decided to go to trial, judges Not a private online store, and manage documents. arbitration site. can see how litigants may be better The system can convert agreed- prepared, which further aids in court upon terms into court efficiency. documents, store documents and NATIONAL CENTER FOR STATE COURTS evidence, and allows a user to www.ncsc.org pay for their case online. 1-800-616-6164

For more information about ODR or to talk through how 1. NCSC Civil Justice Improvement Projects: https://www.ncsc.org/Services-and- to apply this in your jurisdiction, contact Danielle Hirsch Experts/Areas-of-expertise/Civil-justice.aspx at [email protected]/303-308-4318 and Zach Zarnow at [email protected].