The report, A Blueprint for Expanding Access to Justice in Los Angeles Superior Court\u2019s Eviction Docket<\/em><\/a>, is based on extensive research by the Stanford team into LASC\u2019s unlawful detainer (eviction) cases. The team analyzed case management data for 150,000 UD filings, conducted more than 100 interviews with court users, hosted focus groups with court staff and legal aid providers, shadowed court users as they navigated court processes, and evaluated the court\u2019s digital tools and web presence.<\/p>\n The researchers documented several concerning trends between 2019 and 2023, including an 11% increase in eviction filings by corporate landlords, a widening representation gap between landlords and tenants, and declining answer rates among tenants. By 2023, nearly 92% of landlords had legal representation compared to only about 14% of tenants.<\/p>\n The report identified significant technological barriers hampering court access. LASC\u2019s websites and digital tools struggle with discoverability, with court websites appearing in less than 0.3% of Google search results for legal help queries. The court currently hosts three competing self-help websites that lack integration with each other and with essential digital tools such as document assembly platforms, e-filing systems, and case-lookup resources.<\/p>\n Another technical shortcoming involves the court\u2019s Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform. Despite being launched in 2021, the ODR system was used by both parties in only about 1% of UD cases, with only five cases settling via the platform over a two-year period.<\/p>\n \u201cServing a population of over 10 million residents, the court is uniquely positioned to drive innovation and change by benchmarking ways to make the judiciary more accessible to those seeking justice,\u201d said David W. Slayton<\/a>, LASC executive officer and clerk of court. \u201cThanks in part to the court\u2019s unique partnership with Stanford Law, we now have an actionable blueprint that will guide Court leadership\u2019s decision making going forward.<\/p>\n While the report finds LASC remains a leader in innovation among U.S. courts, there are also a number of opportunities for improvement.<\/p>\n \u201cA lack of meaningful participation among self-represented litigants remains a persistent problem,\u201d the report says. \u201cAnd, despite significant efforts to partner with service providers, LASC staff struggle to effectively refer court users to third-party legal service providers and do not systematically collect information that is critical for improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n The report outlines \u201cfour frontiers of justice innovation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Based on these findings, the report outlines four \u201cfrontiers of justice innovation\u201d where technological solutions play a central role:<\/p>\n 1. LASC as a Learning Organization<\/strong><\/p>\n The report calls for LASC to become a true \u201clearning organization\u201d to better understand its own operations and better serve its users. The report recommends it do this by enhancing its data and data-analytics capacity through two key technological initiatives:<\/p>\n 2. LASC as an Information Hub<\/strong><\/p>\n Finding that the court can become a \u201ctrusted information hub\u201d for court users, the report identifies significant information barriers that currently exist. Among them, it proposes redesigning the court\u2019s Notice of Unlawful Detainer form (LASC CIV 002<\/a>) to make critical information more accessible. The redesigned notice would leverage behavioral design principles to make deadlines salient and avoid common misconceptions.<\/p>\n Beyond the physical notice, the researchers recommend supplementing paper notices with digital communications via email and text to reach users through multiple channels. They also propose developing targeted notices for specific jurisdictions and language groups, using data to personalize information delivery.<\/p>\n 3. LASC as a Collaboration Hub<\/strong><\/p>\n To enhance the court\u2019s collaborative relationships with other stakeholders in Los Angeles County, the report recommends developing a user-directed informational triage tool hosted on the court\u2019s website. This technological solution would help litigants self-sort into appropriate legal assistance resources based on their case details, needs and preferences.<\/p>\n \u201cThis tool will alleviate the requests for referrals that have become a particular pain point for court staff without involving the court in non-neutral steps that are beyond the court\u2019s purview,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n The tool would have two components: a chat interface for users and a comprehensive back-end database of service providers. It would elicit information across four categories: case information, demographic eligibility details, capacity details and user preferences. This data would then match users with appropriate services.<\/p>\n 4. LASC as a Digital Hub<\/strong><\/p>\n The most ambitious technological recommendations involve the development of three cutting-edge digital tools to better serve court users:<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, the court could provide a one-stop hub where court users can enter a plain-language description of a civil legal problem or task in a pending case \u2014 either directly or in answer to specific questions \u2014 and receive actionable, trustworthy information about necessary steps,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n The report notes that the court already has a long history of innovation, having pioneered self-help centers, standardized forms, and group-based educational workshops in the 1990s. More recently, LASC has developed digital tools like \u201cGina,\u201d a traffic court chatbot serving up to 4,000 users weekly, and has begun work on \u201cCourtHelp,\u201d a conversational AI website.<\/p>\n But, despite these innovations, the court faces both continuing challenges and new ones.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, LASC, along with courts across the country, must confront a critical issue: the rising tide of small-scale but high-stakes cases that have come to dominate state civil court dockets, including debt collections, evictions, home foreclosures, and certain family law matters,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n \u201cThis report is more than just a diagnosis; it is a blueprint for change,\u201d said David Freeman Engstrom<\/a>, professor and co-director of Stanford\u2019s Rhode Center. \u201cWhile courts everywhere face daunting challenges with high-volume civil dockets, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County\u2019s visionary leadership and willingness to innovate, when combined with Stanford\u2019s deep technical expertise, promises to develop new approaches that work.\u201d<\/p>\n Through this report and their partnership, Stanford and LASC hope not only to improve services in Los Angeles County, but to provide a template for digital transformation of courts nationwide.<\/p>\n \u201cBy conducting diagnostic activities, engaging stakeholders, and partnering with researchers, courts nationwide can identify areas for improvement and implement data-driven, human-centered solutions,\u201d the two organizations say.<\/p>\n \u201cWith courts around the country facing many common challenges, the fruits of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County-Stanford partnership will benefit court users and communities in Los Angeles and well beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n For those interested in learning more about the study, Stanford and LASC are hosting two webinars in the coming weeks:<\/p>\n In a newly released report with implications for legal technology and access to justice, Stanford Law School\u2019s Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession and Legal Design Lab, in partnership with the Superior Court of Los Angeles County (LASC), the largest trial court in the United States, offer a comprehensive analysis of the challenges […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":114353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawsite"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-10-111055-1024x576-ItCgxO.png?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Four-Pronged Blueprint for Digital Transformation<\/h3>\n
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A Blueprint for Change<\/h3>\n
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