e-Nudging justice: the role of digital choice architecture in online courts

Justice systems around the world are launching online courts and tribunals as a means to improve their efficiency, increase access to justice, and ameliorate the quality of proceedings. These online courts and tribunals are publicly administered judicial online dispute resolution (ODR) systems that enable litigants, lawyers, judges and court personnel to complete all litigation related activities, from filing through final disposition, on a dedicated digital platform. Online courts are envisioned as a promising response to many challenges that civil justice systems face, including those stemming from voluminous case filings, procedural complexity, limited accessibility, high costs of litigation, and the ubiquity of settlements and non-trial adjudication. The guiding premise of judicial ODR systems is that information technology (IT) and innovative procedural design can improve the accessibility, efficiency and effectiveness of courts. Specifically, most online courts are designed to improve access to justice for self-represented litigants (SRLs), who access courts unassisted by lawyers. As such, they respond to calls to redesign civil courts for the typical litigant and process, and specifically, for the skills and needs of SRLs.