The National Center for State Courts has just released a new paper from Thomas M. Clarke and Paula Hannaford-Agor entitled “Measuring the Impact of Access to Justice Programs: An Assessment Tool for Funders and Policymakers.” The paper presents a rubric for evaluating the cost-benefit of various strategies for expanding access to justice, with a particular focus on Litigant Portals and Online Dispute Resolution. The equation they use to calculate the objective comparable value of any individual A2J capability is:

The paper then applies this calculation to a variety of A2J approaches, including online dispute resolution. An excerpt from the analysis of ODR’s benefits:

“First, calculate the proportion of people who did not use other legal services who benefitted from ODR: 190,000 people who accessed ODR x 76% who did not use other legal services x 75% who received a positive outcome from ODR = 108,300. Then calculate the number of people who got a better outcome using ODR than with other legal services: 190,000 who accessed ODR x 24% who also used other legal services x 44% who received a suboptimal outcome with other legal services x 70% that received a better outcome using ODR = 14,045. Then add the two results: 108,300 + 14,045 = 122,345 (5% of 2.43 million people targeted for ODR).”

While the model is not simple to explain (as you can see) a thoughtful rubric such as this one will be very helpful in comparing different A2J approaches moving forward, and will be valuable to anyone attempting to calculate Net Present Value for ODR investments in the courts.

Check out the full paper here.

NCSC’s JTC ODR case studies paper has been updated with new case studies as well as updates to previous ones. From the new paper:

“The JTC first released a publication on the topic of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) in 2016. When Online Dispute Resolution and the Courts was published, only one US court had implemented ODR, and just a handful of US courts were seriously considering it. Within a year, significant enough change had occurred in the national ODR conversation that the paper was withdrawn and updated. A companion paper, Case
Studies in ODR for Courts: A view from the front lines, was created, featuring a cross section of successes and misfires in what were then groundbreaking ODR efforts. This paper builds on that foundational work, to continue the conversation.

Since 2016, the shift in US courts’ practical experience as well as interest in ODR has been seismic. Dozens, if not hundreds of courts from large and small jurisdictions all over the US have online dispute resolution implemented for some case types and are looking for ways to expand use. Many more ODR project initiatives are underway. Some courts now have several years of ODR case data to evaluate and share.

The ODR implementations highlighted in this paper represent a variety development processes and platforms, ranging from in-house development to customizations of software created by an international collaborative. There are cloud-based SaaS products, as well as adaptations of platforms designed for other purposes, including BeInformed and SalesForce.

The following ODR implementations illustrate a sample of technologies, philosophies, and approaches to the use of technology in dispute resolution. Additional case studies will be added in coming months, with the most current examples featured at the top.”

Read the updated paper here.

https://bit.ly/2tOnaCx