Rebooting Justice and Other Highlights of eCourts 2018

While we’re busy pulling together the education program for eCourts 2020, we thought it’d be great to revisit some of the highlights from 2018. 

Rebooting Justice

University of Tennessee Law Professor Benjamin H. Barton expanded on the ideas in his (and co-author Stephanos Bibas) 2017 book Rebooting Justice. The gist? Our laws are too complex and legal advice too expensive. Both are obstacles for the poor and middle-class Americans to get help and protect their rights. Barton proposed using technology and procedural innovation to simplify and change the process itself.

“Right-Sizing” Penalties through Technology

JJ Prescot, Alexis Grace Krot, and Elizabeth Lucas shared ways to help those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder by breaking the cycle created by the inability to pay court fines and fees. In short, poverty shouldn’t be a crime.

Innovation in Alaska and Hawaii

Sergio Alcubilla and Stacy Marz shared how courts in extraordinarily different locations have fostered judicial portal projects with help from Legal Services Corporation, Microsoft, and Pro Bono Net.


Have you had the opportunity to leverage technology in your courts in the year and change since the last eCourts? Share online #ecourts2020.