CAJT History

Since 1999, the Center for Access to Justice and Technology has conducted important research and provided students with opportunities to explore how technology can lower barriers to access to civil justice in the United States. As part of that mission, the center has also helped create online tools, such as A2J Guided Interviews, to assist self-represented litigants complete their court forms.

Timeline

2017

A2J Author 6.0® is released, including the A2J Author Document Assembly Tool. The Self-Help Web Center is honored with the Ronald W. Staudt Public Interest Partner Award at the Chicago-Kent Public Interest Awards.

2015

Chicago-Kent student Hanna Kaufman speaks at the White House about her experiences in the Justice & Technology Practicum.

2014

A2J Author® is a finalist in the HiiL Innovating Justice Awards. HiiL is an international organization based in The Hague, the Netherlands, that recognizes groundbreaking justice innovations across the world.

2012

CAJT awarded contracts under two Technology Initiative Grants from the Legal Services Corporation—to develop and expand the Justice and Technology Practicum's cyber clinic model to law schools across the country and to bring A2J Author® to the “Cloud” with A2J Author 5.0.

2011

“Apps for Justice: Learning Law by Creating Software” (“A4J”) wins top prize at the Future Ed: New Business Models for U.S. and Global Legal Education Conference co-sponsored by New York University Law School and Harvard Law School.

2010

Professor Ron Staudt offers the innovative Justice and Technology Practicum for the first time at Chicago-Kent.

2008

CAJT wins the Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access, which honors programs dedicated to meeting the legal needs of the middle class and those of moderate incomes.

2007

Chicago-Kent Professor Ron Staudt publishes White Paper: Leveraging Law Students and Technology to Meet the Legal Needs of Low Income People. He also won the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) and the State Justice Institute (SJI)’s Howard Heflin Award for innovative programming that makes the legal system more accessible to low-income individuals.

2005

A2J Author® Release

2004

A2J Author® Development—the CAJT partnered with the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) to create A2J Author®.

2004

Self-Help Web Center at the Daley Center in Chicago is created. The SHWC began assisting visitors in finding legal information and completing online legal forms in February 2004.

2003

Illinois Joint Simplified Dissolution of Marriage Prototype (JSDM Prototype) is created. This prototype used custom-designed software that provided a web-based interface for pro-se litigants to complete the forms required for a joint simplified dissolution of marriage in Illinois.

1999-2001

Meeting the Needs of Self-Represented Litigants: A Consumer Based Approach (Meeting the Needs) Project. This project successfully identified the major barriers to access to justice for self-represented litigants. A key insight of the Meeting the Needs Project was that the simple act of filling out forms poses unique challenges that many low income self-represented litigants have trouble overcoming. The project also determined that special care would be required if technology were to be introduced into the justice system to meet the needs of self-represented litigants.