Miscellaneous

What happens when a system ignores the needs of one-quarter of its users? This week’s “Student Voices” post argues that PACER’s online court records meet the usability needs of lawyers and court staff, about 75% of its users, but fail to account for the remaining users, mainly pro se litigants, who interact with the system. While the federal judiciary works to modernize PACER in the next few years, user-centered design could help improve accessibility for those representing themselves.

The U.S. judiciary suffers from a trust issue among the general public, largely due to its fragmented, unusable, costly, and difficult-to-access data. That is the argument put worth in this week’s “Student Voices” blog, which suggests that improving judicial data and accessibility to it will improve transparency, public engagement in the courts, and collaboration and innovation among organizations.