As part of my access to justice innovation work, I realize one big barrier to change is understanding how systems currently operate. For example, filing and court technology is confusing. There are lots of acronyms and interrelated systems: efiling managers, efiling service providers, document assembly tech, case management systems, document management systems, the list goes on.
What that means is that many judicial & legal leaders don’t have a systematic understanding of how their system operates — or how it could. Especially when thinking of getting more people access to participating in the courts & lawsuits against them — filing matters! But the technology around filing is complicated, jargony, and easy to glaze over.
I have been working on process maps to help more leaders understand this complicated system & where opportunities are.
I started with a comprehensive map, of all the different users & tech products that are options. I made it centered around the journey of a form — and included 3 different paths into the court.
This is too complex for most users, but was meant for a power-user audience of people who were already vaguely familiar with filing and courts.
![](https://www.openlawlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Efiling-diagram-1-800x600.png)
Here is one simplified version of different options for the court user to get their form into the court clerk.
![](https://www.openlawlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Efiling-diagram-800x377.png)
I tried breaking this into 2 diagrams to show the difficulties of manual filing — and the advantages of filing.
Message: manual filing is problematic, even with a tech tool to help fill in the form online.
![](https://www.openlawlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Efiling-diagram-2-800x368.png)
Message: efiling through EFSPs and EFMs can simplify the user’s journey to getting data into court.
![](https://www.openlawlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Efiling-diagram-3-800x312.png)
Ideally more clear filing diagrams and explanations can help more judicial leaders make strategic decisions about their tech infrastructure & partnerships.