(Announcement issued by The Superior Court of Los Angeles County on Monday, April 6)

The Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Stanford Law School, and ODR.com today announced a joint effort to design, implement, and test a comprehensive online case resolution system, prioritizing the development of people-centered digital services. The initiative aims to help the Court deliver fair, timely justice at the scale required by the nation’s largest trial court system, while maintaining the standards of fairness, integrity, and judicial oversight the community expects.

“This effort focuses on creating an online pathway that meets the needs of all court users—especially those without legal representation—while upholding the standards of fairness and integrity the community expects,” Presiding Judge Sergio C. Tapia II said. “Our commitment to people-centered solutions means providing multiple, accessible ways for Los Angeles County residents to engage with the Court and achieve a just resolution.”

This initiative comes two years after the Court and Stanford Law School’s Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession and Legal Design Lab first launched their groundbreaking partnership. More recently, in April 2025, the Stanford Law School team released A Blueprint for Expanding Access to Justice—a diagnostic report that outlines four frontiers of justice innovation.

“A year of rigorous empirical analysis and stakeholder engagement helped us to identify underlying mechanisms, change levers, and opportunities to design, implement, and test innovations that increase access to the Court and improve court operations,” Rhode Center Co-Director and Stanford Law Professor David Freeman Engstrom said. “Redesigning the existing online dispute resolution system is one of our core recommendations for realizing the vision of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County as a digital hub to enable the most effective early case resolution system.”

The partners will co-design the platform, leveraging Stanford’s deep expertise in user-centered design and ODR.com’s extensive experience developing and operating dispute resolution systems at scale.

“This is such a unique opportunity, working with the largest trial court in the country to develop an ODR experience that is clear, accessible, and aligned with court processes and safeguards,” said Colin Rule, President and CEO of ODR.com/Mediate.com. “Collaborating with Stanford to design and rigorously evaluate the system provides an infrastructure for iteration and continuous improvement that will be of great benefit to court users and to those of us building these systems.”

Executive Officer/Clerk of Court David W. Slayton added, “The Court is focused on enhancing access to justice and transforming the court user experience, as noted in Focus Area 1 of its 2025-2028 Strategic Plan. This partnership between the Court, ODR.com, and Stanford lends technical expertise and empirical research capacity to help the Court fulfill our commitment to building accessible and scalable access to justice solutions.”

Stanford Law School’s Legal Design Lab and Rhode Center will use their existing empirical understanding of the Court’s processes and operations as a foundation from which to launch a robust user-centered design process.

“The system needs to be intuitive for users, practical for court staff, and measurable in its results,” Margaret Hagan, Executive Director of Stanford’s Legal Design Lab, said. “During the design process, we will pay particular attention to balancing the integration of advanced technology with the importance of maintaining a human touch along the way.”

More information on Stanford Law School’s Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession and the Stanford Legal Design Lab can be found here and here. More information on ODR.com can be found here. For updates on the partnership and for information on the Court’s current programs and services, follow the Court on X, formerly known as Twitter (@LASuperiorCourt) and visit the Court’s website, www.lacourt.ca.gov.

About the Superior Court of Los Angeles County

The largest trial court in the nation, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County serves a population of almost 10 million in 36 courthouses with a jurisdiction covering over 4,000 square miles that includes 88 cities, 140 unincorporated areas and dozens of law enforcement agencies. The Court is steadfast in its mission to serve our community by providing equal access to justice through the fair, timely and effective resolution of all cases.

About Stanford’s Rhode Center on the Legal Profession

Stanford Law School’s Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession works to make the civil justice system more equitable, accessible, and transparent through interdisciplinary research, data-driven analysis, and collaboration with courts and legal institutions.

About Stanford’s Legal Design Lab

The Legal Design Lab researches, designs, and develops new interventions to ensure access to justice for all. The Lab team builds and studies new technologies, services, and policies that use human-centered design to scale justice innovations and empower people who are facing legal problems.

About ODR.com

ODR.com is the world’s leading dispute resolution company, with decades of experience designing and operating dispute resolution systems at global scale. Founded by leaders who built the online dispute resolution systems at eBay and PayPal, ODR.com combines deep dispute resolution expertise, process design, and technology. As a subsidiary of the American Arbitration. Association, ODR.com partners with courts, governments, and institutions worldwide to help strengthen their capacity to deliver justice at scale.

For more information on the Court’s current programs and services, follow the Court on X
(@LASuperiorCourt), Instagram (@LASuperiorCourt), Threads (@LASuperiorCourt), or visit the Court’s website, www.LACourt.ca.gov.