ODR News: Improving Access to Justice with Matterhorn

The November 2017 Issue of the Vanderbilt Law Review published Matterhorn founder J.J. Prescott’s article “Improving Access to Justice in State Courts with Platform Technology”.

Screenshot from Vanderbilt Law Review article abstract

Making our courts more open, responsive, and effective – article on Matterhorn in Vanderbilt Law Review

This article details an analysis of outcomes in eight Matterhorn-enabled courts.

Court Access to Justice Outcomes

  • Case closure: “average case duration drops considerably…from approximately fifty days…before Matterhorn to just fourteen days after Matterhorn’s implementation.”
  • Default rates and collections: “courts collected 80% of the fines they ordered within twenty-one days of a case’s filing. Before Matterhorn’s implementation, reaching an 80% payment rate took something closer to three months.”
  • Access to justice: requests were made through Matterhorn “outside of traditional business hours (30%) and on weekends (10%).”

Additionally, courts gain the option to:

  • Focus on at-risk cases earlier: “courts can home in on at-risk cases earlier in the process, when judge have more statutory flexibility in how they respond and are better able to cost effectively manage the resolution of these disputes.”
  • Reduce waste: “the potential to improve the interchange between litigants and courts, ensure better-structured payment plans, and reduce the waste that comes from delay.”

Learn More

Read the full article online here.

Read Matterhorn case studies to learn what courts have achieved.

Posted in Announcements, Results.