The Access to Justice Network grew out of the Self-Represented Litigation Network (SRLN).
SRLN was formed in 2005, and has been a pre-eminent community of practice for people working on access to justice, civil justice reform, legal empowerment, and human-centered design of the legal system.
Throughout its lifetime, SRLN existed under the corporate roof of other organizations including the National Center for State Courts, the New Venture Fund, and the Legal Aid of Association of California. At the end of 2024, by agreement of the Advisory Board of SRLN and the Stanford Legal Design Lab.
SRLN’s community of practice and many of its resources were assumed by the Access to Justice Network, hosted at the Stanford Legal Design Lab.
SRLN’s History
In 2005, under the leadership of Richard Zorza and others, the Self-Represented Litigation Network (SRLN) was established as an informal network under the auspices of the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators at the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) for the purpose of strengthening coordination among organizations engaged in access to justice activities. In 2013, with funding from the Public Welfare Foundation, the informal network transitioned from NCSC to an independent national organization hosted by the New Venture Fund. Under the leadership of Katherine Alteneder and others, SRLN grew into a broad and diverse national network of justice system professionals dedicated to transforming our legal system so that people would no longer need to face some of life’s most difficult challenges alone and without help.
SRLN did not represent a single voice; it was a network of judges, court staff, attorneys, librarians, scholars, technologists, and community leaders who believed everyone deserves access to justice and that when people come to court, they have a right to procedural justice and to understand the proceedings in which they are participating. As the only organization in the United States focused on the needs of the self-represented in civil courts at that time, SRLN envisioned a nation in which every person can get some form of effective assistance with their civil legal needs. To that end, SRLN identified, supported and evaluated innovative services and strategies to create a user-friendly legal system for self-represented litigants.
Since its inception, SRLN identified a successful multi-faceted approach to advancing access-oriented solutions for the self-represented by coordinating the following services and activities that shape the national conversation:
- Hosting an online resource center and communications hub that monitored trends and events, provided analysis and included a curated collection of seminal materials, training curricula, best practices manuals, toolkits, event calendar, and newsletter;
- Introducing geospatial data and policy analysis to the civil justice sector by serving as a consultant to Access to Justice Commissions, legal aid organizations, court systems, law libraries, and policy advocates, as well as producing SRLN hosted nationally available dashboards and story maps to better understand and communicate the needs of the self-represented;
- Coordinating substantive Working Groups with reform agendas chaired by national leaders in areas including Courtroom Services & Case Management, Federal Courts, Forms & Technology, Judicial, Law Libraries, Research, and Strategy & Outreach;
- Producing scholarship, studies, and reports that were distinguished by their innovative thought leadership and analysis of emerging practices;
- Shaping and conducting research and evaluation to support evidence-based practice, innovation, and sustained excellence;
- Providing training and education tailored to the unique needs and perspectives of various stakeholders via conferences and webinars.
SRLN’s Accomplishments and Publications
Over the last decade, SRLN successfully incubated and championed innovations including self-help centers, standardized forms, case management reform, procedural simplification, plain language and multi-lingual resources and services, strategic and empowering uses of technology, integrated delivery systems among providers, and judicial education to improve the self-represented litigant (SRL) courtroom environment.
Leading publications include the following ones. Please visit srln.org for the full collection.
Court Programs for SRLs
This document summarizes forty-two best practices in this area of innovation, with descriptions of each practice, suggested attributes, examples, and contacts.
Courtroom Communication with SRLs
Effectiveness of Courtroom Communication in Hearings Involving Two Self-Represented Litigants(2008)
These materials are the product of research conducted by the Network and its partners into the effectiveness of, and best practices in, communication between judges and the self-represented. They include a 30-minute DVD in which a judge summarizes the results of the research, and in which the litigants and judges study comment on their cases.
Assessment for Court SRL programs
A Model for a Comprehensive Self Assessment of Court Programs to Assist Self-Represented Litigants (2007)
These materials are a comprehensive packet of surveys and tools designed to help courts assess how well they deal with the self-represented and to make improvements in their practices.
Judicial Education on SRLs and Access to Justice in the courtroom
Judicial Education Curriculum Package
This package includes curricula on Access to Justice in the Courtroom for the Self-Represented (Introductory and Comprehensive versions) and An Overview of Judicial Leadership in Access to Justice for the Self Represented. Each curriculum includes a PowerPoint, with detailed faculty notes, and an integrated Activity Guide and Resource Handbook. The package includes an integrated DVD of Courtroom Best Practices, based on courtroom research.
SRL Innovations Court Leadership Package
Court Leadership Package for Self-Represented Litigation Innovation
This leadership package includes fifteen Solutions Modules, each highlighting a different innovation. Each module includes a PowerPoint, with preparation notes, a chapter of an integrated Activity Guide, a chapter of an integrated Resource Handbook, a set of brief Program Profiles that provide additional detail on programs discussed in the PowerPoint, and a selection of video segments from the accompanying DVD.
Public Libraries & Access to Justice
Public Libraries and Access to Justice Packet
This set of materials assists public libraries and their partners in developing programs of informational assistance to the self-represented. The package of training PowerPoints and support materials includes a FAQ template that can be used to develop a customized set of links to key access to justice information. Ethical issues concerning how public librarians can appropriately assist the self-represented are also covered.
Court Access to Justice Diagnostic Toolkit
A series of diagnostic protocols designed to assist courts in identifying problems experienced in providing access to justice, and implement solutions. Protocols include examples of solutions and resource materials.
Law Libraries in the 21st Century
The Sustainable 21st Century Law Library: Vision, Deployment and Assessment for Access to Justice (2012)
This report, prepared in close collaboration with the Network, analyzes how law libraries can remain relevant by transforming themselves into access to justice centers. It addresses issues of mission, materials, technology, staffing, management, and evaluation.
Model Code of Judicial Conduct re: SRLs
This memorandum lays out ways that states can develop state-specific comment language for their judicial codes. The memo reflects recent research, as well as recent state developments.
Access-Friendly E-Filing
Principles and Best Practices For Access-Friendly Court Electronic Filing (2013)
This document, the preparation of which was funded by the Legal Services Corporation through a grant to Central Minnesota Legal Services, was developed in close collaboration with the Network. It explores a variety of principles and practices in areas from fee waiver to training, and from front end design to management.
Child Support & Parternity IV-D Guide
IV-D Funding Resource Guide (2014) (revised 2017)
Title IV-D of the Social Security Act allows for reimbursement to courts for the costs associated with assisting litigants with child support and paternity matters. Several states court systems and local courts have obtained significant resources for their court self help programs from this federal source. This Guide is designed to help states access this funding stream to support self-help activities.
Remote Services for SRLs
Resource Guide on Serving Self-Represented Litigants Remotely (2016)
The Resource Guide provides options for courts and other entities interested in providing services to self-represented litigants using means that are not face-to-face, instead of, or in addition to, in-person alternatives such as walk-in services, workshops, and clinics. It also includes information regarding technology and business process options and describes a study of how eight sites provide remote self-help services to self-represented litigants and its principal findings and recommendations.