ODR 2.0 Whitepaper copy

Introducing ODR 2.0

The Next Frontier in Improving Access to Justice Through Technology

Introducing ODR 2.0

The Next Frontier in Improving Access to Justice Through Technology

In this white paper we examine the initial creation and growth of court ODR (described as ODR 1.0), and the ways that over time these Court ODR 1.0 projects failed to realize their potential. Now a new wave of innovation in this space, ODR 2.0, leverages powerful new tools that were not yet available during ODR 1.0 (including widespread videoconferencing and artificial intelligence like ChatGPT) to realize the promise and potential of ODR in expanding access to justice and helping courts save money through digitization.

Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) is the use of information and communications technology to help parties resolve their disputes. ODR originally came out of ecommerce, because large internet intermediaries needed a way to provide their users fast and fair resolutions in order to promote trust in transactions. Companies like eBay and PayPal spent tens of millions of dollars to build technology that enabled users to get fast resolution, often without needing to speak to a human. These early ecommerce ODR systems resolved hundreds of millions of disputes, 90% in software only (meaning no human had to touch the case other than the disputants), while preserving user satisfaction and reducing resolution times to a few days

Courts took notice of the scale and effectiveness of these systems, and that led to a burst of innovation in applying ODR to judicial systems around the world. China created a series of Internet Courts powered with advanced technology, where parties could log in remotely and resolve their case via video hearing. The Dutch Legal Aid board in The Netherlands built an online divorce platform called The Rechtwijzer that enabled couples to work out all elements of their separation online (e.g. parenting plans, asset division, child support) without ever coming to a meeting in person. The Ministry of Justice in Canada also created the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) to handle a variety of civil caseloads in an all-online process, all the way through hearing and decision, that has achieved unparalleled levels of litigant satisfaction and engagement.

Countries around the world have now used ODR at scale to build a new civil justice system.

For example, India is using ODR to build a nationwide resolution system for digital payment disputes (this is as the government is pushing hard for almost all payments in India to be digital, even canceling some denominations of paper currency). In India, the average time for a civil case to move from filing to decision is more than ten years, so there is a huge crisis in access to justice. This new ODR-powered resolution system, backed strongly by the government, will likely be resolving more than a billion disputes per year within a few years, and these cases will be worked out in days instead of taking a decade.

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In 2015, there was essentially no court ODR in the United States.

While countries like China and The Netherlands invested heavily in expanding access to the courts via ODR, the US still lagged behind.

Just two years later, spurred by investment from large foundations like the Pew Charitable Trusts (who pledged more than $250 million to expand access to justice through technology, with an explicit focus on ODR), and promoted by thought leaders and bar associations, courts began investing more heavily in ODR systems. Early court ODR platforms like Matterhorn and Modria offered ODR software to courts to promote resolution, and the IT teams at other courts (like Utah and Connecticut) built their own platforms to urge parties to reach settlement through mutual agreement.

In 2016, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) had set up an information portal for courts looking to launch ODR programs at http://ncsc.org/odr which made development of these ODR systems more streamlined. An NCSC working group crafted guides for launching ODR platforms, and NCSC created a model RFP courts could use to select an ODR platform provider. At that time, the NCSC working group defined ODR as “an online collaborative workspace where parties can convene to resolve their dispute or case.” Court ODR was seen as opt-in, purely facilitative (meaning the parties would negotiate a resolution), and embedded into the court workflow (post-filing and pre-hearing)..

Many of the court ODR projects at that time merely resembled “chat rooms” where the parties could get access to a simple messaging system they could use to communicate with one another. Occasionally there was light coordination with whatever local court-connected mediation programs had a relationship with the court, so some ODR systems enabled parties to invite a mediator into the chat room to assist the text-based negotiation.

ODR.com is the world’s leading platform for Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), built by the experts who created eBay and PayPal’s resolution systems, which handle over 60 million disputes annually. ODR.com offers cutting-edge tools to resolve conflicts efficiently without needing in-person appearances, revolutionizing the way disputes are managed. Whether it’s for courts, businesses, or individuals, the platform provides a comprehensive range of dispute resolution services, including negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. Seamlessly integrating with existing systems, ODR.com streamlines the resolution process, reduces case backlogs, and saves both time and costs. It offers a scalable, secure, and user-friendly solution that adapts to a variety of dispute types, from family and civil cases to workplace and consumer issues. With ODR.com, dispute resolution is faster, fairer, and more accessible than ever.

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ODR.com is part of the AAA^®family of organizations that includes Mediate.com, ICDR.org, and Ombuds.org. These sites support the work of tens of thousands of dispute resolvers around the world.