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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.
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)..
Most of these ODR 1.0 initiatives were opt-in, so parties would be informed about the ODR process when they e-filed their case, but it was up to the parties to take the initiative to log into the ODR platform and begin the process. However, there was little marketing and communication to litigants about the benefits of ODR, in particular, why the ODR process could be so valuable to them. Many litigants had already negotiated with their counterparty, and the only reason why they were coming to the court in the first place was because negotiations had melted down and the parties were at an impasse. Consequently, the opportunity to have further communication with the other side held little appeal. Courts spent many hours implementing these ODR systems only to find litigants were unaware the system was available, or were unenthusiastic about using it. Many court ODR initiatives only ended up handling a handful of cases.
Also, many of the ODR 1.0 companies suffered from poor user experience and simplistic functionality. The designs of ODR 1.0 companies were often clunky and poorly integrated. Users were confused about next steps, and they didn’t see the value from the bare-bones chat-like functionality of the early ODR systems. There was a simplistic approach to the resolution process: just provide a way for the parties to interact and they’ll resolve all their own cases. Fast forward to today, and many first wave ODR programs are being shut down or de-emphasized. First wave ODR 1.0 companies are being sold to Private Equity companies that cut back on new features and customer support, and internally built ODR 1.0 systems are becoming outdated and out of line with modern standards for technology.
Ironically, as all of this was playing out, there has been a massive shift in the power and reach of technology. First, in 2020, the pandemic provided a “forty year push” to society, forcing many businesses and public services to move online. Zoom became the new phone call, and everything from elementary school classes to Supreme Court hearings started taking place over videoconferencing. Second, in 2023, the arrival of ChatGPT heralded a new era in the power of technology to interact with and support users. Suddenly computer programs could communicate with users in natural language, and synthesize enormous amounts of information from around the internet into easily understandable answers provided to users in real time.
Many courts understand they are behind the times when it comes to technology. More than 95% of US citizens access the internet on a daily basis, with many people checking their phones and inboxes hundreds of times a day. American citizens now use technology in every area of their lives, from communicating with friends and family to working remotely at their jobs. They expect to be able to access services 24×7 online, and to work out problems quickly and efficiently through the use of technology. But many courts are underresourced and struggling to deal with the case volumes they currently have. The prospect of investing in technology to bring court services and access to justice up to the modern standards of online platforms in finance and medicine seems unattainable. This is encouraging litigants to find alternate paths to resolution, avoiding court even when they have a legitimate case, because they just see the court process as too inefficient and frustrating to select. This is leading to a general decline in civil court volumes, which is becoming a decade-long trend across the United States.
That is where we are with ODR 2.0. Learning from the lessons of the first wave of ODR innovation, ODR 2.0 is leveraging the power of recent breakthroughs in technology to realize the initial promise of court online dispute resolution. By integrating newly built software platforms that integrate video, voice, and artificial intelligence by design, and working with the backing of the largest dispute resolution service providers and experts in the field, ODR 2.0 is delivering new opportunities for parties to self-resolve their disputes. ODR 2.0 brings courts fully in line with modern standards around service availability and online interaction, increasing the relevance of courts and improving resolution rates while at the same time decreasing cost and improving litigant satisfaction.
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.