COVID 19: A catalyst to automate protection order petitions to support self‐represented litigants

• Published date: 01 April 2022
• Author: Ayyoub Ajmi
• Date: 01 April 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12635

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

COVID 19: A catalyst to automate protection

order petitions to support self-represented

litigants

Ayyoub Ajmi

Leon E. Bloch Law Library, University of

Missouri –Kansas City School of Law,

Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Correspondence

Ayyoub Ajmi, Leon E. Bloch Law Library,

University of Missouri –Kansas City School of

Law, Kansas City, MO, USA.

Email: ajmia@umkc.edu

Abstract

COVID-19 exacerbated the crisis in access to legal services

especially for victims of domestic violence for whom the

pandemic made their situations even more precarious. In

this article, the author shares his experience of building and

implementing an automated solution to help pro-se litigants

petition the court for emergency protection orders remotely

and without the need to visit the courthouse. The article

describes the lessons learned in developing a state court

online portal dedicated to educating abuse victims and pro-

viding them with an automated way to petition the court

for protection orders remotely without the need to visit a

courthouse. The article concludes that implementing repli-

cable models in other jurisdictions could create various effi-

cient web-based solutions for helping self-represented

litigants access the legal services that they need.

KEYWORDS

automated documents, COVID-19, domestic violence, online

access, pro-se litigants

Key points for practitioners

•COVID-19 required innovation to expand access to legal

services by survivors seeking orders of protection from

abuse.

•Online portals can provide education and an automated

process for applying for protective orders that is superior

to paper or even online forms.

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12635

© 2022 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

Family Court Rev. 2022;60:165–180. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre 165

•Open-access low-cost tools are available for building and

implementing automated solutions for access to justice.

•Building online solutions for access to justice requires an

investment in convening stakeholders to discover oppor-

tunities and barriers and a phased implementation with

testing and feedback.

INTRODUCTION

COVID-19 and the subsequent measures to limit its spread have had a disruptive effect on all aspects of our lives,

including access to legal services and court operations. In Kansas, the Supreme Court issued a series of administra-

tive orders to allow the courts to operate during the pandemic safely.

1

These procedural and structural changes per-

mitted state courts to continue providing essential services to Kansans while following public health guidelines that

protect judges, court staff, and visitors.

COVID-19 was also a catalyst for the court to accelerate the deployment of several digital solutions, such as

electronic filing for attorneys and the implementation of a statewide centralized case management system. Thanks

to grants from the state's Federal Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding Program,

2

the court was able to

respond to the immediate challenges caused by the pandemic by shifting to virtual court proceedings and equipping

court staff to work remotely.

However, the limitations of in-person access to resources such as self-help centers, court libraries,

and court clerks, and the dependency on paper-based processes exacerbated the lack of access to legal ser-

vices for self-help litigants, especially in relation to time-sensitive matters such as emergency protection

orders.

In this article, the author shares his experience of building and implementing an automated solution to help pro-

se litigants petition the court for emergency protection orders remotely and without the need to visit the court-

house. The paradigm shift caused by the pandemic brought an immediate need to design and deploy new solutions

using an agile and iterative approach where tools such as automating protection orders could be developed and

delivered in small working increments.

The first part of this article discusses the population of domestic violence victims who pursu e

self-representation, the challenges they face, and support provided to them through court-based programs,

non-governmental legal services providers, and victim advocates. The second section discusses the limitat ions

of the current system of standardized court forms and in-person assistance. The paper concludes by sharing

the lessons learned in developing the Kansas Protection Order Portal (KSPOP), a portal dedicated to e ducat-

ing abuse victims and providing them with an automated way to petition the court for protection orders

remotely without the need to visit a courthouse. The portal discussed in this article and the lessons learned

throughout its development suggest that implementing replicable models in other jurisdictions could create

various efficient web-based solutions for helping self-represented litigants access the legal services that

they need.

1

Administrative Orders Related to COVID-19, KANSAS COURTS, https://www.kscourts.org/About-the-Courts/Court-Administration/OJA/Kansas-Courts-

Response-to-Coronavirus-(COVID-19)/Administrative-Orders-Related-to-COVID-19.

2

FY 2020 Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding Program,BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE (Mar. 30, 2020), https://bja.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/bja-

2020-18553.

166 FAMILY COURT REVIEW