Judicial Innovation Fellowship

An access to justice program, the projects JIF (pronounced "Jif", like the peanut butter) fellows focus on helping court modernize their technical infrastructure, process, and design of public facing websites and tools that are built for people who cannot afford an attorney.

[2] Originally, the authors proposed that "Congress should create and fund a Judicial Innovation Fellowship that brings experienced technologists and service designers into state, tribal, and federal courts to improve judicial administration, transparency, and access to justice, like programs in the U.S. federal executive and legislative branches (such as the United States Digital Service and TechCongress)."

JIF published a "roadmap" based on over 100 interviews with experts in justice sector reform, government technology, and fellowship programs.

[4] The document identified common pain points experienced by courts across the United States, including the need for improved user-centered design, cybersecurity, data infrastructure, and calendaring and scheduling.

[7] [8] In Hamilton County, the project focused on improving court data infrastructure and software documentation regarding both civil and criminal legal case management.

The report ends by saying the future of the program is unclear and that the co-founders will spend time thinking about the lessons learned from the experience.