Designed a notification and education texting service for legal cases
Many defendants lack awareness of legal proceedings due to the complex nature of the legal system. This lack of transparency affects court appearance and defendant case outcomes.
CourtChat keeps defendants informed through simple, timely text messages explaining updates to their court cases.
CourtChat keeps defendants informed through simple, timely text messages explaining updates to their court cases.
I was the founding product designer, where I led product discovery, ideation and design, and eventually managed the technical implementation of the MVP (see implementation project).
Input from legal practitioners and defendants was a critical component of our design process, ensuring our solution aligned with the context of a defendant’s experience.
Input from legal practitioners and defendants was a critical component of our design process, ensuring our solution aligned with the context of a defendant’s experience.
Paul Gehrig, Product & Design
Cuyahoga County Courts
Fundraising & Sales
Engineering
CourtChat- a court reminder and education texting service
Problem
The criminal legal system is a maze experts are trained to maneuver
Defendants lack basic information about their court cases
Court-appointed attorneys are overworked
Defendants miss court dates and misunderstand terms, leading to lifelong consequences
Hypothesis
Informed defendants will navigate the system more effectively
Qualitative research has demonstrated that defendants are more likely to appear in court when they have higher trust and perceptions of procedural justice and know what to expect.
Court date reminders
Legal explainers
Feel informed and prepared
Attend court dates
Better case outcomes
How might we improve defendants’ feelings of preparation for their court cases?
Core Metrics:
Defendants feelings of preparation
Court appearance
Approach
Discover
How do defendants experience this problem?
Sketch
What are some possible ways to address the problem?
Test
What’s the most effective and lowest risk way to address it?
Design
Fleshing out the details. How should it look, feel, and interact?
Mapped the pretrial process to pinpoint challenges
I partnered with students at Cleveland State Marshall College of Law and public defenders to create process maps illustrating a user's journey during pretrial.
We found that users are more likely to face ambiguous and confusing situations early in their cases.
🗺️ Basic map created with public defenders and students at Cleveland State Marshall College of Law
Defined priorities for how information is presented
A closed card sort helped me identify which qualities of information users value most. Delivering on these qualities became a litmus test for future concepts.
Users want information to be 1) timely, 2) easy to understand, and 3) accurate.
🃏 Card sort options (left) and results (right)
Heuristic evaluation: case information is available, but poorly designed
1. Defendants have to regularly search for their particular case (4-5 clicks)
2. A wall of text, mostly legal jargon
3. No hierarchy, impossible for users to prioritize information
2. A wall of text, mostly legal jargon
3. No hierarchy, impossible for users to prioritize information
Defendants are not notified when there are important updates to their case.
Example case on Cuyahoga County’s online docket, maybe they forgot to turn off CAPS LOCK 😬
Timely information = notifications
Notifications make it easy for users to receive information when they need it most. I chose to use text messages because they are familiar to users, and the intimate, conversational nature can instill trust.
97% of people with mobile phones text daily, and text messages have a 98% open rate.
Notification content approaches, experimenting with style and voice 🧪
Text message interaction > web app
I designed a small A/B test to measure the effect of more robust educational content on users understanding of legal topics.
No significant difference in understanding between concepts. However, the context switching when going between web app and text conversation resulted in some users taking slightly longer to understand the topic.
In option 🅰️ users access information via structured prompts vs a typical interface in option 🅱️
Designed the content and interaction strategy
I worked closely with public defenders to identify and craft important updates and determine when they should be sent. I designed an interaction model that allows users to choose to learn more about relevant topics via structured prompts.
⚖️ Steps of the legal process overlayed with case updates and interaction options
Solution
CourtChat - a text notification and education service
Important case updates sent right to your phone
Add to Calendar
Dates and times of court hearings are sent using a recognizable date format. This reduces 🧠 Cognitive Load by allowing users to add events to their calendar in just a few taps.
Regular reminders
Defendants are reminded a week, 3 days, and 1 day before court dates, using the 👉Nudge principle to encourage users to prepare for and attend court dates.
Quick answers to questions about your case from legal professionals
We’ll use these questions to identify gaps in understanding and inform future iterations.
Flexibility
Defendants have varying degrees of experience navigating the legal system. Flexible interactions provide users with information at the right level of depth. This avoids the 🌩️ Curse of Knowledge, which assumes all users have the same level of understanding.
Quick responses
Court-appointed attorneys, overwhelmed with other cases, often take weeks to respond to a defendant’s questions. Our team is primed to respond to all questions within 2 days. This reliability builds trust with users.
Prepare for upcoming court dates and learn about relevant topics
These structured prompts mimic navigation on an interface. Engagement with prompts informs future iterations.
Learning options
Users choose what they want to learn about. These options are structured as open questions, using 💭 Curiosity Gaps to encourage engagement and retention.
Scannable information
Information is spaced to facilitate scanning. We use emojis as visual cues to separate and anchor each point. These are examples of 🍪 Chunking.
Results
Randomized controlled trial with 600 users
In Progress
We received funding and support from Cuyahoga County (Ohio) to test this concept with felony defendants in the Court of Common Pleas.
Study Metrics
Engagement
Number of responses to prompts and questions submitted.
Preparation
Likert scale response (1-5) to feelings of preparation the day after court dates.
Appearance
Rate at which defendants appear for court dates.