Pioneers and Pathfinders · John Mayer
Today we continue our exploration of the efforts underway to close the justice gap with our guest, John Mayer, the executive director of the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) at Chicago-Kent, the law school of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). One of CALI's key projects is A2J Author, a software tool that enables nontechnical stakeholders from the courts, legal services programs, and law schools to rapidly build and implement user-friendly interfaces for document assembly. A2J Guided Interviews remove many of the barriers faced by self-represented litigants, allowing them to easily complete court documents. It is a testament to how law, design, and technology working together can close the justice gap.
Listen in to today's conversation with John to learn:
- Why an engineer by education and self-described systems thinker chose to stay “law adjacent” rather than embarking on the chief information officer path.
- How John's participation in a joint project of Kent Law School and the Institute of Design at IIT on self-represented litigants laid the groundwork for A2J Author.
- And why John believes automating court forms is one of the best ways for law students to learn the law.
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