Increase Access to Justice by Efficiently Managing
Self-Represented Litigants.
Welcome to Modern Docket! We connect courts and attorneys with pro se litigants for efficient administration of legal proceedings by turning court workflows into guided service plans.
The Problem
Self-representation is a growing operational challenge
Courts across the country are managing increasing numbers of self-represented litigants, creating added pressure on staff, filing review, procedural support, and case progression.
Colorado data illustrates the scale of that challenge. The opportunity is to give self-represented litigants a structured, measurable pathway that connects them to legal help at the moments it matters most.
Source: Colorado Judicial Branch, Cases and Parties without Attorney Representation, FY2025.
of Colorado domestic relations cases filed in FY2025 had no attorney on the case.
of parties to those same cases did not have representation.
The Solution
Guided self-service with limited representation
Technology handles procedural navigation while attorneys focus on legal guidance, making both dramatically more efficient.
Technology layer
- Self-guided workflows organized into milestones
- Progress tracking across the full case lifecycle
- Court-document downloads generated from user inputs
Legal professionals
- Attorneys, volunteers, and authorized paraprofessionals can be assigned to matters
- Limited-scope help is reserved for the moments that require legal judgment
- Communication and document review stay connected to the case
Court administration
- Customizable plans reflect existing forms and local procedures
- Administrators can monitor progress without giving legal advice
- Program data supports resource planning and access-to-justice initiatives
For self-represented litigants
A clear path, one step at a time
Self-represented litigants receive a guided pathway through the legal process instead of navigating forms and procedure alone. Modern Docket organizes the work into manageable milestones and keeps professional help connected to the matter when a program makes it available.
- See what is complete, what remains, and what comes next.
- Answer case-specific questions once and reuse information across required court documents.
- See only the steps, questions, and forms that apply to their circumstances.
- Download prepared court documents, track progress, and communicate with participating legal professionals in one workspace.
For courts
Oversight without giving legal advice
Courts can administer a coordinated self-represented litigant program from a central view—monitoring progress, coordinating attorney assignments, and identifying where users or workflows need attention while preserving the Court’s neutral role.
- Create and maintain configurable service plans based on existing forms, rules, deadlines, and local procedures.
- Assign and reassign participating attorneys or LLPs and monitor case progression across the program.
- Identify inactivity, stalled milestones, upcoming dates, and recurring procedural bottlenecks.
- Use aggregated program data to evaluate access-to-justice initiatives, resource needs, filing quality, and workflow performance.
For attorneys
Advice, not administration
Modern Docket preserves and enhances the value of the attorney-client relationship by shifting routine procedural work away from consultation time. Attorneys receive organized case information before advising a client, making limited representation more focused, practical, and scalable.
- Create service plans that structure recurring legal matters into guided milestones, tasks, documents, and points for attorney involvement.
- Review organized client information and generated documents before consultations begin.
- Focus professional time on legal judgment, strategy, individualized advice, negotiation, and advocacy.
- Participate through volunteer, paid, or hybrid limited-representation models while keeping communications and case status organized by matter.
Answers by audience
Frequently asked questions
What Modern Docket is, how self-represented litigants use it, how service plans work, and what oversight courts and organizations receive.
About the Platform
What is Modern Docket?
Modern Docket is a legal services platform designed to help courts, attorneys, and legal aid organizations deliver more efficient services to self-represented litigants. By combining structured workflows with attorney oversight and limited-scope representation, Modern Docket helps expand access to justice while preserving the attorney-client relationship.
Does Modern Docket replace attorneys?
No. Modern Docket is designed to support—not replace—the work of attorneys. The platform streamlines routine procedural tasks so attorneys can focus on legal strategy, individualized advice, and client advocacy. Rather than reducing the role of legal professionals, it makes their time more impactful and allows them to assist more clients through limited representation.
Who is Modern Docket designed for?
Modern Docket is built for organizations committed to improving the delivery of legal services, including:
- State and local courts,
- Law firms,
- Legal aid organizations,
- Bar associations,
- Licensed Legal Paraprofessionals (where authorized), and
- Government agencies administering legal service programs.
Modern Docket’s platform is particularly helpful to organizations serving large numbers of self-represented litigants.
How does Modern Docket improve access to justice?
Many individuals cannot afford full legal representation but still need meaningful legal guidance. Modern Docket helps bridge that gap by providing a platform that allows courts and attorneys to organize routine procedural tasks into guided processes while creating opportunities for attorneys to provide focused legal advice through limited representation. The result is a more efficient, affordable, and accessible legal service model.
What is the benefit of using this platform?
Organizations using a guided legal services model often seek to improve procedural consistency, reduce administrative burden, enhance the experience of self-represented litigants, and expand access to limited legal representation. Modern Docket provides the tools needed to support these objectives while giving administrators greater visibility into the overall process.
For Self-Represented Litigants
What can self-represented litigants do with Modern Docket?
Courts and attorneys can use Modern Docket to provide self-represented litigants with a structured, step-by-step pathway through a legal process. Users can complete guided milestones, answer case-specific questions, generate required court documents, track their progress, receive direction on the next procedural step, and interact with legal professionals—all from a single platform.
Can self-represented litigants access legal assistance through the platform?
Yes. Modern Docket is designed to complement limited-scope legal representation by connecting litigants with participating attorneys or other authorized legal professionals when assistance is needed. Users can chat with legal professionals, request consultations, upload documents, receive feedback, and more.
Does every self-represented litigant follow the same process?
No. Each service plan, i.e. guided process, is created by the court or attorney offering it to self-represented litigants. Further, each case is unique, and the platform is designed to present only the information, documents, and procedural steps relevant to a user’s individual circumstances, which are driven by the self-represented litigant’s answers to questions. This personalized approach helps reduce unnecessary complexity while ensuring litigants receive guidance appropriate to their case.
Can litigants track the progress of their case?
Yes. Modern Docket provides users with a clear view of their progress throughout the legal process, including completed milestones, outstanding tasks, and upcoming procedural requirements. This transparency helps litigants stay organized, meet important deadlines, and approach each stage of their case with greater confidence.
Service Plans
What is a service plan?
A service plan is a structured legal workflow that guides users through a specific legal process from beginning to end. Each service plan is organized into milestones, sub-steps, required tasks, educational resources, and court documents, providing litigants with a clear roadmap while allowing administrators to monitor progress throughout the case.
Can service plans be customized for different legal matters?
Yes. Modern Docket is designed to support configurable service plans that can be tailored to the needs of a court, law firm, legal aid organization, or government agency. Whether supporting divorce, probate, guardianship, landlord-tenant matters, or other legal processes where pro se rates are high, service plans can be designed to reflect the procedures and forms applicable to each area of law.
Who creates and maintains a service plan?
Service plans are developed by attorneys in collaboration with the court or organization implementing Modern Docket. Courts, attorneys, and other authorized legal professionals help define the workflow to ensure it reflects applicable procedures, required documents, and organizational objectives. Once implemented, service plans can be updated as laws, court rules, or forms change. Courts and law firms can choose to manage these changes on their own or rely on Modern Docket’s support team.
Can a service plan reflect our existing court procedures?
Absolutely. Modern Docket is designed to complement existing workflows—not replace them. Service plans can be configured to mirror an organization’s current procedures and processes for managing self-represented litigants, allowing courts and legal service providers to maintain consistency and improve user experience.
What makes a Modern Docket service plan different from a checklist?
A checklist tells users what they need to do. A Modern Docket service plan actively guides users through each stage of the legal process by organizing tasks, presenting only relevant information, generating required documents, tracking progress, and supporting attorney or administrative oversight. The result is a more interactive and supportive experience for both litigants and legal professionals.
Can service plans evolve over time?
Yes. Legal procedures, court forms, and organizational priorities change over time. Modern Docket’s platform is designed for service plans to be maintained and refined so organizations can adapt workflows, update documents, and improve the user experience without rebuilding the entire process.
Can multiple service plans exist within the same organization?
Yes. Courts and attorneys can implement multiple service plans to support other matters where rates of self-representation are high. Each service plan has its own workflow, documents, milestones, and administrative oversight, while operating on the same platform.
For Courts and Organizations
Can Modern Docket be customized for our court or law firm?
Yes. Every court, jurisdiction, law firm, and legal service organization has unique procedures and requirements. Modern Docket is designed to be modified and configured around new and existing forms, workflows, and administrative processes rather than forcing these entities to change how they operate or requiring routine third-party support. A personalized demonstration is the best way to explore how the platform can support your specific objectives.
What oversight does the platform provide?
Modern Docket gives authorized administrators visibility into the progress of participating cases from a centralized dashboard. Organizations can monitor activity, track case progression, coordinate attorney participation, and identify cases that may require additional attention—all while maintaining appropriate controls that adhere to attorney confidentiality, duties, and ethics.
How does Modern Docket benefit attorneys?
By organizing case information and guiding clients through routine procedural requirements before consultation, Modern Docket allows attorneys to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time providing legal advice. This improves the efficiency of limited representation, increases the value of attorney-client interactions, and enables legal professionals to assist more clients without sacrificing quality.
How long does implementation take?
Implementation varies depending on the organization’s goals and the complexity of the legal process being supported. Modern Docket works closely with each organization to configure forms, workflows, and administrative preferences before launch. During a personalized demonstration, we can discuss what implementation would look like for your court or organization.
How can Modern Docket help courts improve access to justice?
Modern Docket provides courts and attorneys with meaningful operational insights into how self-represented litigants progress through guided legal workflows, such as the ability to identify procedural bottlenecks and areas where litigants commonly require assistance. They can also evaluate trends, such as milestone completion rates, attorney participation, workflow progression, and overall program engagement, so courts and attorneys can make more informed decisions about resource allocation, legal aid distribution, and future access-to-justice initiatives.
Personalized demonstration
See how Modern Docket would fit your court or organization
We are scheduling demonstrations with courts and local governments to show how Modern Docket can improve access to justice, streamline legal workflows, and support attorneys in delivering more effective legal services.
What we can cover
- How a service plan maps to your existing process
- What administrators and attorneys can see
- How litigants move from questions to documents
- What implementation could look like for your organization