The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law recently released a report entitled, Understanding Justice Needs: The Elephant in the Courtroom. The Institute describes the report as follows:

For the first time, we quantify and pinpoint the yearly need for fair solutions. In this report, we estimate that each year, 1 billion people face a new and serious conflict. They experience violence, stress, loss of work and income or damage to key relationships. Data show that right now, people rely on litigation in overburdened courts or go to friends, lawyers and other helpers for informal solutions. Across countries studied, one third of people’s most serious problems are solved in time. The report shows how legal service providers and courts could embrace user-centred innovation and focus on seamless delivery of fair solutions.

Here’s the table of contents:

Summary: Bringing Justice Home at Scale

1. 1. Lives in Distress: Similar Fairness Needs
   2. Confused Clients, Stressed Judges, Strained Systems
   3. Begin With the Fair End in Mind: Mostly Just Understandings
   4. Three Upgrades: Innovating For Fair Solutions
   5. Three Technologies Can Provide Scalable, High Quality Justice
   6. Enabling the Justice Sector Transition
   7. Doing the Numbers: Low Cost Values
   8. Starting Tomorrow: Small Steps, Bold Partnerships

This report was developed under the leadership of Professor Maurits Barendrecht, the Institute’s research director. He is a prolific researcher specializing in dispute systems who “has lead several large scale innovation projects in the realm of justice and governance, which directly address urgent justice needs which are difficult to cope with through existing legal arrangements. These interactive research and development projects usually take place in cooperation with stakeholders such as client groups, ministries of justice, the judiciary, or those involved in the supply of legal services.”