70 Million Cases. Is Court Self-Service Keeping Up?

Did you know that every year, approximately 70 million cases are filed in state courts across the United States?

Those cases translate into millions of people navigating courthouses to find the right courtroom, check in for hearings, complete forms, make payments, request records, and get answers to routine questions.

Across roughly 3,200 courthouse locations nationwide, that creates an enormous demand for information and assistance.

Yet adoption of courthouse self-service technology remains relatively fragmented.

There is no national inventory tracking how many courthouses currently offer self-service kiosks, digital check-in, wayfinding, guided forms, or similar tools. Publicly documented deployments, however, show that courts are beginning to recognize the opportunity.

Arkansas reported installing 80 self-service kiosks in courthouses and law libraries, providing access to court information, automated forms, and legal resources. North Carolina began deploying 20 e-filing kiosks in 2023, while Tennessee has funded courthouse kiosks across 10 counties. Individual courts across the country have also introduced solutions ranging from jury check-in and payment kiosks to multilingual wayfinding and forms assistance.

The need is difficult to ignore. Tens of millions of cases move through a court system still heavily dependent on staff-assisted and paper-based processes.

The goal of self-service is never to replace courthouse staff, but to support them. By giving visitors another way to complete routine tasks independently, staff can focus their time on questions and situations that truly require human assistance.

With case volume this large, even incremental adoption of self-service technology has the potential to significantly improve how people interact with their courts.