About the Symposium

"Technology, Values and the Justice System" was the culminating event of an almost three-year effort by the Access to Justice Technology Bill of Rights (ATJ-TBoR) initiative of the Washington State Access to Justice Board (for more information about the ATJ Board, please visit: www.waaccesstojustice.org). ATJ-TBoR is the first systemic undertaking anywhere created to assure that the new information and communication technologies do not perpetuate or exacerbate past barriers and inequities in accessing justice or create new obstacles due to the so-called Digital Divide, but rather to assure that these technologies are used as a tool to minimize or eliminate past barriers and inequities and create new opportunities for increasing both access to justice for all and the quality of justice for all. For more information on the ATJ-TBoR and its process, please visit: www.atjtechbillofrights.org

The conference and symposium were co-hosted by the Washington State Access to Justice Technology Bill of Rights Committee, the University of Washington School of Law and the Washington Law Review., and co-sponsored by the University of Washington Information School and the Shidler Center for Law, Commerce and Technology.

We believe this to have been the first conference ever on the subject, "Technology, Values and the Justice System", and also the first effort generally to explore developments in information technologies, the use of such technologies in the justice system, and the broader societal ramifications of such use. The event was an unprecedented opportunity for an exchange of ideas, theories, opinions and practical experience among influential state and national leaders and scholars, judges, lawyers, legal consumers, lawmakers, technologists, and members of law school and information school communities. Attendees interacted with such speakers and presenters as Vinton Cerf, truly one of the parents of the Internet; technology ethicist Helen Nissenbaum of NYU and Princeton; legal historian and professor Morton Horwitz of Harvard Law School; expert in values design in technology Batya Friedman of the University of Washington Information School; Chief Justice Gerry Alexander of the Washington State Supreme Court; Former President of the Legal Services Corporation and current United States Attorney John McKay; Former Chief Justice and current consultant and drafter of Constitutions and laws of emerging nations Robert Utter; Dean W.H. (Joe) Knight of the UW Law School; Dean Mike Eisenberg of the UW Information School; Professor Ed Lazowska of the UW Department of Computer Science; and many others of substantial expertise and professional stature from the academic to the highly concrete.

On this website you will find a full schedule of the conference, list of presenters and subjects, and videos of the conference presentations and proceedings. Through links in the Schedule section of the website, you can also find the presentation materials used by many of the presenters.

The Washington Law Review dedicated an entire symposium issue (volume 79, Number 1, February 2004) to material specifically written for or stimulated by this conference and its subject. You can access any or all of the articles through this website.

If you have any questions or would like additional information on anything mentioned above, please contact James Kim, Justice Programs Technology Manager at jamesk@wsba.org or call (206)239-2118; or contact Donald Horowitz, Chair of the Access to Justice Technology Bill of Rights Committee at djh@atjtechbillofrights.org or call (206)328-2952.

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