On April 9, 2026, Mass Lawyers Weekly (MLW) reported on the work of Suffolk Law's American Arbitration Association (AAA) Online Dispute Resolution Innovation Clinic, a partnership developing AI-powered tools that help self-represented parties navigate uncontested divorce in Massachusetts.

The MLW story describes a familiar problem: people who can't afford attorneys returning to Probate and Family Court multiple times because their low-contest divorce paperwork is incomplete. Clinic director and retired Massachusetts Probate and Family Court Chief Justice John D. Casey told MLW that his clinic students have witnessed litigants who are coming back two or three times because they can't fill out the paperwork properly. 

According to MLW, the clinic is working on two fronts. Students have customized the AAA's ODR platform to guide divorcing couples through key issues — including custody, support, and asset division — and produce a separation agreement formatted for the court's review. The story also reports that students in Suffolk's Legal Innovation & Technology Lab are building Turbo Tax-style guided interviews that help self-represented litigants complete divorce filings.

The scale of the need is significant. Massachusetts Probate and Family Court handles tens of thousands of domestic relations filings annually, with an estimated 75 percent involving at least one self-represented party. Casey told MLW that courthouse staff spend "thousands and thousands of hours" helping people complete forms properly. Casey told MLW the tools will "revolutionize what is happening in the Family Court."

MLW reports that the AAA brought its technology expertise to the partnership because it saw family law as a field where it could expand access to services. Casey told the publication that the goal is to create efficiencies that could be replicated across the country. 

Casey and clinic students will be among the presenters at “Arbitration and Mediation in the Age of AI,” a one-day conference hosted by the AAA and Suffolk Law on June 12 in Boston. The conference will feature panel discussions, live demonstrations, and case studies examining how AI is being applied in dispute resolution. A hackathon follows on June 13. Registration details are available at the conference page.