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Judiciary outlines Access Resource Center, mental‑health and AI work aimed at helping self‑represented litigants
Summary
The Judiciary described an Access Resource Center that provides statewide help to self-represented litigants, a tri-branch mental‑health commission and a new committee studying court uses of artificial intelligence.
A Judiciary presentation to the House Judiciary Committee highlighted three programs the Judiciary said aim to improve access to justice: a statewide Access Resource Center for self‑represented litigants, a tri-branch Vermont Judiciary Commission on Mental Health in the courts, and a recently created Judiciary committee studying uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in court operations.
The Judiciary representative said the Access Resource Center began as a walk-in clinic at the Chittenden County courthouse but was repurposed during the pandemic to operate statewide by phone, e‑mail and video. "They are designed to help self‑represented litigants navigate the system — forms, questions, whatever — and they can be transferred to the access resource people to get more help," the Judiciary representative said.
Nut graf: Officials described the center as a practical, staffed resource for people who arrive at courthouses needing more time or expertise than on-site staff can provide; the center supplements in-courthouse help by offering remote support to multiple locations.
Mental-health commission and workshops
Officials said the Vermont Judiciary Commission on Mental Health in the courts is a tri-branch effort (legislative, judicial and executive participants) that has worked on competency-evaluation reforms and now plans regional sequential-intercept model workshops to map diversion and treatment resources; workshops were scheduled for 2025 in Southeast, Southwest and Chittenden regions, presenters said.
AI committee
The Judiciary representative also described a new Judiciary Committee on Artificial Intelligence, formed to evaluate how AI tools could help with processing and with resources for self-represented litigants, such as chatbots linked to court websites. The committee will assess legal, evidentiary and ethical risks and coordinate with court operations workgroups.
Why it matters: The programs seek to reduce barriers for people without lawyers, divert people with mental‑health needs to appropriate services where possible, and explore low‑risk automation to help litigants complete forms and find information.
Next steps: The Judiciary representative said deeper hearings will be scheduled for the mental‑health and AI items in the coming months and that the committee will report further work to the legislature.
Ending: Committee leaders thanked presenters and indicated they will return for more detailed briefings on sequential‑intercept implementation and AI guardrails.
