Rostain, Tanina, Access to Justice as Access to Data (July 25, 2024). Forthcoming in the Northwestern Law Review, Volume 119, 2024., Georgetown University Law Center Research Paper Forthcoming, (2024). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. 2619., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4905900 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4905900

This Keynote Address, delivered in celebration of the launch of SCALES, discusses the importance of making local and state court data available for research on the functioning of the American civil justice system. It describes the regulatory and administrative challenges of obtaining good-quality data from courts. It calls for a concerted effort among researchers and policymakers to develop open-source technologies for the development of case management systems and data infrastructure. And it urges researchers to foster a collaborative research ecosystem based on broadly sharing court data.