About
CourtFormat is an automated legal document processor that instantly formats text to comply with California Rules of Court requirements for seamless court filings. The tool transforms ordinary, unstructured documents into properly formatted California pleading paper — with 28 numbered lines, compliant captions, correct margins, and proper line spacing — making them filing-ready in minutes rather than hours.
CourtFormat is built for self-represented litigants, solo practitioners, paralegals, and anyone who needs to file documents in California courts without the expense of traditional legal preparation services. It is especially valuable for individuals navigating arbitration, civil proceedings, or family law matters on their own — people who cannot afford hourly counsel but still must meet strict procedural formatting standards that courts enforce before a single argument is read.
The project is built by AIAndArbitration, founded by Littleton Steven Irby — an artist, not a lawyer — who spent three years navigating binding healthcare arbitration self-represented. That firsthand experience with procedural barriers, rejected filings, and unforgiving deadlines became the foundation for this tool. Every rejected filing cost time the case could not afford, and every formatting error was a barrier between an ordinary person and a fair hearing.
CourtFormat is the first product in a broader mission to make legal procedure accessible to everyone, regardless of financial resources. Future tools in development include ArbiterPath for arbitration case management and an Arbitration Analyzer for strategy review across opposing party documents. None of these tools replace a lawyer — they replace the chaos that stops self-represented people before their argument is ever heard.