By Chris Caesar
law of technology
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winter 2026
technology of law
By Michael Fisch
Winning an eviction case should be the end of the story. But in Massachusetts, it’s often just the beginning of a different nightmare. Even tenants who prevail in court—beating back unfounded claims and keeping their apartments—find themselves haunted by the public record of that filing. Tenant-screening algorithms don’t care who won. They just see “eviction case” and flag the application.
It’s a cruel irony baked into Massachusetts housing law, at least until recently. A landmark eviction-sealing provision in the state’s Affordable Homes Act, which took effect May 5, 2025, finally allows residents to petition courts to seal certain eviction records—cases they won, those dismissed, or those involving no-fault evictions. But a new law is only as good as people’s ability to use it.
That’s where Suffolk Law students stepped in.
Working shoulder to shoulder with Massachusetts Trial Court administrators, students in Suffolk’s Legal Innovation & Technology (LIT) Lab built a free, mobile-friendly digital tool that transforms the sealing process from bureaucratic maze into guided conversation. The students in the LIT Lab specialize in translating legal complexity into accessible technology that expands access to justice.
“Some landlords don’t distinguish between a tenant who won their case or had it dismissed and one who was evicted for a violation,” said Quinten Steenhuis, LIT Lab co-director. “That record can follow someone for years.”
Using Docassemble, an open-source platform, students coded a rules-based interview system that asks the right questions in plain English, determines eligibility, and generates court-ready petitions. It required them to master not just the statutory language but the real-world complications: timing rules, jurisdiction questions, and the different standards for a variety of case types. Then they had to make it all intuitive enough for someone to use on a phone while riding the subway.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell joined Trial Court officials in announcing the tool’s launch—a signal of how seriously state leaders take both the housing crisis and Suffolk Law students’ technological solution.
