Litigant App User Guide

A complete reference for individuals seeking legal help through Justice Passport, including the MJP and ACE-CIS intake experiences.

Guide legend:

EVERYONE: applies to all logged-in litigants

CASE CREATED FOR ME

I CREATE MY OWN CASE

VIEWER: a passport shared with you

MJP: general intake

ACE: eviction-representation intake

Contents

1. What this app is for
2. Getting started
3. How your case gets started
4. Shared With Me (viewers)
5. MJP vs ACE intake
6. Cases
7. Referrals
8. Content
9. Communications
10. Profile
11. Notifications
12. Feedback, Help & Account

1. What this app is for

The Litigant app is your personal home base for a legal matter tracked through the Maryland Justice Passport (MJP) — including matters handled under Access to Counsel in Evictions (ACE-CIS), a program that provides free lawyers to income-eligible renters facing eviction. From here you can view your case, see who it's been referred to, upload documents, and manage your own account. The app is available in English, Spanish, Amharic, and Simplified Chinese.

There are two different ways your relationship with Justice Passport can begin — see Section 3 — and, if you complete an intake, two different intake experiences depending on whether your matter is general (MJP) or eviction-related (ACE) — see Section 5.

2. Getting started

Once you're logged in and verified, the top toolbar shows:

Link	When you'll see it	What it does
Logo	Always	Returns you to your Welcome page.
Get Started	Profile not yet complete	Takes you into the intake process to finish building your profile and case.
Cases	Profile complete	Your case list.
Content	Profile complete	Your files, notes, tasks, and events.
Notifications	Profile complete	Updates about your case(s).
Profile	Profile complete	Your personal information.
Account	Always (logged in)	Manage your email/password.
Help	Always	Support resources and contact info.
Theme toggle	Always	Switch light/dark mode. This guide follows light mode.

The app briefly shows a loading screen right after login while it loads reference data.

3. How your case gets started

There are two ways a case can come to exist for you in Justice Passport. Which one applies to you is detected automatically the moment you register, by matching your email address against existing records.

A. CASE CREATED FOR ME

A staff member at an admin or partner organization already entered your information and created a case for you, using your email address.

What happens when you register: the app finds the matching record and links your new account directly to it. Your profile is marked complete immediately, so you skip intake entirely — logging in takes you straight to your Cases list where your case is already waiting.

B. I CREATE MY OWN CASE

No one has entered your information yet. You either fill out a public intake form before creating an account, or you register first and complete intake afterward.

What happens when you register: a blank profile is created for you with an incomplete status, so after verifying your email you're sent to Get Started to complete an intake form and build your case from scratch.

How the match works

Matching is based on the exact email address you register with. If you register with a different email than the one a staff member used when creating your case, the system won't find the connection and will treat you as a brand-new user (Scenario B) instead.

4. Shared With Me (VIEWERS)

A third situation exists alongside the two scenarios above: someone who owns a case can share it with you by entering your name and email address — for example, a family member giving you visibility into their case. This makes you a VIEWER.

If a case has been shared with you

1. When you register with the email the case was shared to, you're recognized as a viewer automatically.
2. Logging in takes you to Shared With Me, a list of every case shared with you (access expires 30 days after being granted, unless renewed).
3. Click View on any shared case to see it — you won't be able to edit it.
4. You can click Create your own case at any time to start your own intake and become a full litigant.

If you own a case and want to share it

1. Open your case and go to the Access tab (only visible to the case's owner).
2. Enter the person's first name, last name, and email address.
3. They'll be able to view (not edit) the case for 30 days. You can revoke access at any time from the same tab.

5. MJP vs ACE intake

If you need to complete an intake (Scenario B above, or the public intake form before creating an account), there are two different forms depending on the kind of help you need.

MJP INTAKE

For: any general legal issue.

Steps (3):

1. About you — name, date of birth, contact info, address.
2. About your case — legal topic, legal issue, and a short summary.
3. Confirm & consent — agree to terms and tell us how you heard about Justice Passport.

No eligibility screening. Submitting creates your case and takes you to a completion page.

ACE INTAKE

For: renters facing eviction or losing a housing subsidy who need free legal representation. Not for rental/financial assistance — you'll be directed to call 211 for that.

Steps (4):

1. Get the right help — tell us what kind of help you need; an income & household-size eligibility check runs here. If you're not eligible, or you need a different kind of help, you'll be shown other resources instead of continuing.
2. About you — your information plus demographics (used for program reporting).
3. About your case — detailed eviction-specific questions (notices received, rent owed, subsidy status, prior evictions, etc.) and the ability to upload documents.
4. Confirm & consent — agree to terms and tell us how you heard about ACE.

Contacting ACE directly: You can also reach the ACE intake line by phone at 410-989-3005.

6. Cases (EVERYONE)

Cases list

A list of every case you own. Click a case to open its details.

Case details

Tabbed view: Case details, Content, Communications, Referrals, and — only if you're the case's owner — Access (for sharing, see Section 4).

1. Case details are read-only by default; click Edit to update information like your legal topic/issue, court date, or case summary.
2. Click Save when you're done.

Add Case

You can create additional cases by clicking Add Case. It is a short self-serve way to add another case: choose a legal topic and issue, and write a brief summary.

7. Referrals

If your case has been referred to a legal-aid provider, you'll see it listed under the Referrals tab of that case. Opening a referral shows the provider you've been connected with and lets you track your own progress:

• Your referral status — update this to reflect where things stand from your side (e.g. you've contacted the provider).
• Notes — a place to jot down anything you want to remember about this referral.

8. Content

Content is organized into four types, each with its own tab and count badge:

Type	What it's for
Files	Upload documents (up to 5 MB each). Select one or more to download — multiple files download as a single ZIP.
Notes	Free-text notes you want to keep.
Tasks	Things to do, with a due date and status.
Events	Dates and times (with location), optionally added to your calendar.

Add Content

1. Go to Content (or the Content tab inside a specific case) and choose Add.
2. Pick a type (File, Note, Task, or Event) and fill in the type-specific fields.
3. Optionally attach the content to one or more of your cases.
4. Save — you'll get a notification confirming it was added.

9. Communications

Inside a case's Communications tab, you'll find a read-only log of every message sent to you about that case — email, text, or in-app — along with its delivery status. Click any entry to see the full message.

10. Profile

Your Profile page holds your personal record: name, date of birth, email, phone numbers (with preferences for texting and voicemail), address, and your demographic information. It's read-only until you click Edit; click Save to apply changes.

11. Notifications

Your Notifications inbox shows updates about your case(s) — for example, when a referral status changes or new content is added. Use Notification Settings to choose which updates you receive and how (this is available even to viewers).

12. Feedback, Help & Account

• Feedback — a short survey about your experience: whether you got the help you needed, any challenges you faced, and an option to be contacted about your feedback.
• Help — links to the Justice Passport Knowledge Base and website, plus phone, text, and email contact options.
• Privacy and Consent — details on how your information is used.
• Account — manage your login email and password. Log in / Register / Forgot password / Verify email are all found under the Account/Auth area before you're fully logged in.