Year: 2015

ODR Advisory Group in the UK Recommends Online Court

Via Graham Ross: A ground breaking Report has just been released by the ODR Advisory Group to the Civil Justice Council for an Internet based court service, provisionally called Her Majesty’s Online Court (HMOC), with judges hearing cases online and with much more effort in helping people resolve disputes without requiring  a judge.

The Advisory Group has set up a website that will grow over time. It contains the full Report as well as additional material and interviews with experts including Modria co-founder, Colin Rule and Professor  Ethan Katsh.  The Report itself can be downloaded from here.

The report suggests a 3 tier system that moves from diagnosis to facilitation to dispute resolution  Even for cases requiring a judge this system will offer services at lower cost bot to the parties (reduced fees) and to the court service.

There has been considerable publicity to these proposals in all the national UK press and media. A spokesperson for HMCTS (Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service) has publicly responded to say: ‘We welcome the publication of this important and thought-provoking report. We agree that On-line Dispute Resolution is an important area and one that we are actively exploring in more detail in the context of the reform of court and tribunal services.

We are keen to continue to engage with the ODR Advisory Group on their report and any future work that the Civil Justice Council may commission them to do.’ 

Read more here.

ICT in the United Nations: Report of the Secretary-General

The United Nations Secretary-General recently issued a report recognizing “the enormous potential of information and communications technology to strengthen the decision-making and delivery capacity…in the areas of peace and security, development, human rights and international law….”  And stating that “in the past, technology has been regarded as a utility which is separate from substantive business. However, technology and business are not mutually exclusive, they are inextricably linked. The proposed strategy, as requested by the General Assembly, is set out in the present report and is a statement of how technology can be used to best effect in order to support the work of the Organization.”