Thanks to Mike Lind for sharing a link the new white paper “The Digitalisation of Tribunals: What we know and what we need to know.”

The report is co-authored by Professor Robert Thomas (Professor of Public Law, University of Manchester) and Dr Joe  Tomlinson (Lecturer in Public Law, University of Sheffield, and Research Director, Public Law Project).

From the Introduction:

“There is a global movement toward digital justice. In the UK, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) are implementing a wide-ranging court reform and digitalisation programme across the justice system. The digitalisation of administrative tribunals is a key part of that agenda. In global terms, the reforms being carried out by HMCTS are pioneering and are on an unprecedented scale. While there is clear ambition on display, much of the detail of how the new system will work are still being worked out.

This report covers four distinct questions:

• what is the context for the introduction of online tribunals?
• what do we know about what online tribunal procedures will look like?
• what are the key issues going forward?
• how do developments in the UK fit within wider international developments?

The digitalisation of tribunals can be understood as occurring within four related though discrete
contexts:

• reforms to administrative justice and changes to tribunals;
• advances in e-government;
• developments in online dispute resolution (ODR); and
• the development of the Transforming Our Justice System proposals.”

Click here for the full report.

A new article on the ABA website shares performance details from the British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal shared at the 2018 mid-year meeting in Vancouver.  From the article:

“The early results are encouraging, according to the developers and operators, who spoke at a panel discussion Saturday at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Vancouver. So far, the system has handled nearly 14,000 small-claims cases. Roughly 85 percent of the 700 cases resolved to date were settled. Only 12 went to decision at the tribunal.

More important, the online tribunal has made it much simpler for ordinary citizens to access the justice system with small disputes. Lawyers are generally prohibited from participating. Users fill out simple, easy-to-follow, step-by-step questionnaires online…”

The article shares quotes from Shannon Salter and Darin Thompson from the CRT and the BC Ministry of Justice.

Read more here.

From “Angelina Jolie’s Lawyer Now Offers Quickie Divorces Online,” by Amy Sohn in The New York Times, Feb. 3 2018:

‘Since couples now meet online, plan weddings online, cheat online and find couples therapists online, it is only logical that they should be able to divorce online.

It’s Over Easy is a new website that takes couples through divorce for a starting fee of $750. It is either liberating in its convenience (remember in the Rosalind Russell film “The Women” when the disgruntled wives had to fly to a dude ranch in Reno, Nev.?) or another sign of pending apocalypse.

More curiously, it was founded not by some fly-by-night 1-800-SPLIT-NOW type but by Laura Wasser, the affluent Beverly Hills-adjacent lawyer who has represented Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears, Jennifer Garner and Christina Aguilera, among other famous clients.

Ms. Wasser introduced the site privately to about a dozen of her friends and acquaintances in Los Angeles in the summer. Since late January, it has been available to the public in California and in New York, with plans to expand to Nevada, Oregon, Florida and Texas this year.

To promote these developments Ms. Wasser recently appeared on “Good Morning America” and spoke at the SoHo branch of the women’s club the Wing in New York, telling a lovelorn separated woman during a Q. and A. that in trying to punish her husband by dragging her feet on divorce, she was actually punishing herself. This week, an ad for It’s Over Easy appeared on the Nasdaq building, featuring an enormous head-to-toe image of the glamorous, honey-haired Ms. Wasser, with the headline “ONLINE DIVORCE AVAILABLE NOW.”’

Read more here

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) has released two new reports on court connected ODR:

1. JTC Resource Bulletin: Case Studies in ODR for Courts: A view from the front lines
2. JTC Resource Bulletin: ODR for Courts

For those outside the US, the NCSC is the organization courts turn to for authoritative knowledge and information, because it collaborates closely with the Conference of Chief Justices, the Conference of State Court Administrators, and other associations of judicial leaders.  NCSC’s leadership in promoting ODR in the courts is hugely legitimizing, and is likely to spark enormous interest on the part of Court Administrative Officers and Chief Justices in the US over 2018.

From the report:

“For more than 20 years, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) has been used effectively to resolve individual-to-individual e-commerce disputes. Increasingly, it is being used in innovative applications unique to the judiciary. While ODR is a new concept for courts, it is not a theory or a “bleeding-edge” technology. It is a proven tool with a documentable record of success over a sustained period of time: billions of disputes have been resolved outside of court using ODR. Significant opportunities exist for courts to leverage ODR to expand services while simultaneously reducing costs and improving the public’s experience and therefore, satisfaction. For those reasons, it is becoming central to the discussion of the future of courts.

In its 2016 recommendations entitled Call to Action: Achieving Civil Justice for All, the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) observes that navigating civil courts can be daunting and “those who enter the system confront a maze-like process that costs too much and takes too long.” The report notes that services should improve in step with changing needs and the development of new technologies, but goes on to lament that “courts lack any of the user-friendly support we rely on in other sectors.” Recommendation 13 of the CCJ report implores courts to “take all necessary steps to increase convenience to litigants by simplifying the court-litigant interface and creating on-demand court assistance services.” As such, “on-demand court assistance” must go beyond basic informational webpages or online payment portals.

A more public-facing use of technology, ODR takes the benefits of technology much further. While courts are using technology effectively to improve case management and administrative processes and to address federal disposition reporting requirements, ODR has the potential to dramatically expand the public’s access to justice and improve their experience with justice processes.”

Read more…

Our non-profit Social Network, ODR Latinoamerica, is celebrating twelve years since its discrete founding moment. In this context, with an enourmous amount of joy and pride, we share the product of our intense work. Below you’ll find a list with the latest and most relevant interactive academic events that we organized or broadcasted. We consider this a proof of our commitment to the Construction of Peace in the Digital Era

Thanks to all our friends that made this possible. We hope that 2018 turns out even more prosperous for the ODR!  

The European Commission adopted its first report on the functioning of the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform.

María Gabriela Sánchez García

Magistrate  of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of the State of Sinaloa, Mexico

Has been recognized by ODR Latinoamerica with the IMPULSORES AWARD 2017.

In merit of the contributions made for the promotion and spreading of  the New Technologies of Information and Communication for the Construction of Peace in the Digital Era.

THANK YOUR FOR YOUR COMMITMENT AND FOR THE STRENGHT LENT DURING THIS 2017

ODR Latinoamerica thanks all the colleagues that have accompany during this 2017 the spreding of the peaceful methods of conflict resolution through the use of new Technologies of Information and Communication.
The Impulsores Award and the Friends of ODR Latinoamerica Awards seek to highlight the contributions and efforts that made a sustancial difference for the purposes mentioned. THANK YOU!

PLEASE NOTE THE NEW DATES: NOVEMBER 14-15, 2018

The New Zealand Centre for ICT Law, in the School of Law at Auckland University, will host the 18th ODR Forum, on 14th and 15 November, 2018. Join your international colleagues in Auckland – consistently voted one of the world’s top ten “livable” cities – to explore current developments in the rapidly evolving world of digital platforms, portals, networks and courts.

The two key themes for the 2018 Forum are Innovation and Impact. The first, which will be the focus for presentations on the 14th November, will explore updates and developments in the world of taking dispute and justice systems online. The second theme, for the 15th, will address some of the challenges and critical questions that arise through moving beyond innovation into the disruptions that digital justice can create. This “impact” discussion may show that these can be ambivalent developments, in both fostering access to legal and other resources, and challenging other norms.

Central to the discussion at this Forum will be a comparative survey of recent developments in online courts and tribunals, underscoring the central role of digital technologies in the ongoing evolution of legal systems and access to justice. These developments also reinforce the ‘maturation’ of ODR beyond what might have been seen as a digital variant of ADR.

To learn more, just visit the conference website.