Who Needs Lawyers? The Online Court

In England and Wales there is currently an ongoing civil court structure review, led by Lord Briggs, with the aim of reforms providing a modern, efficient and accessible civil dispute resolution service for all. "Modern, efficient and accessible" are not often words associated with litigation.

One topic for review, which would be a huge change if implemented, is identifying the necessity for an Online Court, in which civil disputes of a small value could be resolved without litigants hiring lawyers. The Online Court aims to eliminate the disproportionate costs of legal aid for cases up to £25,000 in value, allow justice to be accessible to those of limited financial backgrounds and to make the current civil court system in England and Wales more efficient.

The structure of Online Courts

The Online Court is likely to consist of three stages:

primarily, litigants would use an automated service that would enable and assist them in identifying the issues of their case; secondly, conciliation and case management by a Case Officer; and thirdly, resolution by judges where documents, telephone, video or face-to-face hearings would be used. Advantages

The advantages highlighted are that by enabling litigants to input the details of their case online, it would provide both the opponent and the court with a document that is able to be understood. Furthermore, it allows both parties to communicate the basic details and evidence of their dispute at the earliest opportunity, creating a substitution for the existing "pre-action protocols" as well as creating an opportunity for conciliation of their case. If the case is not resolved at this stage and proceeds, all necessary information is online and therefore able to be prepared for court efficiently.

Issues

However, Lord Briggs has acknowledged that the report still has issues to be addressed before being finalised in the summer, including whether the Online Court should be detached from existing courts or become part of the County Court, deciding what value and nature of claims should be included or excluded from the Online Court, and if there are cases that, despite their value, are unsuited to the Online Court system. Additionally, Lord Briggs...