Digitalisation @ the service of our Justice Systems

 This week I had the opportunity to Keynote a webinar dedicated to Justice for our Central & Eastern European Government clients.

As detailed by the 2020 EU Justice Scoreboard, efficiency, quality and independence are essential parameters of an effective justice system, whatever the model of the national justice system. Effective justice systems are a foundation for a healthy country as it contributes to citizen’s trust in their governments as well as to the economy, attracting more investors for instance.

During the pandemic, a number of Justice courts around the world rapidly adopted the ability to delivery virtual trials in order not to stop the justice process during lock-down (and often, having to modify some regulations in the process). Technology and innovation can definitely support a major efficiency of the overall system, for example in reducing case processing time, the rate of postponed court hearings, as well as impact quality with an increased satisfaction of court users, a more accessible system or a better ability to take decisions based upon data. It can also support more transparency, which is a key element to drive trust in citizens and businesses with their justice system and government overall.

We also discussed how the adoption of Artificial Intelligence within justice could be further empowering Courts and not diminishing the independence of judges and the justice system. The EU has laid out a European Ethical Charter on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Judicial Systems and their environment, which provides good guide-lines to this effect.

Examples of empowering AI include advanced searches, chat-bots, transcription and translation, preparing simple decisions or assisting in court administration.

We are seeing more and more efforts from Justice systems in Europe and around the world to adopt technology in order to address their current challenges, particularly in terms of reducing backlogs, reducing costs of operations, as well as growing the necessary transparency, which is foundational for our governments to raise trust from their citizens and attract more business investments.