Innovation and Justice

The potential for innovation within the justice sector is not lost on the legal profession in Northern Ireland. The Digital Justice Conference hosted by the Assembly’s Justice Committee last year exemplified this issue with the judiciary and members of the professions highlighting the challenges being faced regularly by the courts in cases involving social media. We very much welcome the publication of the Justice Committee’s report on ‘Justice in the 21st Century’ and the debate in the Assembly.

The Committee’s suggestions around the exploration of online dispute resolution in meeting the needs of the justice system and its users in the 21^st century has sparked significant debate among our politicians, the judiciary and profession.

Given the recent visit by the President of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, to Belfast it is worthwhile reflecting on the advent of the digital age for the legal profession in England. In December 2015, the interim report of the Civil Courts Structure Review by Lord Justice Briggs highlighted the need to create an Online Court for claims of up to £25,000 designed for the first time to give litigants effective access to justice without lawyers. It remains to be seen whether this proposal will go ahead or not but we will be watching with interest in Northern Ireland.

Some readers may be familiar with the work of Professor Richard Susskind who predicted in 2008 “a future in which conventional legal advisers will be much less prominent in society than today, and, in some walks of life, will have no visibility at all”. His most recent book The Future of the Professions notes that technological advances mean that we are “on the brink of a period of fundamental and irreversible change”.

Such arguments provide fascinating reading but the professions have always adapted to previous technological advances – social media has been embraced in recent years and actively used to promote the benefits of obtaining legal advice. Clients always value the face-to-face help and knowledge provided by a trained legal adviser. In my view, technology is unlikely to assume many of the vital roles performed by lawyers in the near future, namely: giving advice on how best to resolve complex legal issues, making submissions and cross-examining witnesses in Court, or even writing judgments in the highest Courts.

The legal profession accepts that much of the change envisaged around justice innovation will take the form of gradual evolution rather than a sudden revolution. The greater use of technology can assist the courts and wider
justice system in the years ahead. Undoubtedly Lord Justice Gillen’s Review of Civil and Family Justice in NI will add significantly to these discussions in considering how modern technology can be further integrated into the Court process. However, we must remember that the law is often complicated and an inherently human endeavor which will always require intelligent, imaginative and analytical minds.

Gerry McAlinden QC, Chairman of the Bar Council