Small-scale civil disputes could be resolved by mobile phone courts, the Lord Chief Justice has said.
Giving a speech to the ‘First international forum on online courts’, a two-day conference organised by the Society for Computers and the Law in association with HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Lord Burnett said ‘the sensible use of technology’ could improve access to justice for individuals on low incomes.
He suggested lawyers could learn from eBay’s dispute resolution system, which handles more than 60 million disputes each year.
He added: ‘There is no reason why our forms, processes, and perhaps even some hearings should not be optimised for smartphones giving litigants effective access to justice from the palm of their hand. That facility is being developed in England and Wales.’
