Online Courts And The Future Of Justice

In Online Courts and the Future of Justice, Richard Susskind, the world's most cited author on the future of legal services, shows how litigation will be transformed by technology and proposes a solution to the global access-to-justice problem. In most advanced legal systems, the resolution of civil disputes takes too long, costs too much, and the process is not just antiquated; it is unintelligible to ordinary mortals. The courts of some jurisdictions are labouring under staggering backlogs - 100 million cases in Brazil, 30 million in India. More people in the world now have internet access than access to justice. Drawing on almost 40 years in the fields of legal technology and jurisprudence, Susskind shows how we can use the remarkable reach of the internet (more than half of humanity is now online) to help people understand and enforce their legal rights. Online courts provide 'online judging' - the determination of cases by human judges but not in physical courtrooms. Instead, evidence and arguments are submitted through online platforms through which judges also deliver their decisions. Online courts also use technology to enable courts to deliver more than judicial decisions. These 'extended courts' provide tools to help users understand relevant law and available options, and to formulate arguments and assemble evidence. They offer non-judicial settlements such as negotiation and early neutral evaluation, not as an alternative to the public court system but as part of it. A pioneer of online courts, Susskind maintains that they will displace much conventional litigation. He rigorously assesses the benefits and drawbacks, and looks ahead, predicting how AI, machine learning, and virtual reality will likely come to dominate court service.

In this book Richard Susskind, a pioneer of rethinking law for the digital age confronts the challenges facing our legal system and the potential for technology to bring much needed change. Drawing on years of experience leading the discussion on conceiving and delivering online justice, Susskind here charts and develops the public debate.

In Online Courts and the Future of Justice, Richard Susskind, the world's most cited author on the future of legal service, argues that online courts will transform litigation and solve two problems: less than 50% of humanity have access to justice; and, in most legal systems, resolving legal disputes is too costly, slow, complex, and antiquated.

With a new preface outlining the most recent critical developments, this updated edtion of The Future of the Professions predicts how technology will transform the work of doctors, teachers, architects, lawyers, and many others in the 21st century, and introduces the people and systems that may replace them.

The book presents international commercial courts from a comparative perspective and highlights their role in transnational adjudication.

New and emerging technologies are reshaping justice systems and transforming the role of judges. The impacts vary according to how structural reforms take place and how courts adapt case management processes, online dispute resolution systems and justice apps. Significant shifts are also occurring with the development of more sophisticated forms of Artificial Intelligence that can support judicial work or even replace judges. These developments, together with shifts towards online court processes are explored in Judges, Technology and Artificial Intelligence.

The end of World War II marked the beginning of a new golden era in international law. Treaties and international organisations proliferated at an unprecedented rate, and many courts and tribunals were established with a view to ensuring the smooth operation of this new universe of international relations. The network of courts and tribunals that exists today is an important feature of our global society. It serves as an alternative to other, sometimes more violent, forms of dispute settlement. The process of international adjudication is constantly evolving, sometimes in unexpected ways. Through contributions from world-renowned experts and emerging voices, this book considers the future of international courts from a diverse range of perspectives. It examines some of the regional, institutional and procedural challenges that international courts face: the rising influence of powerful states, the turn to populism, the interplay between courts, the involvement of non-state actors and third parties in international proceedings, and more. The book offers a timely discussion of these challenges, with the future of several international courts hanging in the balance and the legitimacy of international adjudication being called constantly into question. It should also serve as a reminder of the importance of international courts for the functioning of a rules-based international order. ‘The Future of International Courts’ is essential reading for academics, practitioners and students who are interested in international law, including those who are interested in the role international courts play in international relations.

Around the world, access to justice enjoys an energetic and passionate resurgence as an object both of scholarly inquiry and political contest, as both a social movement and a value commitment motivating study and action. This work evidences a deeper engagement with social theory than past generations of scholarship.