NEWS FLASH: UK government pushes through high-tech justice reform

Information technology will revolutionise the British civil justice system over the next 15 years.

The Lord Chancellor's department today published a consultation paper that outlines a long term, strategic plan for overhauling the legal system. The paper: 'civil.justice', envisions citizens accessing legal advice over the Internet and virtual courtrooms where litigants give evidence using videoconferencing.

Geoff Hoon, minister of State for the Lord Chancellor's Office, said: "This document is deliberately designed to be provocative as a way to stimulate reform."

Professor Richard Susskind, a member of the group that developed the paper, says some in the civil justice system have been encouraging the government to develop such a plan for ten years now. The main aim of the paper is to give citizens greater access to legal advice and to ease their way through the legal system.

Susskind stressed that not all the possible scenarios of IT use in the law are known, since many will occur as a consequence of social change. "In the future, a member of the public may turn to their TV Internet connection and, using voice recognition technology, say: 'I'm being evicted from my flat. What is my legal position?' That may be quite natural in six years' time."

Now the department will await the verdict of the legal community, which is being asked to adjust quickly to the massive changes outlined in the paper. The government will accept feedback and ideas on civil.justice until December. A plan of action will be formulated in the spring.