Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd , the Lord Chief Justice, gave a speech this week to the Justice Committee at the House of Commons in which he argued for primary legislation to enable the creation of an Online Court in which settlement assistance would be readily available as part of the process and litigants would not be at any disadvantage by not being represented by lawyers. His speech echoes the proposals made last year by myself and my colleagues in the ODR Advisory Group to the

​In the news today is the publication of the ground breaking Report by the 15 strong ODR Advisory Group to the Civil Justice Council (of which I am a member ) for an Internet based court service with judges hearing cases online and with much more effort in helping people resolve disputes without requiring a judge. We have set up a website that will grow over time. It contains the full Report as well as additional material and interviews with experts. We suggest a 3 tier syst

Graham Ross has been appointed a member of a new 12 strong ODR (Online Dispute Resolution) Advisory Group set up by the Civil Justice Council (a public body established under the Civil Procedure Act 1997 with responsibility for overseeing and co-ordinating the modernisation of the civil justice system of England and Wales) “to analyse the costs and benefits of ODR as an alternative means of resolving disputes.” The Advisory Group met for the first time on the 23rd April in th