

The Online Court Debate
​I have been under some attack in the comment section of the online version of the Law Society Gazette. By all means read the exchanges in full, especially to those to whom I have responded, and no doubt it will have advanced since I made this post, but this second post by myself sums up my views. "Paul (Bennett), you say "online works only within limited parameters. " Doesn't everything in the law? Currently the most limiting of all parameters, so far as access by the publ


Lord Chief Justice Argues For The Online Court
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


Her Majesty's Online Court
​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