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

Last week saw the publication of a Report to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
 of the Council of Europe on the question of whether ODR and the increasing use of technology and communications over the Internet for the resolution of disputes may conflict with the public's right to access to justice as enshrined in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Council of Europe is the body responsible for enforcement of the ECHR through the European Co

​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