Access to justice is a basic principle of the rule of law. Effective access to justice services in a country promotes inclusive growth, citizen well-being and sound public administration. It also encourages a more stable and secure business climate, which attracts investments, talent and competition.

Worldwide, there are common challenges that citizens face in accessing justice.

The most recent example is Covid-19, where physical meetings and travelling are restricted. This affects those who need to attend court hearings or meet up with lawyers.

Another example is the wide physical distance for those who live in remote areas. It can be too difficult or costly for them to pursue justice at courts in the city.

There may also be language barriers for court users. A lack of interpretive or translation services in the courts may discourage such users from accessing justice.

Finally, some justice systems may alienate people by making legal processes too long, expensive and unintelligible for all but lawyers.

Judicial innovators have long tried to realise virtual courts, as going digital can greatly remove the hindrances to justice.

Virtual courts can also bring the focus back to courts as a public service rather than just a physical space: with the right – and sometimes already existing – infrastructure, digital can truly close the gap between courts and the communities they serve by enabling affordable, convenient and accessible legal services.

Professor of Criminology Jane Donoghue at the College of Law, University of Swansea, writes in The Rise of Digital Justice that courts should reflect advances in society, yet, historically, in many countries, they have been among the most conservative professional domains in terms of technology adoption.

This has begun to change dramatically as a result of the large-scale diffusion of technologies, she observes.

The pandemic has further accelerated the pace of change: in 2020, within a matter of a few months, there was a global proliferation of case studies about digital justice transformation.

For example, in April 2020, Singapore implemented virtual court hearings; in July 2020, the Scottish courts launched online services, the Bangladesh parliament passed a bill for virtual courts to become operational, and the U.S. courts began conducting remote hearings.

All over the world, legal sectors affected by Covid-19 have realised that digital transformation cannot wait anymore – the rise of digital justice is inevitable.

To understand how virtual courts remove hindrances and hence improve access to justice, let’s take a quick look at some of the features of Chrysalis eJudiciary – a digital platform for court case management and e-filing.

Many of these features help to reduce time, cost, complexity and manpower, which can make legal services simpler and more affordable for the public.

Tele-Hearing

Chrysalis eJudiciary’s easy-to-use video conferencing feature is integrated with widely used platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom, so that parties can attend a hearing from anywhere. Chrysalis eJudiciary also helps courts to increase efficiency by automating the scheduling of tele-hearings.

The convenient and cost- and time-efficient qualities of tele-hearing cannot be underestimated: they help to reduce failure-to-appear rates and sustain access to justice in crises like the pandemic.

Translators can also log on to tele-hearings from wherever they are and render their services. This opens the possibility of engaging a wider range of translators to meet more diverse language needs.

24/7 Case Filing

The day has come when users do not need to step into the courts for their most critical documents or to manage their cases.

Chrysalis eJudiciary’s e-filing feature allows users to request for official records from the courts online.

The courts then easily extract the requested data, and documents can be digitally and securely shared among different lawyers and parties. The documents can also be digitally notarised to save time.

Global Access and Mobile Courts

Many citizens now live and work overseas. These global residents are not immune to disputes – such as those relating to marriage and family affairs – and need access to local courts.

Such courts must now equip themselves for a future of online dispensation of justice.

Chrysalis eJudiciary, as a fully online platform, makes that a reality by connecting the judiciary and legal practitioners with citizens, wherever they are.

In isolated areas where Internet connection is limited, Chrysalis eJudiciary can still facilitate cases via the offline mode: selected tasks are done offline in a structured manner and then processed at an Internet zone.

Expert Management

Courts often require experts, who provide specialised knowledge or opinions about a case.

As white-collar crimes, scams and cyberattacks get more sophisticated, more types of niche experts are needed to interpret them to the courts. The evolving landscape of crime should not hinder access to justice but can instead expedite the courts’ engagement with different types of communities and their experts.

To help courts work more efficiently and effectively with experts, Chrysalis eJudiciary’s Expert Management tool automates their workflow: this process covers self-registration online, the assigning and scheduling of cases, report submissions, payments and more.

AI and Analytics

Chrysalis eJudiciary taps into AI to allocate resources efficiently. For example, AI can analyse the parameters of a case and the availability of court resources, and then automatically assign cases to the most relevant judge.

Meanwhile, the AI Chatbot feature engages with users 24/7 – this is important to demystify complex court processes for citizens, so that they feel more assured about seeking justice.

The AI Chatbot can also analyse data and identify patterns to improve responses and public engagement.

There are challenges to virtual courts: they rely heavily on Internet access, require some level of digital literacy and invite cybersecurity issues.

Yet, if there is anything that Covid-19 has shown us, it is that there has been no other option but to embrace technology – the post-pandemic world requires a hybrid of digital and physical interventions.

As entire industries transform for the post-pandemic world, it is also timely for the legal sector to do so and rethink its commitment to the rule of law.

In a speech to the local legal sector in January 2020, Singapore’s Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon explained that the current model of justice, conceived in a different era, is increasingly straining to meet the needs of a modern society that is evolving quickly through both online and offline changes.

“Fortunately, the current era also offers a new set of tools,” he concluded optimistically. “[The online court] is perhaps one of the most important of this new generation of possible solutions.”