Roundtable: Information technology in dispute resolution

Technology is infiltrating dispute resolution at multiple points in the litigation process, from claims portals to online dispute resolution (ODR) platforms to court modernisation. Attendees at this Gazette roundtable discuss the IT and cultural challenges of bringing civil justice online. Tony Guise, director of eARB and eCOURT platforms refers to chapter 43 of Lord Justice Jackson's Review of Civil Litigation Costs: Final Report, which defines effective information technology (IT) as'a central place to which and from which one can find all of the documents relating to a piece of civil litigation'. But in recent years litigation technology has broadened significantly from the document management and case management capability outlined by Lord Justice Jackson, into a confusing collection of online systems and applications that deal with various aspects of dispute resolution. Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, defines litigation technology as the online processes for dispute resolution.