Online Dispute Resolution is viewed as one of the newest solutions proposed to bring about real access to justice. Certainly ODR represents one of the greatest innovations in terms of how the internet and communications technologies can be applied to increase access to justice.
Delivering legal information targeted on needs of disputants is key to legal empowerment. It came out as the number one strategy for improving access to justice when 100 experts discussed a Trend Report on Basic Justice Care.
Theft of a car, relationship breakdown with domestic violence or government officials asking for favours; it happens everywhere. Similar patterns are present when people seek solutions for these problems. If a problem has a name and a tag, it is much easier to develop best practices and to compare these. In a country or across borders.
As we have seen in health care, quality can be assured when information about the best treatments is made available. 'General practitioners' who know the local context, such as paralegals, will benefit enormously from protocols for the most frequent legal problems. As will their clients.
This is a challenge for a good government policy. Innovative legal services are developing rapidly. But regulation of legal services still focuses on traditional suppliers such as lawyers, courts and notaries.
Paralegals fix problems between husbands and wives, between neighbours, or between people with conflicting claims on land. Living in the same communities where most legal problems occur, they can operate at low cost and extend the reach of the justice system.
Innovators need to know the most urgent issues. So they can concentrate their efforts. Please let us know more challenges in your field of expertise. We will post them here.
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