The Civil Online Court in England

Abstract This chapter traces the history of the development of the civil online court, from its origins in reports from the Civil Justice Council and Justice, from overseas trailblazers such as Rechtwijzer in the Netherlands and the Civil Resolution Tribunal in British Columbia, to its adoption by the Court Service’s Reform Programme. It argues that if the key elements of automated triage and discontinuous online communication are designed and rolled out successfully then, with suitable entirely new procedure rules, the online court should be able to play a critical role in enabling litigants to bring and defend small civil claims, with limited assistance from lawyers, at a cost which is not, as at present, wholly disproportionate to the value at risk. The early public testing of the first stage of the online court suggests that it is well on the way to fulfilling that ambition. The chapter also describes some of the risks and challenges facing the online court, such as the need for assistance for those who find digital working challenging, the need to maintain open justice, and the need for lawyers to change their working practices by unbundling so as to be able to make the focused contribution to the process, by early bespoke advice on the merits and advocacy skills in the few cases which need a traditional trial.