What are the first impressions that befall to your brain when you ponder about the judicial system in your country? If it’s prolix, expensive, biased and occasional injustice, then you’re not only to think like that. Wouldn’t it be incredible if your first associations were instead competence, truth and justice? Since the legal process can be abstractly observed as inserting data about evidence and laws and obtaining a judgment, some experts consider of fully automating it with AI. AI systems that indefatigable practice the same high legal standards to every decision without prejudice, exhaustion or lack of the advance acquaintance.
Transparent, handy and adequate rule of law heightens the economy, pulls foreign investments, updates the work-flows of the whole judicial system, and as if that wasn’t enough – it prevails one of the foundations of democracies globally. In Europe, for instance, the Estonian court system is rated one of the most effective with its robot judges, programmed court procedures.
Under the current COVID-19 dilemma, the need of e-court system is vital. It has been extensively discussed whether AI is going to supersede the judges and legal prosecutors in the future. Based on the Estonian practice thus far, however, AI is here to support the judicial system so that those that serve in the law field can focus on more constraining elements that genuinely need human interplay.
E-Judicial System
Now, the revolution of AI presents an excellent opportunity to remodel the judicial system into a mesmerizingly fast, effective, and an unbiased array of legal services available to all citizens.
In Estonia, the addition of the e-Filling court papers was started in 2005. Since then, e-judicial system and our expectations towards it have grown quite remarkably. As soon as people have securely proved themselves and accessed the e-judicial platform, they can submit any kind of cases with pieces of evidence and other relevant data online. The provided material will be shared between establishments that are linked to the case and courts can start proceeding with related records. These communications are based on the once-only policy which means that copies of data are not permitted in court databases.
The e-judicial system enables courts to send citizens different documents, while instant notifications ensure judges that all files have been successfully carried. Every document is stamped and holds a secure e-signature. Moreover, classified data can be encrypted to ensure courts that no third party is capable to access the record. This supported the Estonian e-judicial system to earn the honor of a stable and efficient array of services.
Addressing Court Complications with AI
Currently, the number of judges in Estonia remains the same as twenty years ago. While, the number of cases registered in Estonian courts has increased as doubled over that time span. Given the complications of the judicial system from the local to the European Union level, the burden on the court system appears unlikely to diminish– admittedly, the opposite appears much more probable. It indicates that this is the ideal time for AI companies to develop systems that help judicial experts to give less time on time-consuming tasks and find judgments to supersede with automated systems. Applications of artificial intelligence can predict the outcomes of processes and identify new patterns. AI is competent in making independent judgments within more common court procedures that would engage judges for days.
Saving Time and Money
After reading above, one might wonder that promoting the court systems is good to go, however surely these resolutions expensive. In fact, the Estonian e-court system is operating on one of the most economical per capita budgets across the whole European Union. The AI judicial system indicates how entire states can advantage from automatic approaches.
Prompt incorporation of Artificial Intelligence techniques is opening up a wide range of opportunities for judges and lawyers. If the cooperation between diverse sectors is stable, AI could reduce the amount of data and evidence input, present a more substantial and extensive overview of all relevant pieces of evidence across state registries, and surely, along with saving time and money Al could overcome the red tape between courts and residents.
Ryan Shaw is a writer and an avid explorer of Canada's countryside. He's a graduate of Simon Fraser University with a bachelor's degree in criminology. He finds great interest in the areas of criminal litigation, dispute resolution, competition law, and intellectual property rights. He’s just trying to leave the world a little kinder than he found it.
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