Regardless of where you are from, court cases are not fun. This is especially true in Sri Lanka. Court cases can take years, decades and even generations to complete. I am not complaining about how fast/slow court cases get resolved in Sri Lanka. I am no legal expert nor do I have awareness of the process. But I noticed that the courts still use type writers instead of computers which would be more versatile especially if backed by an appropriately designed and developed software solution.

Background

My mother wanted to obtain certified copies of few legal cases and we met the Kurunegala District Court Registrar. The oldest court case date over 60 years. Upon submitting a motion we were told it will take few days to to finalise the documents. I asked why it will take many days if they already found the file. I assumed they will photocopy and seal it. But it turned out that they were retyping the Sinhala notes. English notes and other documents would be photocopied. These files were huge and thus it will take time to finish. I didn't expect the old court documents to be digitised, but I was hoping that by now we would be using computers and printers instead of typewriters.

The Issue

During a court hearing a stenographer will be record-keeping in the form of typed notes in court. This you have to do even if you use computers. But the advantage of computers come with repetition. For example if a 3rd party request for certified copies of the legal file, a human has to type and make a copy of it. That is a lot of man-hours spent typing a document where the individual could have done some thing more productive.

I may be biased as I am an IT super-nerd. I read on my iPhone, iPad or my iMac/MacBook. I always prefer a digital screen over paper. But still I think can make the case that digitalised process is more efficient, elegant and ideally paperless.

A Software Solution

The system will have a variety of users. Judges, court employees, lawyers, security / police officers and outsiders like you and me. These users will have different access to the system.

I would use a globally unique identifier to identify court cases. But for easy human reference use a similar naming protocol as present day (ex: 5090/L). The case will have hearings. Hearings will reference the judge(s), lawyer(s), submitted exhibits/evidence in digital form and a transcription of the hearing. We can also attach a voice recording just incase transcription has missed some thing. There will be a system to auto schedule when the case it auto adjourned.

In place of the stenographer on a typewriter we will have a stenographer in a laptop. There will be another with a scanner attached. That computer will capture audio from the hearing from multiple microphones and mix them. As things proceed data to be captured real time and backed up in geographically redundant locations making it nearly impossible to burn down like it happens in Sri Lanka.

In addition we can also use WebRTC like tech and create Zoom like conferencing where people can attend to hearings remotely. That way even the communication can be built in to one system. Would be a plus in this "new normal" post COVID19 era.

We can issue bills (lets say fines, payments for obtaining documents) and email to the user. The user can then pay them online without needing to struggle in a crowded counter. I know this for a fact as my aunts husband - Salah, met with an accident and we had to post bail which was a difficult task.

Police can request for a warrant. The judge get notified in real-time and digitally approve it. Once approved the police get the approval on their official devices avoiding the hassle of faxing and approaching judges. Fast an efficient. Devices would be state provided and backed by biometric authentication.

Update: There seems to a lot of interesting applications where digitalisation can be used. I would love to learn about how the courts operate. If you are lawyer / work in courts I like to hear how you think software and computers could be used to make things more efficient. Drop me an email to ziyan@jdeen.com

Risks

The legal system in a country will be a hotspot for hackers. Unlike a random Joe's e-commerce store there are people with lot to loose in legal cases and they will hire the best of hackers to interfere. If the solution is online then the attackers can be from any corner of the world (for example Chinese hackers who have later come to fame hacking leading government and private institutions).

We will need to involve some serious digital infrastructure secure experts for review systems. We may need to actively develop and fix bugs in the system as new vulnerabilities are detected. Fear shouldn't prevent us from progress. We need to be smart and move fast.

Conclusion

Only half way writing the blog post did I come to realise that technology and digitalisation of our legal system can greatly improve efficiency, effectivity and during a pandemic to function with less health risk.

I am sure there are existing solutions for courts. Given Sri Lanka has a vibrant IT community, I am sure we can save money doing it within our island it self. Lawmakers in the parliament will have to take a leap of faith and take the initiative to modernise the courts system.

Lot of people complain about the inefficiencies of the Sri Lankan legal system. But I think they can make a grand comeback and even be an example for the region and the world. It just needs the will to change.