Digital litigation and the public sector
Digital litigation will create new opportunities for the public sector, but there will be challenges along the way. Jenny Dickson examines recent developments in Scotland and their wider implications.
Organisations across the public sector are working to streamline processes to provide more user-friendly, efficient services while getting to grips with the digital economy. In Scotland, one strategy recently implemented is the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service’s 5-year digital strategy, which aims to improve the efficiency of these services. However, the digital transformation of one organisation can have a ripple effect across many more.
The public sector is a particularly heavy user of court services. In the long run, this new approach outlined by the 5-year digital strategy offers substantial opportunities for efficiencies.
However, to enjoy these efficiencies, public sector organisations will likely need to make certain up-front investments such as added financing and resourcing costs.
A simple starting point is to look at IT systems used by public sector organisations. Many activities carried out by public sector organisations may not require high volume IT support and organisations may have older IT systems. For litigation, which is known to be document-heavy, IT systems will need to provide efficient ways of developing digital documents.
As the courts increase their requirements regarding digitisation of documents, those involved in running cases may need to collate documents in compliance with requirements set down by courts and tribunals. These requirements can cover things like the order the documents are set out in, what the documents are to be called, links between the documents, highlighting of key parts of them and page numbering. Public sector organisations need to ensure that the IT systems they have in place can support this type of work.
Beyond the system itself, having the right individual in post to manage the development of these hefty digital documents is also important for public services that are using these digital platforms. If an organisation doesn’t have access to efficient IT systems, or has difficulty allocating resources to operate them, it may need to consider outsourcing this work. This would mean incurring a cost, and it will be important for bodies to weigh this cost compared to those needed for upgrades and added resource.
A key concern for all public sector organisations, whenever they are handling information about individuals, is GDPR and data security. It is vital for the new online Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service’s systems to be secure to prevent data breaches, and essential for public service institutions to ensure that their IT systems and methods of using these online services are secure and GDPR compliant.
For example, in a recent pilot in the Scotland Sherriff Personal Injury Court, sensitive documents with personal information, such as medical records needed to be shared through digital platforms. Given its sensitive nature, these types of documents required secure platforms and ways of transmitting digitally.
Public sector organisations may need to consider their IT systems and resource to prepare for greater digitalisation of litigation. Once they have done so, public sector bodies will start to see new efficiencies coming to the fore through digital litigation.
A benefit of the Integrated Case Management System (ICMS), which will digitise case submission and management, should be that general administrative aspects of the courts and tribunal system can be done more quickly and flexibly.
ICMS also links with the court user facing Civil Online portal. This key initiative is currently available for lower value claims. Civil Online enables bodies to raise cases electronically which previously needed to be raised in court, and digitisation of these documents will also reduce use of paper. Where these types of claims are fully online it is also envisaged that, as a result of updates to the IT facilities available in court rooms, hearings could be conducted using electronic copies of relevant documents displayed directly from the court's ICMS. This will have the benefit of significantly reducing the requirements to lodge additional paper copies of documents in advance of hearings.
And for higher value claims of a commercial nature, moves towards digital litigation can be seen through the recent guidance by the Commercial Judges in the Court of Session. This encourages increased use of email communication between parties and the court and also for the lodging of documents by email which can result in significant time savings.
Broader benefits and challenges of digital litigation and its impact on public sector law remain to be seen, but all of these potential online efficiencies are likely to streamline litigation processes overall and reduce time spent. Public sector organisations should, at this stage, consider very carefully the initial set-up process for handling litigation digitally in order to enjoy these efficiencies in the future.
Jenny Dickson is a Partner and Solicitor Advocate in the Public Sector team at Morton Fraser. She can be contacted on 0131 247 1332 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
