Joe Tomlinson: The Policy and Politics of Building Tribunals for a Digital Age: How ‘Design Thinking’ Is Shaping the Future of the Public Law System

Public law litigation is in the process of going digital and, as a result, we are on the brink of a possible paradigm shift. A rather short (16-page) and anodyne-looking policy document published in late 2016—Transforming Our Justice System—announced a £700 million-plus investment in the justice system. A large share of this budget is to be spent on the pursuit of a digitisation agenda. The document sets out, among other things, a vision for tribunals to include online hearings, traditional in-person hearings, and a mixture of the two. It states there will be a new—simpler—online procedure, with the aim of assisting lay users through the system. It tells us that, for those uncomfortable with or unprepared for digital, there will be support offered. Its vision also introduces the notion of ‘continuous dispute resolution’—where judges can determine the right point, in terms of the extent of the evidence gathered…