Courts to provide email alerts for lawyers in new digital leap

Owen Bonnici said the new IT services will be complemented by more digital services at the civil court.

A pilot project transforming the traditional paper-based law courts to a digitally-run court will be launched in the coming weeks in a bid to further hasten court proceedings, parliamentary secretary for justice Owen Bonnici said.

Addressing the media on the occasion of the European Day of Civil Justice, Bonnici said that with immediate effect all postponements of civil cases will be transmitted to the lawyers of both parties through phone messaging. Once a case is deferred, an SMS will be sent to the lawyers informing them of the new date for the sitting.

A similar strategy will be employed on court rulings: once a judge has decreed a ruling, a copy of the same will be emailed to the lawyers of both parties. Through this service lawyers will save time chasing documents. "Gone will be the days where a parent has to wait weeks to know if he can see his children or not," Bonnici said in a reference to family court decisions on custody.

A copy of family court rulings will be sent only to the party who tabled a court application, as a preventive measure to eliminate any abuse in the form of some domestic repercussion to the court's ruling.

The third service will email transcripts of court evidence to lawyers, who previously had to sift through documents left on a table if they did not have their own pigeon-hole at the court.

Bonnici said it was the government's target to create a civil court registry that is completely online. "It started with online judgements and the process will continue growing. A time will come when a case can be instituted from a lawyer's office without the need to physically call at the registrar," he said.

Bonnici thanked court staff who had collaborate with MITA. "We took on board their best practices and applied it across the board," he said.

The same services will not yet be applied in criminal cases. "In criminal law one deals with the liberty of individuals. This is a sacred right and has to be protected through a number of rigid and formal procedures. However further investment will be made in order to hasten the proceedings themselves without prejudice to the accused's rights."

Bonnici also said he will address the large queues forming outside court every morning. "In the coming months an additional x-ray machine will be installed, halving the waiting time yet not compromising security," he said, although he added that structural alterations and permits will be needed.

"The long queues is down to the fact that all summons read 9am. All the accused and witnesses of the day turn up at court at the same time, resulting in long queues."

Bonnici also said a second high official for court security will be appointed, and more security will be provided during the weekends.

Chris Mangion is MaltaToday’s photojournalist, joining the newspaper in 2013.

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More from Chris Mangion

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Well done Dr Bonnici. These are all good things. But what the Courts need as a priority is good and efficient staff. Transcript of evidence for instance are horrible. Sometimes one cannot make heads or tails of them.

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Given that the local law courts have a achieved a milestone by the simple act of sending SMS's and e mails, blatantly shows how backwards our courts are! What was the previous GonziSimonPN minister doing for 25 years: jippoza? Why don't our judges and magistrates take their lace off from robes and come of age even in their attire?

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This is certainly a leap in the good direction. A few years ago, I was teaching Computer and ICT studies in a college that purported to lead in this field. Having seen how this was done to improve teaching in educational institutions abroad and taking advantage of the availability of a permanent internet connection in the computer classroom (lab), I started using selected appropriate online teaching materials and encouraging my students to search and use information from the Internet. Ironically, one of the dubious accusations and reasons why I was sent off was that I was using online teaching materials and methods. I learnt later that this was encouraged, recommended and even became routine good practice. The time when the computers were considered as a threat is long forgotten. Even though it comes with serious pitfalls and risks to the security of private data, the use of ICT tools is now a daily life reality and if properly thought and implemented, it should contribute to the improvement of the functioning of the system of administration of justice.

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SMS should be send to the parties as well. This will alleviate the pressure on lawyers, and cost next to nothing. Also the MOJ website regarding Court cases and Court services needs major surgery. It is too "old IT school" and very difficult to use unless you already have the precise parameters, which reduces its usefulness drastically.

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Is it possible that our courts have finally decided to enter the new age of telecommunication instead of use of using smoke signals to communicate with us mortals. Finally maybe we are seeing changes which the previous goverment chose to ignore.

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..... u issa nispera li simon il-buzu buzbetiku u jason (arali xaghari issa) azzopardi johorgu qatta bla habel kontra din il-proposta ridikola, bla sens, retrograda, fazulla, miskina u antikwata li hareg biha owen bonnici ...... nispera li se jikkritikaw din il-mizura ghax il-qorti kif inhu llum qed jahdem b'mod perfett u owen irid ikisser is-serjeta, l-imparzjalita, l-efficjenza, id-dinjita u l-awtonomija tal-qrati b'mizuri bhal dawn ..... nispera li l-bocca u s-sahhara johorgu huma wkoll kontra dawn il-proposti ..... jekk hemm bzonn jehtieg li l-avukati jaghmlu strike biex ma jhallux lil gvern laburista jhedded l-awtonomija tal-qrati efficjenti taghna ..... owen, please, tkissirx istituzzjoni soda, perfett, b'sahhitha, serja, efficjenti, tajba, organizzata li ghandna .... halliha tahdem bil-kwiet ..... igri jaghmlu press conference quddiem il-qorti simon u jason ..... i simply can't wait for them to speak !!!!!! .....

Courts to provide email alerts for lawyers in new digital leap

Lawyers to be informed of postponements of cases, court rulings and transcripts of evidence by email in a bid to hastening services and proceedings at the Civil Courts.