Highlights COVID-19 has significantly disrupted justice systems around the world. Globally, courts have shifted from face-to-face proceedings to online court processes (as supported by internet technology), with some countries adopting ‘disruptive technologies’ including artificial intelligence. Issues remain about access to justice especially due to backlog of cases and the anticipated rise in litigation in the wake of the virus, particularly in healthcare. There is an urgent need for courts to be prepared for handling these cases in the way that ensures that justice can be achieved for all people, and we argue that embracing newer technologies in dispute resolution is key to this.
As technology continues to change the way in which we work and function, there are predictions that many aspects of human activity will be replaced or supported by newer technologies. Whilst many human activities have changed over time as a result of human advances, more recent shifts in the context of technological change are likely to have a broader impact on some human functions that have previously been largely undisturbed. In this regard, technology is already changing the practice of law and may for example, reshape the process of judging by either replacing, supporting or supplementing the judicial role. Such changes may limit the extent to which humans are engaged in judging with an increasing emphasis on artificial intelligence to deal with smaller civil disputes and the more routine use of related technologies in more complex disputes.
Effectively designed complaint handling systems play a key role in enabling vulnerable consumers to complain and obtain redress. This article examines current research into consumer vulnerability, highlighting its multidimensional and expansive nature. Contemporary understandings of consumer vulnerability recognize that the interaction between a wide range of market and consumer characteristics can combine to place any individual at risk of vulnerability. While this broad definition of consumer vulnerability reflects the complex reality of consumers' experiences, it poses a key challenge for designers of complaint handling systems: how can they identify and respond to an issue which can potentially affect everyone? Drawing on current research and practice in the United Kingdom and Australia, the article analyses the impact of consumer vulnerability on third party dispute resolution schemes and considers the role these complaint handling organizations can play in supporting their complainants. Third party complaint handling organizations, including a range of Alternative Dispute Resolution services such as ombudsman organizations, can play a key role in increasing access to justice for vulnerable consumer groups and provide specific assistance for individual complainants during the process. It is an opportune time to review whether the needs of consumers at risk of vulnerability are being met within complaint processes and the extent to which third party complaint handlers support those who are most vulnerable to seek redress.Empowering vulnerable consumers to complain presents specific challenges. The article discusses the application of a new model of consumer dispute system design to show how complaint handling organizations can meet the needs of the most vulnerable consumers throughout the process. K E Y W O R D S alternative dispute resolution, complaint handling, consumer vulnerability, dispute system design, third party complaint handlers, vulnerable complainants wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ijcs Int J Consum Stud. 2017;41:638-646.
Fundamental to the practice of law is the need to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances of human society. The COVID-19 pandemic is requiring lawyers, courts, judges and others (such as aAlternative dDispute rResolution ('ADR') practitioners) involved in the justice system to reassess how they operate in a rapidly changing environment that requires them to use technology to operate remotely and to make use of technological tools that often are not constructed to support the needs of those working in the justice sector. Responses by courts and ADR practitioners have variedy considerably from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and many responses arehave been ad hoc and informed by a crisis-management approach. At the same time, innovation that has often been stalled by inertia across the sector is challenging many to contemplate how technology can support efforts to ensure that the justice system can continue to deliver outcomes without increasing delay and also enable economic recovery in the face of a projected exponential increase in disputes. Noting such pressure, this article explores the ways in which courts and ADR services are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and considers such responses in view of past technological developments. The authors note that responses are changing on an almost daily basis in some jurisdictions and therefore consider that some responses may alter again as courts and others continue to innovate in this new environment.
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