eAccess to Justice: (Law, Technology and Media)

Part I of this work focuses on the ways in which digitization projects can affect fundamental justice principles. It examines claims that technology will improve justice system efficiency and offers a model for evaluating e-justice systems that incorporates a broader range of justice system values. The emphasis is on the complicated relationship between privacy and transparency in making court records and decisions available online. Part II examines the implementation of technologies in the justice system and the challenges it comes with, focusing on four different technologies: online court information systems, e-filing, videoconferencing, and tablets for presentation and review of evidence by jurors. The authors share a measuring enthusiasm for technological advances in the courts, emphasizing that these technologies should be implemented with care to ensure the best possible outcome for access to a fair and effective justice system. Finally, Part III adopts the standpoints of sociology, political theory and legal theory to explore the complex web of values, norms, and practices that support our systems of justice, the reasons for their well-established resistance to change, and the avenues and prospects of eAccess. The chapters in this section provide a unique and valuable framework for thinking with the required sophistication about legal change.

About the Author :
Karim Benyekhlef is Professor of Law at the Université de Montréal. He is also the Director of the Cyberjustice Laboratory, which he founded in 2010. His recent publications include Vers un droit global? (Éditions Thémis, 2016) and Une possible histoire de la norme. Les normativités émergentes de la mondialisation, 2e édition (Éditions Thémis, 2015). Jane Bailey is Full Professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law (Common Law Section). Her research is focused on issues at the intersection of law, technology and equality. Her recent publications include eGirls, eCitizens, co-edited with Valerie Steeves (University of Ottawa Press, 2015). Jacquelyn Burkell is Assistant Dean of Research and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario. Her research focuses on the empirical study of the interaction between people and technology. Her recent publications include Remembering Me: Big Data, Individual Identity, and the Psychological Necessity of Forgetting (Springer, 2016). Fabien Gélinas is Professor of Law at McGill University, where his research focuses on legal theory, international arbitration and civil procedure. He co-founded the Montreal Cyberjustice Laboratory, and now heads the Private Justice and the Rule of Law Research Group. His recent books include Foundations of Civil Justice (Springer, 2015).