ODR: A RESOLUTION REVOLUTION
Although the digital revolution has taken the world by storm in recent years, some spheres, such as the dispute resolution arena, have been slow to catch up, with bureaucratic paralysis generally leading to patchy technological implementation.
Essentially, technological backwardness means ineffective access to justice, with dispute cases often drawn-out and costly affairs. Frequently the law is not even an option, particularly in emerging economies, conflict zones and far-flung locations where recourse to judiciaries to resolve a dispute is virtually unheard of.
“Current legal procedures and arbitration rules were designed for a world that was not interconnected,” says Nicolás Lozada-Pimiento, a partner at Rincón Cuellar & Asociados. “The need for physical courts is based on the need to gather judge and parties in the same place. Attached to the notion of ‘court’, tradition plays an important role in our perception of justice.
“The use of robes and wigs and the ceremonious character of a hearing are part of the mysticism around what to expect in a legal scenario,” he continues. “As a result, the manner in which procedures are conducted has not changed much since the Roman Empire. As long as too much emphasis is given to physical courts or tradition, legal adjudication will continue to struggle to keep pace with technological innovation.”
That said, the tide has been turning in recent times. Indeed, the dispute resolution arena is undergoing a transformation in how it utilises technology, with online dispute resolution (ODR) technology – conventionally defined as a process that utilises the internet as a more efficient medium for parties to resolve their disputes through a variety of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods – expanding exponentially as a tool for resolving disputes.
Jul-Sep 2020 issue
Fraser Tennant