Speech by the Master of the Rolls: Judicial Roundtable Discussion – Technology in a New World
1. Municipal justice systems in general and Commercial Court in particular need urgently to acquire a better understanding of the disputes that they will actually be required to resolve in the new technological era.
2. The debate this morning should be less about how we can do digitally what we used to do using analogue methods, and more about understanding how technology will fundamentally affect the disputes themselves.
3. Most jurisdictions internationally have done well to undertake remote hearings during the pandemic, and even to move away from paper towards an entirely paper-free digital environment. But none of that is using new technologies, nor is it changing either the way we resolve disputes or the kinds of dispute we are resolving. These two things must now be our focus.
4. I will start with the kinds of disputes that will need resolving in the future.