The age-old principle that “justice delayed is justice denied” has been a long-standing rallying cry, urging judges and courts to streamline their operations. When legal recourse or fair relief is available to an injured party but not provided promptly, it is essentially no remedy at all. Today, the need for accessible and fair judicial systems is just as pertinent as it was when William Penn first expressed it in the seventeenth century. Fortunately, technology is playing a pivotal role in realizing this vision and enhancing access to justice.
Worldwide, courts are grappling with mounting pressures that threaten to slow down judicial processes and erode trust in the judiciary. Outdated case management systems, critical data siloed away, and public demand for digital participation in justice proceedings all contribute to the urgency of finding innovative, cost-effective, and cyber-secure solutions.
Innovative courts are already modernizing their systems and taking initial steps with generative AI technologies. At Microsoft for Government, we assist courts and judicial organizations in maintaining trust within their communities through solutions that transform operations, increasing fairness, accountability, and transparency. Let’s examine some key benefits of court modernization, including a novel approach for courts to experiment with AI innovation safely and productively.
Enhanced Access to Justice in 3 Key Areas
The adoption of cloud technologies typically has an immediate impact in terms of power, scalability, and flexibility. Modernizing tools and systems can deliver new capabilities that enhance access to justice. Among these:
1. Streamlining Court Operations
Courts function more efficiently with a more empowered workforce, and modernization enables the quick realization of significant gains in efficiency. For instance, by adopting Microsoft 365 Copilot, 70% of users surveyed across industries reported being more productive and able to focus on high-value activities and creative work.1
Greater benefits are achieved by cloud solutions that integrate vast stores of data. Courts are often supported by aging legacy systems that hold data in disconnected silos, making integration difficult or impossible. For example, the Orange County Superior Court (OCSC) managed three disparate case management systems (containing over 70 million paper files), which created serious inefficiencies. By integrating all data into a single warehouse on Microsoft Azure, they realized new benefits in decision-making and operational efficiency, setting the stage for greater innovation.
Case management systems are being transformed by modernization. Courts are moving away from expensive, limited legacy systems to modern solutions that speed up case processing, enable judges to access necessary information faster, and even increase caseload capacity. Cloud-based case management systems can fundamentally change how people interact with courts. For example, the Alabama Appellate Courts System developed a hybrid cloud solution allowing 6,000 Alabama licensed lawyers to access information and file motions without physically traveling to any of its three courts.
2. Improving Everyday Access to Justice
Trust in the court is central to justice, but for many, the cost and friction involved in legal proceedings are high, and the results are not always satisfactory. Modernization can help ease this burden with new services and capabilities that are user-friendly and engage the public.
Remote access to court proceedings is a significant benefit of modernization, making it faster, easier, and less expensive for people to participate. Widely adopted during the pandemic, remote hearings with Microsoft Teams are now being enhanced with generative AI features that can generate unofficial transcripts or session recaps.
The Teams experience can also be expanded to provide additional services. For example, the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF1) in Brazil improved access to the court with a new Virtual Support Desk—an integrated online service platform within Teams offering easy access to important judicial services for people across Brazil.
Modernization is also helping people navigate the legal system. Easy-to-use digital tools can provide guidance in legal processes, assist with document preparation, and help find important resources. Virtual assistants and chatbots can help people understand legal terms, access case information, and represent themselves in litigation.
3. Enhanced Experiences through New Services
Innovation with generative AI and advanced cloud services is evolving for courts, but early benefits provide a glimpse of how significantly courts will be transformed in the months and years to come.
Many of the benefits listed above will accelerate as more courts invest in modernization. For individuals, AI-enabled online portals and mobile applications will provide easier access to case information, explain options, and answer questions about legal processes—providing support that even court staff cannot always offer due to legal restrictions.
For judges and court staff, modernization promises faster processing of cases, with solutions that speed up administrative tasks, reduce delays caused by paperwork errors, and improve the filing of legal documents. AI can automate the extraction, categorization, and organization of information from documents.
Generative AI is also being integrated into legal workflows to automate tasks like tagging and classification, advancing the SALI (Standards Advancement for the Legal Industry) initiative, which Microsoft participates in, to create a standardized way to define and document legal matters.
A Low-Risk Way to Explore AI Innovation in the Court
Many courts are cautious about involving their critical data and systems in innovation with new technology like AI. That’s why Microsoft supports the AI Sandbox initiative by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC).
The AI Sandbox helps judicial organization leaders explore generative AI and learn how it can improve productivity, efficiency, and citizen service. Designed to serve courts across geographies, the AI Sandbox lets judges and court staff experiment with generative AI in a secure, private cloud environment built on Azure.
To get started, visit the NCSC AI Sandbox website.
Advancing Your Modernization Journey
Whether it’s the AI Sandbox or early experimentation with Microsoft 365 Copilot, the path to modernization is unique for every court. There are fundamental elements that every organization will need to realize the complete benefits of AI:
- A cloud platform like Azure delivers proven scalability, security, and compliance.
- A data and AI platform like Microsoft Fabric provides a common way to reason over your data.
- A development platform like Azure AI Foundry lets you build world-class AI-native applications.
Improving access to justice through technology is a long-term journey, but one that delivers benefits early and often. It’s crucial to define your goals, take a strategic approach, and choose a technology partner who will be with you every step of the way.
Learn More
To see how Microsoft is empowering court systems to be more agile, secure, and accessible for all, watch our video. To learn more about how we can help in your court’s modernization journey, visit our website or get in touch with your Microsoft sales representative or technology partner.
1Microsoft Work Trend Index Special Report.
As a leader in Microsoft’s worldwide government team, David Williams is passionate about applying technology to empower those in Public Safety and Justice. He works closely with partners, field teams, and customers to find solutions that meet each organization’s unique requirements. A retired United States Army major, he has worked for over 10 years in technology roles focused on intelligence, investigations, and data analytics.
Source Link
