Professor Richard Susskind OBE is well known within the legal profession for his numerous books predicting a dramatic transformation in legal practice, and calling for an overhaul of 21st century lawyering.
In February 2015 he made national headlines for his proposed eBay-style scheme for online dispute resolution (ODR) and the recommendation that HMCTS introduce a new, internet-based court service, known as HM Online Court (HMOC), to be launched in 2017. As Chair of the Civil Justice Council’s ODR Advisory Group and IT Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice, he had been tasked with finding a way to resolve low-level civil claims more cheaply.
An article by Judith Townend in the September issue of the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers sets out the main points of the report and considers the initial reactions to the scheme, its practical workability and the likelihood of its implementation. The article has also been published on Legal Voice and the Inforrm blog.