Technology is a tool of the 21st century and the challenge facing society, government, businesses and industry is how to use new advances in science in ways that enhance human life rather than harm it. While the legal profession has been slow to adopt technology, recent developments suggest new models are emerging that have the potential to re-engineer legal services so that justice is more accessible to all. Below is a summary of some of the barriers to access and how technology can help.

Knowledge barriers

In general terms technology advancements are leading to new models of learning that are tailored to the needs of individuals. Research shows that early childhood education is an area that is especially important and for too long much ignored. Developments such as the Khan Academy have brought education to millions of people around the world. The higher the level of literacy in a society, the more informed and engaged its citizens will be.

Turning from general literacy to legal literacy, before the Internet, laws were found mostly in government, law firms and university law libraries. Law books were very expensive. Thanks to "open government" and other social justice and consumer movements, the laws of most countries are today freely available online. Just one of many examples, is the World Legal Information Institute. With almost 2000 databases on this site, one can find laws from over 120 jurisdictions around the world.

With the advent of a more interactive Web 2.0, law internet sites have grown to provide much more information. Today, websites can monitor activity, interact with users and tailor information and services to the needs of particular users. Such sites can facilitate legal research, offer solutions and even help resolve disputes.

Software can also help people navigate across many different government programs to help determine whether they are eligible for low income legal assistance. This is the aim of a software app in the U.S. called Due Processor. Another example is Rocket Lawyer which offers at low costs common legal forms required by individuals and small businesses. It also has a twitter-like service through which users can ask questions and gain free legal advice. LegalZoom is another site that specializes in providing inexpensive legal services for small businesses and their families.

Also helping to overcome knowledge barriers are NGOs and law firms and professional bodies that are taking their "pro bono" responsibilities more seriously with innovative programs that help bring legal services to those who previously could not afford them. Again, technology has assisted, for example, by providing a platform for legal information and services.

One example is New York's "Free Legal Answers" which enables lawyers to provide members of the public with answers online. Many other bar associations in the U.S. have adopted a similar platform. With China's rapid adoption of e-commerce, various forms of e-courts have been developed with the aim of moving many judicial functions online. An example is the "intelligent court system" established in 2014 by the Jilin People's High Court with its Jilin E-Court Website.

Language barriers

In our diverse and multi-cultural world it is also important that the laws be made available in multiple languages. As a result of globalization movements such as the WTO, the major trade related international agreements can be found in multiple languages. Conducting research about Chinese legal developments for the past two decades, I have been delighted that today most of China's laws and legal developments are reported in English as well as Chinese. I have also been impressed by the commitment of my Chinese law students to master not only English, but also many other languages.

For those who do not speak other languages, software translators are rapidly improving. Moreover, many jurisdictions will make the key legal information available in multiple languages that reflect the diversity within their local community. Thus, many legal and government sites in the U.S. are in Spanish (the largest U.S. minority) to cater to the needs of individual people with diverse cultural backgrounds.

Software requires rules and standards to be effective across legal systems. This is the focus of projects like the EU Grotius Project 98/GR/131. Its aim is to promote consistent best practice standards in relation to legal interpreting.

Technical barriers

The law is also a language of its own and even native speakers can be intimidated by and alienated from a legal system that uses highly formal and technical language that is only understood by those with professional legal training. Software packages make it easy to provide links that put technical terms in plain language and diagrams that make it easier to see how things fit together.

Moreover, such tools can be used by legal professionals who increasingly are committed to drafting in plain language which is more accessible to those who use the law, the contract and other legal documents for guidance. Important work is also being done to make legislation more readable and easier to understand, for example, by better design, use of diagrams, examples, and so on.

Financial barriers

In many countries, the majority of lawyers provide their services to a minority of the population. For example, a 2013 U.S. study by the Legal Services Corporation, a non-profit established by U.S. Congress that advocates for fair legal access, found that the programs in the U.S. address only 20 percent of the legal needs of the poor. In the U.S. and other Western countries, for the middle class too, existing models for delivering legal services are too costly for the average person.

New models of legal practice, aided by technology, have promise to reduce financial barriers. Leveraging technology (e.g. electronic document assembly) one lawyer can today do the work of many. Virtual law firms mean that lawyers do not have to incur the costs of an expensive office and all the trappings that go with it. High speed and secure telecommunications connections mean that legal work can be sent overseas to be done by highly skilled lawyers, for example in India, at a fraction of the cost. High speed data analytics and artificial intelligence mean that a computer can do the case searching and other legal work that previously had to be done by a junior lawyer.

Physical barriers

The physical location where justice has traditionally been administered has itself been a barrier to access. Formal courtrooms, designed largely for the benefit of lawyers and judges, can be very intimidating to the average person. Thanks in part to the "consumer movement" modern courtroom designs are taking into account the "community of users" who are involved. For example, in Charlotte, North Carolina, jurors are provided with comfortable waiting rooms and various services (food, childcare, business services) that make it more convenient for them to wait as well as enabling them to carry out their daily activities while also doing their civic duty of jury service.

Similarly, courts are made less intimidating, for example with Family Law courts designed in attractive colors and with paintings and drawings and other fixtures and layouts that make the venue less intimidating and more comfortable for children and others who are already under great stress.

Geographical barriers

Most lawyers and superior courts are found in the major population centers. Video conferencing today can mean that parties no longer have to travel for hours to get access to a court or a lawyer. Some jurisdictions also use mobile courtrooms that bring the court to the neighbourhood. Others use technology to resolve the dispute online, increasingly using freely available communications technology such as Skype.

Legal education barriers

Yet another barrier to justice has been the design of legal education which in many schools is largely theoretical. Such programs do not provide law students with practical experiences to give them the skills required to be ready for practice.

Gradually, law schools are taking "skills education" more seriously by adopting an increased focus on skills, including technology literacy for lawyers. An example is the Sydney City School of Law which this past year had students participate in a "law hackathon" where people from different disciplines converged to provide technical assistance to non-profit groups seeking to leverage technology to have a greater impact. The School also offered a short introductory course on "coding" for lawyers.

Looking to the future, mention should also be made of the roles that virtue reality, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, gamification and other developments will play in educating the next generation of lawyers about the role of technology in enhancing access to justice

Cultural barriers

The top schools in most countries are largely populated by students from higher social-economic groups with the result that the legal profession is unrepresentative of and often underserving of the population as a whole. This point is made in a recent book, Dream Hoarders, by Richard Reeves, a fellow with the Brookings Institute. Reeves argues that while headlines have focused on the increased wealth of the top 1 percent of society, the reality is that there is also a deeply widening gap between the top 20 percent and the rest of the population with those at the top capturing most of the professional jobs.

The availability of online legal education in many countries means that legal education is more accessible. Moreover, technology has the potential to help better tailor legal education models to meet the needs of a more diverse student population and thus play a part in serving the educational needs of those underserved by traditional models.

Another cultural aspect impacting access to justice occurs as a result of migration where significant numbers of people, fleeing war, poverty and other forms of persecution, arrive in a country with a different language, culture and legal tradition. This is another area where technology can be used to create bridges of understanding, sensitivity and cultural awareness that assist in assimilation.

Time barriers

Technology enables a 24/7 world of work and access. In an Internet environment matters can be resolved asynchronously and after hours and not be limited to court times and normal business hours.

Barriers to innovation

Lawyers and judges tend to be highly risk averse. However, in a time of rapid change and transformation, there is a need for the profession to embrace change and become more innovative or face serious disruption. Legal education, admission policies, law firm models, courts, legislatures, governments -- all aspects of the system must adapt and reboot in order to meet the needs/demands of an Information Age and an increasingly inter-connected, diverse and complex world.

Competition barriers

The legal profession in every country is highly regulated. In many cases professional bodies, such as bar associations and law societies, play a major role in this regulation. While such regulation offers protection to consumers of legal services, it can also result in anti-competitive effects that have inhibited innovation and made the profession resistant to change.

As technology has enabled legal services to transcend jurisdictional boundaries, gradually new models of legal practice are emerging that will enable greater competition and more responsiveness to growing populations and rising consumer demand. These and other pressures are beginning to lead to disintermediation of professional services with new types of services being provided in new ways to new groups of consumers previously not served or underserved by traditional models.

Eugene Clark is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.ccgp-fushun.com/opinion/eugeneclark.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.