This month NuLegal celebrated the commencement of its 10th electronic courtroom project (“eTrial”) in the Australian Courts with a solution powered by EDT.

Mark de Bruyn, co-founder of NuLegal, a specialist legal technology service provider considers eTrials to be a domain in which Australian courts are really leading the way.

“The trend began with some ground breaking eTrials in the mid ‘2000’s that utilised a single database within the courtroom to capture tendered exhibits, pleadings and transcript. The trial documents were shared by all parties via web browsers within the courtroom and were also accessible outside the courtroom via the Internet. “ said de Bruyn.

“That was 10 years ago and we’ve come a long way since then with eTrials now generally accepted to be the best practice approach by Australian courts and law firms.”

De Bruyn said his team fully researched available technology before deciding on EDT’s Toolbox as their preferred platform for eTrials. 

“We chose EDT’s Toolbox because it has been designed from the ground up by litigators and court technologists to support the entire case lifecycle. So, it particularly meets the needs of courtroom proceedings. It incorporates all the unique functionality that is required in an eTrial ranging from the most complex, high volume, civil case through to class actions involving unrepresented litigants and even criminal trials.”

NuLegal has also leveraged its niche expertise and methodologies to develop some tools of its own that integrate with EDT’s Toolbox within the courtroom to further streamline proceedings.

Jo Sherman, founder and CEO of EDT agrees with de Bruyn. “Australia appears to be at the forefront in the eCourtroom space. I’ve been working with courts and judges around the world for almost 20 years now and I’ve not encountered any other country that has truly embraced what appears to be a uniquely Australian collaborative approach. 

"The unique aspect is the fact that the parties and the court meet and confer long before the trial commences to agree on a single technology solution to be used throughout the trial and thereafter even in chambers throughout the judgment preparation phase.”

This approach is more efficient. Not only does it remove the need for trolleys full of documents that have been photocopied multiple times, it avoids the unnecessary expense of separate duplicated systems used by each party and the court.

“The costs of the central solution are shared by everyone and this is far more cost effective than every party wheeling in their own software solution. This, in addition to the reduced hearing times (some trial judges have estimated a trial time reduction of as much as 20% when the trial is electronic) results in a dramatic reduction to the litigation costs for all parties.”

“It’s exciting to see the success NuLegal are having and we are delighted that our software has been selected to service this niche market” said Sherman.

Recent NuLegal eTrials powered by EDT Toolbox:
* Kilmore East Bushfires Class Action
* Great Southern Class Action
* GPT Class Action
* Storm Financial Class Action
* Vioxx Class Action
* Centro Class Action