Archives: July 2004
Fri Jul 23, 2004
ODR and Government article
An interesting article by Professor Anita Ramasastry of the University of Washington School of Law, "Government-to-Citizen Online Dispute Resolution: A Preliminary Inquiry" is accessible at
http://www.law.washington.edu/WLR/ramasastry.pdf I would agree completely that this is an area in which there will be great opportunities for ODR.
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Thu Jul 22, 2004
TECHNOLOGY gets personal
TECHNOLOGY gets personal
Australian IT - Australia
A Melbourne University survey, presented at the UN's third annual online
dispute resolution forum earlier this month, shows that more than 1.5
million disputes ...
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,10163398%5E15302%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
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Tue Jul 13, 2004
UK Money Claim Online
One ODR service of particular interest is the UK Money Claim Online (MCOL), which has been in operation since early 2002. (See the practice direction which established the scheme here.)
According to an article by Ken Fraser in this month’s Internet Newsletter for Layers (a UK publication by Delia Venables, available by subscription here) the volume of claims has increased 84% over the last 12 months. He also says that "the project went from defining the user requirement to live running in 17 weeks, no mean achievement especially considering the link to all local court systems, and of course a payment engine which provides for 24:7 access."
The upper limit on the value of a claim submitted to the system is STG£100,000. The defendant may choose to respond online and, in marked contrast to the UDRP, cannot send hardcopies. Entering one’s name on the online form is equivalent to signing a document, and payments can be made by debit or credit card. An online resource is provided to parties with which to view their case history. A simple, clear and effective interface is presented, with a reassuringly professional design coupled with the constant visibility of the UK Courts Service logo. The service includes useful features, such as the ability to verify the address of the respondent.
Almost 4,000 claims were entered in March 2004, brining the total for the financial year 2003/4 to 39,589. "This means that MCOL is now issuing more claims than any of the local county courts."
The main question raised by Ken is the fact that, in April 2004 for example, only 12% of the claims issued were entered by solicitors/lawyers. Ken finishes the article by asking if there is some reason why solicitors are slow to resort to MCOL.
In the course of my research into ODR, I found that enthusiasm was lowest amongst members of the legal profession, and heard from many ODR service providers (including some who had ceased providing services) that they found it difficult to convince traditional lawyers of the utility of ODR. Practice has shown, of course, that demand can be phenomenal when appropriate services are offered to appropriate consumers.
This is an area which certainly deserves further research.
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Mon Jul 05, 2004
Third UN Forum on ODR 2004
The Third UN Forum on Online Dispute Resolution has now commenced.
You can view the overheads and hear audio recordings of the keynote speakers at http://harangue.lecture.unimelb.edu.au/ilectures/ilectures.lasso?ut=587&embed=1&header=1&footer=1&enabled=1
You can contribute and comment at the online discussion area at http://members5.boardhost.com/grossalert/
We hope you'll drop in to participate in this event.
Melissa Conley Tyler
Program Manager, International Conflict Resolution Center, University of Melbourne
Convenor, Third Annual Forum on Online Dispute Resolution
m.conleytyler@unimelb.edu.au
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