The digital revolution and the speed of change In this vein, the traditional pattern of slow, piecemeal court reform by building on a tried and tested model is now being replaced by a series of radical changes, coming in ever quicker succession, each more far-reaching than the last. An obvious explanation is what Harold Wilson once called “the white heat of the technological revolution”. Yet there can be no doubt that the digital revolution has left the civil courts behind. There are good and bad reasons for this. The ‘bad reasons’ include serious underinvestment. It is now belatedly recognised that capital investment in the courts will eventually pay dividends, through greatly reduced running costs. A more serious ‘bad reason’ is the unfortunate trail of failed IT projects which preceded the recent encouraging success of CE File, DCS and eJudiciary. A potentially ‘good reason’ is that access to justice requires courts to be accessible to all their customers rather than only the most advanced, IT literate and computer equipped. This is a very serious argument. National statistics suggest that about 10% of the population have no connection, no computer, or lack the requisite skills. This percentage continues to fall, though anecdotal but persuasive evidence from the voluntary sector suggests that around half of current LiPs are digitally challenged. Proper assistance for this group remains a sine qua non. However, there must come a point when going digital is a better solution than staying on paper until everyone is ready for the change. I think that this point in time has now been reached. To begin with, there are many impediments to access to justice which are mitigated by technology. Some court users are challenged by having to use English, and digital communication
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