A future president of the Law Society has praised the potential of online dispute resolution to help achieve access to justice. Brett Dixon, deputy vice president-elect and a member of the Online Procedure Rule Committee, told an event in the City of London this week that the committee, set up in 2022, is now moving towards its delivery programme. This will include creating a ‘pre-action’ space to enable parties to resolve disputes before court, he said.
Stressing the importance of access to justice for people with ‘smaller scale problems’, Dixon said it was 'utterly refreshing to focus on access to justice for all, not just on reducing the number of claims.'
Dixon was speaking at an event organised by the Law Society as part of a series of ‘coffee colloquies’ hosted by the lord mayor of London, Professor Michael Mainelli. The theme was SDG 16, one of 17 'sustainable development goals' adopted by the UN in 2015. Its targets include providing access to justice for all by 2030.
Mainelli, the American born scientist and economist serving as the 695th lord mayor, told the event that ‘to build a really successful commercial centre, you need two things: talent and the rule of law’.
Several participants spoke of the role of lawyers in achieving the ‘sustainable’ element of the development goals. Caroline May of Norton Rose Fulbright, who chairs the Law Society’s working group in climate change, revealed that the Society is producing new guidance on the effect of climate change on specific practice areas. ‘We have an important voice. We have the ability to change communities and shouldn’t be afraid to use that voice,’ May said.
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