An overview of how advances in information technology can be used to enhance the resolution of legal disputes.

Alternative dispute resolution has now supplanted litigation as the principal method of dispute resolution. This overview of dispute resolution addresses practical developments in areas such as family law, plea bargaining, industrial relations and torts. The authors elaborate on the necessary legal safeguards that should be taken into account when developing technology-enhanced dispute resolution and explore a wide range of potential applications for new information technologies in dispute resolution.

This book examines how existing arbitration procedures can be adapted to cope with disputes stemming from internet transactions.

The use of new information and communication technologies both inside the courts and in private online dispute resolution services is quickly changing everyday conflict management. However, the implications of the increasingly disruptive role of technology in dispute resolution remain largely undiscussed. In this book, assistant professor of law and digitalisation Riikka Koulu examines the multifaceted phenomenon of dispute resolution technology, focusing specifically on private enforcement, which modern technology enables on an unforeseen scale. The increase in private enforcement confounds legal structures and challenges the nation-state’s monopoly on violence. And, in this respect, the author argues that the technology-driven privatisation of enforcement – from direct enforcement of e-commerce platforms to self-executing smart contracts in the blockchain – brings the ethics of law’s coercive nature out into the open. This development constitutes a new, and dangerous, grey area of conflict management, which calls for transparency and public debate on the ethical implications of dispute resolution technology.

Improving access to justice has been an ongoing process, and on-demand justice should be a natural part of our increasingly on-demand society. What can we do for example when Facebook blocks our account, we're harassed on Twitter, discover that our credit report contains errors, or receive a negative review on Airbnb? How do we effectively resolve these and other such issues? Digital Justice introduces the reader to new technological tools to resolve and prevent disputes bringing dispute resolution to cyberspace, where those who would never look to a court for assistance can find help for instance via a smartphone. The authors focus particular attention on five areas that have seen great innovation as well as large volumes of disputes: ecommerce, healthcare, social media, labor, and the courts. As conflicts escalate with the increase in innovation, the authors emphasize the need for new dispute resolution processes and new ways to avoid disputes, something that has been ignored by those seeking to improve access to justice in the past.

This book constitutes revised selected papers from the two International Workshops on Artificial Intelligence Approaches to the Complexity of Legal Systems, AICOL IV and AICOL V, held in 2013. The first took place as part of the 26th IVR Congress in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, during July 21-27, 2013; the second was held in Bologna as a joint special workshop of JURIX 2013 on December 11, 2013. The 19 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in this book. They are organized in topical sections named: social intelligence and legal conceptual models; legal theory, normative systems and software agents; semantic Web technologies, legal ontologies and argumentation; and crowdsourcing and online dispute resolution (ODR).

This book brings together the expertise of two authors involved in initiating the development of Online Family Dispute Resolution (OFDR), while also examining the unique Australian system. The family arena generally comprises property or child-related disputes arising between parents, whether married or not, and whether the parties have lived together or not. A special feature of Australia’s OFDR system is that it deals with children’s issues rather than focusing on property distribution. The book first discusses how technological innovations have transformed dispute resolution services to families. It explores the need for OFDR and how such systems can potentially be implemented. In turn, the coverage shifts to screening tools used prior to a Family Dispute Resolution session to ensure that online systems are appropriate for the case under dispute and the people involved. Readers will then learn about the necessary training required – for administrators, practitioners and clients alike - for OFDR to be successful. In addition, the book offers a comprehensive evaluation of the system and reflects on the lessons learned to date. In closing, it suggests ways in which OFDR could be further developed and applied to family disputes around the world.