The Court of Justice of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (CJJ) is implementing a paperless digital courtroom after signing up with CaseLines, the world’s leading global provider of digital evidence management, according to a press statement on Thursday.
The statement said that CaseLines is a critical tool which helps nations meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16 by transforming the quality and efficiency of justice across Africa, with the aim of assisting in improving the rule of law. CaseLines’s software eliminates the need for paper in court by introducing an entirely digital platform with applications that allow for the creation and presentation of a fully digital bundle, including multi-media evidence, collaboration instruments for enhanced pre-trial preparation, and secure role validated video conferencing for virtual hearings.
“Covering 21 member states, the supranational CJJ, based in Khartoum, Sudan, sits with 12 judges, each from different member states, with seven Judges in the First Instance Division, and five others in the Appellate Division,” the statement read. “Today, lawyers bring cases to the court from all the member states, incurring considerable time and cost to file applications and send paper copies of evidence to the court. CaseLines provides a digital solution to this challenge, helping to increase the efficiency and security surrounding legal proceedings,” the statement continued.
CaseLines will allow lawyers to file applications and evidence in a secure environment from their own offices, saving costs of copying and transporting paper files, and at the same time cutting the risk of losing or misplacing files. Moreover, the system sustains efficient pre-trial preparation, especially for lawyers who are supporting clients in different countries.
Judges of the CJJ will now be able to work efficiently from their home offices, which will enhance the preparations, while cutting unnecessary travel costs and time, and speeding up the process of preparing the judgment following a hearing.
