COVID-19 Pandemic - A Time To Unlearn And Relearn In The Legal Ecosystem

We have witnessed the way Covid 19 pandemic has created havoc in our daily routines and has completely changed the way each one of us were habituated to live. Whilst all of us are faced with unprecedented times, the present pandemic may have equally resulted in an ‘unintended opportunity in disguise’. As Benjamin Franklin presciently said, ‘Out of adversity comes opportunity’.

It is in this context that the authors, being active practitioners of law in their respective areas, strongly believe that the ongoing uneventful times has demonstrated the power that usage of technology can bring (particularly in practice of law). Largely, lawyers have been comfortable in maintaining a physical style of work, - be it documentation, client meetings, library, court related proceedings, research notes, etc, despite the advent of technology in phased manner until recent past. It is only due the recent pandemic (including lockdown), that lawyers have understood the importance of usage of technology, be it in a case preparation or advocacy. In fact, speaking simply, if we break up the word ‘technology’, the same includes ‘tech - know – law’.

Technology has surfaced the reality to unlearn old ways of working and relearn new ways of working by virtual collaboration to enhance overall working skills and avail all opportunities associated with digitalization. The Supreme Court recently, in the context of live screening of court proceedings had stated, and we quote, “thus technological solutions can be tool to facilitate actualisation of the right to access of justice bestowed on all and the litigants in particular, to provide them virtual entry in the Court prescient’s, and more particularly in the courtrooms”. This observation is apt in the present scenario and we have seen the practical implementation of the same during the ongoing lockdown. The proactive adaptation of technology by our judicial system has ensured that the rule of law continues to prevail during these uneventful times. The Supreme Court along with most of the High Court’s and quasi-judicial bodies across India have already started to conduct virtual court proceeding to render e-justice. Some people may excoriate this practice of virtual hearing in their own inimical style to conclude that the said practice may not be successful in future once normalcy prevails.

Needless to say, every change brings with itself some challenges. The present situation of virtual court hearing is no different, more so, when there has been no precedent to learn and rely upon. This is an evolving practice and we have seen that adequate systems are being (and will continue to be) devised to optimise the usage of technology for seamless virtual proceedings. This is not the time to evaluate critically how successful our judicial system would be in conducting virtual proceedings in future basis the current format, however, the endeavour should be to appreciate the nimble way in which our Judicial system has undertaken this commendable task of advancement of justice by using technology.

Technology and its usage has successfully imbibed a new learning curve and has resulted in most (if not all) of us to introspect in enhancing our personality, be it, being adaptable to change, remain positive, managing crisis, being resilient, to say a few. The current pandemic has vividly made us believe that technology has (or will) become an integral part of our life, be it on a personal or professional front. Our judicial system is also not immune from this belief. While certainly during the lockdown period or thereafter until normalcy prevails, virtual proceedings will be the norm, however, it would be interesting to see if in future the current norm continues (albeit in a more robust manner) or our judicial system maintains status quo ante. Going forward, if a blend of ‘e-court and ‘brick and mortar court’ were to become the new norm, then few existing rules of game may be required to be revisited to obviate any legal hurdle to the said blended new norm. There is a great opportunity facing us to leverage technology to serve justice at the doorstep of the litigant. Covid crisis may have added an unintended important dimension in the justice delivery process.

This article has been  co-authored by Diwakar Maheshwari, Dispute Resolution Partner, Khaitan & Co, and Nitin Mittal, General Counsel Signify Innovations India Limited (previously Philips Lighting).