The Problem

  • In the UK, access to judgments and transcripts in civil proceedings is problematic:
    • BAILII provides an amazing service making available a vast range of British and Irish case law & legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission reports, and other law-related British and Irish material. However, not all judgments appear on BAILII (for reasons which are explained here).
    • Legal publishers, including BAILII, request the same case data, often in the same way, from HMCTS.
    • There is no reliable comprehensive source of case data, making analysis and other Legal Tech initiatives flawed.

The Approach

We facilitated workshops to identify a common set of data fields and an understanding of the types of problems and opportunities that might be available for those involved in publishing case data.

The Result

We generated a map with the relevant stakeholders identifying the actions, who is involved, and the problems associated with each stage.
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NOTE: Since this exercise, court and tribunal judgments will be made available via The National Archives for the first time, increasing transparency and securing free access for all (see Press Release).

Related Reports and Articles

Open access to case law - how do we get there? - Internet Newsletter for Lawyers
Open access to case law in England and Wales is in a very poor state of health, both in terms of the amount of case law that is freely accessible to the public and in terms of the sustainability and development of the open case law apparatus in this jurisdiction.
https://www.infolaw.co.uk/newsletter/2018/11/open-access-case-law-get/
Open access to case law - how do we get there? - Internet Newsletter for Lawyers
www.lawgazette.co.uk
https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/commentary-and-opinion/lets-build-an-open-law-movement/5070740.article
 
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