Law’s turn to technology

While hearing a case in September 2023, the Supreme Court of India reportedly questioned whether all High Courts and tribunals in India allowed virtual hearings. If not, the court wanted an explanation. A young lawyer waiting for his case to be called out viewed this exchange from a laptop in his suburban home, juggling his responsibilities as an advocate and a father to a six-month-old. The Court’s question had nothing to do with this young lawyer. But the common thread which connected the two was the Indian legal system’s turn to technology.

The Covid-19 pandemic will go down as one of the most devastating catastrophes of this century. The loss of lives and livelihood it caused shocks one’s soul even today. Yet, if one were forced to identify a silver lining, it would be its impact on the functioning of the Indian legal system. A system notoriously resistant to change may finally have realised that the future is virtual and remote.

Once the first lockdown was imposed in March 2020, organisations were constrained to identify fresh solutions to problems they had not even imagined. Indian courts and its staff, law chambers and firms, and myriad other stakeholders of the Indian legal system were no exception. And while progress was slow, solutions were eventually found in technology. The instances exemplifying this turn to technology are multiple and diverse.

Indian courts developed the infrastructure to support virtual hearings and allow e-filing of pleadings and documents. This development literally ensured that litigants would have their day in court. These practices were already in place in international arbitration, but to witness them enhance the efficiency of Indian court proceedings was blissful. The environmental benefits were also immense. Lawyers no longer needed to print thousands of pages or travel from one forum to another with their entourage. That virtual hearings and e-filings have remained the preferred practice in many (but certainly not all) Indian courts even today, and are encouraged by the Supreme Court, is a promising sign.

Courts and dispute resolution lawyers are not alone in this endeavour. Corporate law firms advising on domestic and international transactions have equally taken to technology like fish to water. It is now usual to conduct due diligence, complex negotiations, and scrutiny of contractual documents virtually. This has encouraged the development of virtual platforms which allow seamless and secure sharing of voluminous documents, live transcription and translation services, and impenetrable breakout rooms.

However, the most significant impact of the Indian legal system’s turn to technology was on the lives of its innumerable lawyers and support staff. The increasing substitution of the physical with the virtual allowed professionals to have a more work-life balance.

This is a critical improvement in the Indian legal system, which has historically been indifferent towards the welfare of its workforce and romanticises the notion of burning the midnight oil. Technology alone cannot remedy these flaws. But it may help avoid or at least delay the situation of exodus faced by Singapore in 2021, when several young lawyers left the profession for greener pastures.

This turn to technology is also timely given how Artificial Intelligence (AI) has positively infiltrated daily conversations. In a short period, Indian lawyers have graduated from curiously discovering AI-tools such as ChatGPT and Google Bard, to using them to draft social media posts, emails, contracts, memos, and court submissions. While mistakes are being made, lessons are also being learnt. What is clear is that once these creases are ironed out, technology will continue to transform the Indian legal system with increasing frequency.

Finally, this conversation cannot conclude without noticing the several roadblocks that still remain. The glorification of virtual hearings must be tempered by an acknowledgement that significant parts of India still crave for affordable internet access and supporting infrastructure. A lot must also be done to train professionals — both young and old — to adapt to the speed of technology. Lastly, the advent of AI-tools has resurfaced critical questions about privacy and data protection, the answers to which will dictate the contours of the Indian legal system’s tryst with technology. Until these aspects are properly addressed, the Indian legal system’s turn to technology would remain incomplete. But if they are addressed, sky is the limit. And while it took a global pandemic to trigger this paradigm shift, one hopes the future is better because of the lessons learnt.

The writer is Director General of Indian Council of Arbitration, and Former Director General of FICCI. Views expressed are personal