Telephone judgements

Following a review, the Ministry of Justice has proposed a system of mediation by telephone as a
way of speeding up small claims disputes. Although a drop in the ocean of the 1.5 million disputes
placed before the courts each year, the telephone mediation service is expected to handle 80,000
cases.

Interestingly, while the general public were broadly in favour of the proposals, the legal profession
and judiciary themselves were opposed with the biggest concern being “that telephone hearings
would significantly reduce the judge's ability to control and observe the parties/witnesses properly
during the hearing." However with an existing satisfaction rate of 95%, mediation seems to be the
way forward.

This move by the Ministry of Justice is a fresh example of the way in which the telephone is
increasingly being seen as an essential time and cost saving tool. Although there is nothing new
in telephone conferences, businesses have been using them successfully for decades, the move by
public bodies to accept the telephone as a cost saving device is a welcome one. Certainly running
telephone and website services in tandem can create huge savings. However, on a note of caution,
the head of the Government Digital Service project revealed at the end of last year that in a single
year calls to government t departments as a result of broken government websites cost £942m to
process.

For the ordinary business, this amalgamation of web site and telephone can also produce great
rewards. With modern telephone technology smoothing the telephone conference pathways, it
is now perfectly possible to hold international telephone conferences without the cost of travel.
Web based management systems allow the conference manager to log callers off or to switch their
status between speaker and listener, meaning that the conference call can run smoothly with little
background interference. Conference calls can also be easily recorded, allowing an accurate report
and minutes to be produced.

Used as part of normal daily business call conferencing can speed up business processes whilst
saving transport and time costs. As part of a disaster recovery plan, call conferencing together
with call switching and information lines can form a vital cog in the recovery process; allowing
communication lines to be kept open and decisions to be made swiftly. If the Ministry of Justice’s
plan works, disputes will be similarly speeded up, which can only be a good thing for all concerned.