The days of dusty law books and yellowing court documents could soon be over as new technology is heralding a revolution in the High Court.
Cloud computing technology saved an estimated five million sheets of paper in the recent Boris Berezovsky v Roman Abramovich case alone.
With demand growing for paperless trials the new system is a further example of how London is the world’s leading centre of arbitration.
Magnum-Cloud, developed by London-based Opus 2 International, combines an archive of every court document, including all research and related case law, with transcripts and synchronised audio recording of the evidence and speeches.
Footnotes can be hyperlinked and there is even a video potential, particularly attractive to lawyers in the US courts. Instead of a mountain of documents every lawyer, client, judge or juror can access everything on a laptop.
A lawyer with a laptop, security code and connection in Australia, Las Vegas or the Arctic Circle could not only follow proceedings in the High Court but also pass notes electronically to a QC in the middle of cross examination.
The system was tested in the Berezovsky case to acclaim from the normally traditional Bar and judiciary. The clash of the billionaires generated 15,000 documents and 200,000 pages in pre-trial paperwork alone with each trial bundle costing £30,000 to produce. Five months before the trial Graham Smith-Bernal, Opus 2 founder and chief executive, gave a presentation to each sides’ lawyers and the judge.
Mrs Justice Gloster immediately embraced the principle. One senior lawyer involved in the case said: “As the trial went on we realised it was a fantastic system which made life far easier and its cost was nothing compared with the cost of copying bundles.
“Lawyers have always been conservative and won’t give up papers in trials easily but there is a new generation of lawyers and the younger kids are much happier working without paper.”
Mr Smith-Bernal, 54, said: “It’s a cost saving for the client and life saving for the world.”
