LSB July 2018_Web

WILLS & ESTATES
Digital Probate: What the Courts’ new
Electronic Court Management System
means for Practitioners
Later this year the Courts
will begin the transition from
paper to digital court files
with the launch of its new
Electronic Court Management
System (ECMS), a state-wide
system used to collect, store
and process court matters
electronically. Eloise Burge, who
is responsible for engaging
with the legal industry and selfrepresented
litigants during this
transition, discusses what this
means for probate practitioners.
BULLETIN: You are responsible for
Practitioner Engagement for the
ECMS project, can you explain what
that means as well as how practitioners
are being engaged?
ELOISE BURGE: My role is to actively engage
with practitioners and self-represented
litigants to understand and respond to
their perspectives and expectations relating
to ECMS and its procedural changes then
ensure that the Courts Administration
Authority (‘CAA’) hears these perspectives.
The CAA will utilise these insights to
understand the issues and opportunities
including future service offerings.
I will be regularly:
• meeting and communicating with
practitioners to keep them up to date on
the latest ECMS news
• conducting consultations on key
issues affecting them as a result of the
implementation
• inviting them to provide feedback on
proposed language changes to forms.
B: What is your experience and
background in the justice sector?
EB: I have a legal background. I have
worked in Australia and Dubai, practicing
at DLA Piper and Baker & McKenzie,
was Associate to the Honourable Justice
Vickery and coordinator of the Victorian
Supreme Court’s e-filing system pilot and
most recently was a Partner at a private
sector design agency in Melbourne where
I specialised in using Human Centred
Design to improve access to justice.
Having been on both sides of the table
I can appreciate firsthand how important
it is to create systems that improve court
processes but also understand the impact
this will have on practitioners and the
profession.
B: What is ECMS and how will it work?
EB: ECMS is the name for the new
electronic court management and e-filing
system that is being introduced to Supreme
Court, District Court, Environment
Resources and Development Court,
Magistrates Court and Youth Court.
The vision is a state-wide system used to
collect, store and process court matters
electronically, ensuring delivery of the right
information to the right people at the right
time. The system will accommodate the
electronic use of documents throughout
the entire system, and transition the courts
from paper based to digital court files with
“print-on-demand”.
Using ECMS, practitioners will be able to
• electronically initiate, file, update and
enquire upon matters without needing
to attend the Registry, 24 hours a day,
365 days a year
• make online payment and receive a
receipt
• receive notifications about proceedings
including decisions
This will provide valuable cost and time
savings to business and the community,
particularly for regional litigants. The
administration of justice will also
be expedited by the instantaneous
transmission of information and there will
be advantages in retrieval and portability as
well as ease of access.
Courts Administration Authority
Practitioner Engagement Lead Eloise Burge
B: How is ECMS different to other
electronic filing systems?
EB: Unlike a lot of other electronic filing
systems where forms and documents
are often printed, signed, scanned and
uploaded, ECMS uses electronic ‘smart
forms’. The ECMS team have been
working with Court staff, the Judiciary,
practitioners, subject matter experts,
members of the public and technical
experts to write, design and build these
forms. This means that instead of simply
making the existing forms digital they:
• have been re-written using plain English
so that they are easier to understand and
complete while unnecessary questions
have been removed
• use conditional logic to progressively
disclose the next question based on the
information provided in the previous
answer to make completing the forms
easier
• contain help text to assist in answering
the questions
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THE BULLETIN July 2018