A key component of the master of the rolls' vision of an ecosystem of online courts could go live next year following the announcement of a joint venture this morning. Mediation services provider IPOS Mediation announced that it had agreed with specialist software developer Resolve Disputes Online (RDO) to turn into reality the specification for an online dispute resolution system for small businesses drawn up under the government-backed LawtechUK programme. 

The idea of the system is to provide an affordable and easy to use platform for SMEs to recover unpaid debts through online negotiation and mediation. Online artbitration will be available for parties that fail to settle. 'Validation testing' of the new service should begin this summer, with the aim of going live next year, Henrietta Jackson-Stops, partner at IPOS Mediation, told the Gazette. 

Costs will start at £25 and be based on the value of the claim, Jackson-Stops said. Future versions may offer 'asynchronous' services at times to suit the parties. 

Although the development of an online dispute resolution system was part of the first phase of the LawtechUK programme, the project appears to have been in limbo since the publication of a proof of concept in 2021. LawtechUK, which this month launches its second phase, always made it clear that the project would be taken forward by a commercial venture. 

IPOs, formerly known as In Place of Strife, was founded in 1995 to provide experienced mediators to parties with complex and/or high value disputes. RDO - which carried developed the proof of concept for LawtechUK -  is an international developer of 'white label' dispute resolution software used mainly by public courts. 

 

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