Symposium ‘Digitalisation of Justice:
Perspectives from Germany and the Netherlands’
Digitalisation is subjecting legal institutions to a profound process of transformation. Judicial proceedings, administrative procedures, and out-of-court dispute resolution mechanisms are increasingly shaped by digital communication and the use of artificial intelligence (AI). While these developments offer considerable potential in terms of efficiency, accessibility, and transparency within the justice system, they simultaneously raise fundamental questions concerning the rule of law and procedural fairness.
Measures on the EU level aimed at the digitalisation of justice – such as the European e-Justice Strategy 2024–2028 – have made clear that Member States must realign their justice systems not only technologically, but also normatively. Although fully online criminal proceedings, for example, may bring significant advantages for judicial systems (such as reduced costs), they may at the same time give rise to misunderstandings relating to modes of expression and non-verbal communication. The increasing relevance of digital innovation is by no means confined to criminal procedure, however.
From AI-assisted adjudication in civil proceedings to the marginalisation of vulnerable groups in administrative decision-making, technological developments create both opportunities and risks across a wide range of legal fields. To address potential challenges, a legal perspective that looks beyond doctrinal boundaries – both across areas of law and across jurisdictions – is indispensable, as innovative solutions to many of these issues have already emerged in other legal systems and fields of law. In particular, given that national legislators and courts are responding to the current transformation at markedly different speeds, country-specific tensions arise between gains in efficiency and the protection of fundamental rights.
Against this backdrop, this symposium is guided by the central research question of the legal and institutional conditions under which the digitalisation of justice in Germany and the Netherlands can contribute to improved access to justice and to the quality of judicial decision-making. All whilst not undermining minimum standards of the rule of law and procedural guarantees.
The primary aim of this symposium is to provide a forum for dialogue across different fields of law, to systematically identify the opportunities and risks associated with digitalisation in various legal domains, to highlight potential regulatory gaps, and to develop proposals for solutions through collective discussion.
Particular attention was devoted to four core areas: private international law, civil procedure, criminal procedure, and administrative procedural law.
Programme
Event location:
House of Connections, Grote Markt 21, 9712 HR Groningen, the Netherlands
08:30-09:00
Registration & coffee (and poster presentations)
09:00-09:10
Opening
09:10-09:40: Keynote Speech
Dr. Benjamin Grimm
Minister of Justice and for Digitalisation, Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany
09:40-11:00, Panel 1: Private International Law
Prof. Dr. Susanne Lilian Gössl, LL.M. (Tulane)
Professor of German, Foreign and Private International Law and the Law of Digitalisation, University of Bonn
“Digital Justice and Cross-Border Proceedings in Germany”
Dr. Kirsten Henckel
Assistant Professor of Private International Law, University of Groningen
“Access to Justice in a Digitized World”
Prof. Dr. Frederick Rieländer, LL.M. (Cambridge)
Professor for European and German Private Law, Private International Law, Civil Procedure Law and Comparative Law, University of Bremen
“Transforming Transnational Litigation through Emerging Technologies: Opportunities, Risks, and Regulatory Safeguards”
Dr. Benedikt Schmitz
Assistant Professor of Private International Law and Comparative Contract Law, University of Groningen
Moderator
This panel is sponsored by the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law
11:00-11:15
Coffee and tea break
11:15-12:15, Panel 2: Civil Procedure
Prof. Dr. Gralf-Peter Calliess
Professor of Private Law, International Commercial and Economic Law, Legal Theory, University of Bremen
“Digital Access to German Civil Courts”
Prof. Dr. Pauline Ernste
CPO-Professor and Associate Professor of Private Law, Radboud University
“Fact-Finding by Judges via Google and ChatGPT in Civil Proceedings: Limitations in Dutch Procedural Law”
Patrick Koerts
Senior Lecturer of Civil Procedure, University of Groningen
Moderator
12:15-13:15
Lunch (and poster presentations)
13:15-14:35, Panel 3: Criminal Procedure
Prof. Dr. Hannah Ofterdinger
Junior Professor for Criminal Law with Links to Digitalization, University of Hamburg
“Digital Criminal Procedure in Germany – A Waiting Game?”
Dr. Dorris de Vocht
Associate Professor of Criminal Law, University of Tilburg
“Between Ritual and Reform: Navigating Remote Criminal Justice in The Netherlands”
Dr. Laura Peters
Associate Professor of Comparative Criminal Law and Procedure, University of Groningen
“AIWitness and the FAIR Method: Criminal Procedural Principles as Design Parameters for AI in Criminal Justice”
Dr. Glenn Thodé
Assistant Professor of Criminal Law, University of Groningen
Moderator
14:35-14:50
Coffee and tea break
14:50-15:50, Panel 4: Administrative Procedure
Prof. Dr. Sarah Rachut
Junior Professor of Public Law, Law of Digitalisation and Higher Education Law
“Challenges of Digital Transformation for Administrative Procedural Law in Germany”
Prof. Dr. Sofia Ranchordás
Professor of Administrative Law, University of Tilburg; Professor of Public Law, Innovation, and Sustainability, Luiss Guido Carli Rome
“Rethinking Administrative Law in the Age of Digital Bureaucracy”
Dr. Ida Varosanec
Assistant Professor of Technology Law, University of Groningen
Moderator
15:50-16:05
Coffee and tea break
16:05-17:00
From Ideas to Insights: Justice in the Digital Age
Elevator pitches by emerging scholars followed by a discussion with all speakers
17:00-17:10
Closing remarks
17:10-18:00
Location remains open to take a look at the poster presentations
19:00-21:00
Conference dinner