The Legal Hackers Delhi Chapter in alliance with Sharda University School of Law organized a panel discussion on “Law and Technology- Independent or Interdependent” on September 22, 2015. The panelists included:
1. Ramanuj Mukherjee, Co-founder, iPleaders
2. James Mukkatukkavunnkal, Founder, Scriboard
3. Maurya Vijay Chandra, Partner, Adyopant Legal
The moderator of the event was Kanan Dhru, Founder of RFGI, Lawtoons, LawForMe and initiator of Legal Hackers India.
Kanan Dhru kicked off the event by stating that that 90% of online data was created only in the past year. Considering that 5 billion people are estimated to have Internet access by 2020, what role applicable laws and regulations will have to play in the coming years is very important.
In response to this, James from Scriboard quoted examples and facts of various jurisdictions and countries where technology is a key element used by the judiciary and in addressing these challenges. He shared his views on why lawyers should adapt to the latest and upcoming technology and why the Indian Judiciary should adopt digital courts. Furthermore, in the future there will be common usage of artificial intelligence, drones and other new technology that will require updated laws. James emphasized his point by saying that there would be 20 billion devices in the world by 2030. “There are days coming where full dive technology will be used in which human neural system will be connected to the computer to read the brain,” added Ramanuj Mukherjee.
On the efficiency of the technology in aiding the Indian legal system, Ramanuj apprised the audience of the fact that more than 30 million cases are pending in the courts of India. He suggested that technology could be used to assist in spreading legal awareness and in simplifying laws and procedures so they can be easily understood by the average person.
The debate then revolved around whether recent technology was improving efficiency of justice administration in the country or instead helping people circumvent the law. In order to combat the lack of awareness of rights, laws and legal responsibilities of the people in India, the panel discussed possible solutions such as encouraging more legal tech start-ups, creating digital friendly legal offices and continuing to develop new technology for lawyers.
