For the past few years British Columbia has been working on the Civil Resolution Tribunal, an online tribunal dedicated to help resolve small claims(<$5000) and condominium disputes. Now two people that have worked in depth on the project, Darin Thompson and james Anderson, share more information about their project.

1. Online Dispute Resolution
17 Jan 2018

2. Darin Thompson: Legal Counsel, BC Ministry of
Attorney General | Adjunct Law Professor
James Anderson: PwC, Director, Consulting

3. BC’s ODR History

5. • Diagnosis
• Information
• Self-Help
• Streaming & Triage
24/7 Expert info & guidance. Free. Online. Delivered directly to non-experts.

6. Do users want a service, or a place?
• Remote
• Mix of
asynchronous and
real-time
interactions
P.S. We have more “places” too.

7. Justice Tech Project
Users at the Centre & Continuous Improvement
Consult
Conceptualize what we should build
Consult
Design what we think we should build
Consult
Prototype what it might look like
Consult
Build it
Consult
Refine while we’re building it
Consult
Improve what we’ve built

8. Multi-channel access to justice

9. DIAGNOSIS,
INFORMATION AND
SELF-HELP
PARTY-TO-PARTY
NEGOTIATION
FACILITATION DECISION POST RESOLUTION
SUPPORT
Solution
Explorer
Online
discussion
Facilitated
negotiation
& decision
preparation
Adjudication
Enforcement
1 2 3 4 5
AutomationDispute Volumes

10. Sarah has a busy family and a Monday to Friday job
She bought a fridge for $2,500 from Acme Appliances
It never arrived
Sarah doesn’t know what her rights and options are

12. • Small Claims: over 11,000
• Top 3 types:
o Buyers (26%)
o Sellers (23%)
o Property (15%)
• Top issues:
o Buyers: I bought goods or services for personal, family or household
use (231)
o Sellers: There’s a problem with payments or money (235)
• Claim value: 68% were for $3000 or less

13. Dispute Resolution System Architecture
Early Resolution Formal Resolution
Solution Explorer Dispute Resolution Suite
Cloud-based
Platform
All “Mobile Friendly”

18. Applicant Type Applications Complete / Incomplete Completed Intakes by Payment Method
Disputes PipelineClaims by Dispute Area

19. Early Tribunal Data
• Small Claims
• 2300 filed
• 700 resolved with approx. 85%
settlement rate
• Approx. 12 went to decision
• Strata (condo): 800 cases filed
• Access time (small claims & strata)
• 45% using tribunal tools outside traditional court hours
• Format (small claims & strata)
• 3 people out of 3000 applications requested to not use email
• About 5 applicants out of 350-400 per month use paper forms

20. • 90% felt they were treated
fairly
• 82% found the online
application easy to understand
• 80% though overall process
intuitive

21. Prevent
Contain
Negotiate
Facilitate
Adjudicate
Listen
Measure
Improve
Stop problems
before they start
Avoid escalation
Solve problems
Resolve or case
manage
Deliver fair, just
outcomes
Collect user
feedback
Analyze data
Implement
changes
(Working on it)
Solution Explorer
Online negotiation
Expert mediator /
case managers
Expert decision
makers
Inline & post
surveying
Continuous
improvement
cycle

22. Diagnosis
Information
Self-Help
Pre-qualify re: income
Identify service preference
Collect basic personal info
Pass to document assembly
Streaming & Triage
Collect analytics
Existing System
Existing Process