The pandemic, the legal sphere, and the technology

How legal systems got through the pandemic,what role did technology play in the process, and will these changes prove durable?

Abstract

The paper attempts to show what kind of role has technology played, and still plays in the time of pandemic within the legal sector. First it shows the three eras of legal informatics: the office automatisation period, the online period and the artificial intelligence period. It argues that the pandemic is speeding up the closure of the second period, and helps to step into the third one. The second part of the paper is demonstrating the functioning of the technologies that are helping to survive the pandemic in the legal sphere: the online authentication tools, the audio and video systems and the online dispute resolution systems. The latter demonstrates already the third wave of legal technologies. There are some conclusions and recommendations at the end of the paper.