Automation Improves Efficiency, Transparency of Ukrainian Courts
Nadiya Lushchak, chief of staff of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Court of Appeals, knows how to effectively manage a court. But a caseload which has nearly doubled since 2002 left the judges and court administrators in her court overburdened with paperwork. The court staff was not reaching their full potential as they struggled to process and decide cases in a timely fashion.
Public launches of new, automated case management systems in Ivano-Frankivsk on December 10, 2008 and in Donetsk on November 10, 2008 introduced citizens and the media to improved courts. The installation of the new system has drastically reduced the amount of time needed to complete daily functions and subsequently increased productivity and transparency. In the paper-based system, it took 17 minutes to register a case; with the new automated system, it takes just seven. Statistical reports that were previously compiled manually over a two-week period can now be generated automatically in about 30 minutes. Lushchak believes that the new case system will have important benefits for citizens. “The work of the court will become more organized and transparent,” she said.
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Nidiya Lushchak, chief of staff of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Court of
Appeals demonstrates the benefits of the automated case management system.
Photo credit: Sarah Watson |
The new case management system was installed with the help of the Millennium Challenge Corporation-funded, USAID-administered Ukraine Rule of Law Project, which provided the hardware, software and infrastructure needed to run the case management and random case assignment systems. The project is an integral part of MCC and USAID efforts to increase transparency in the Ukrainian judicial system. The installation of a full case management system in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Court of Appeals and the Donetsk Oblast Court of Appeals will contribute to increased transparency and efficiency in their work. The case management system not only assists court staff by providing instant access to documents that were previously distributed to them in paper format, it also enables citizens to access information on the status of their case through a central office in the court, instead of visiting multiple offices.
Automated courts now also have the ability to send electronic copies of court decisions to the Unified Registry of Court Decisions where they are displayed via Internet, whereas before there was often a six-month delay as courts sent their decisions in paper format and then waited for them to be manually uploaded. Additionally, through the Internet, judges in automated courts can access court decisions from the entire country for greater predictability and uniformity in court decisions.
The random case assignment module, the development of which was sponsored by the Ukraine Rule of Law Project, is installed in the courts mentioned above as well as in the Ivano-Frankivsk City Court and the Petrovskiy District Court of the city of Donetsk. This module will provide an open and transparent case assignment process which will in turn reduce accusations of corruption and unfairness in the assignment process. The UROL MCC project provided the hardware, software and infrastructure needed to run the case management and random case assignment systems.
As Ukraine seeks to improve the efficiency and accessibility of its judicial system, the automated courts can serve as a model demonstrating adherence to their ultimate mandate, to serve the public. Lushchak expects that the court staff will now have the time to “think about what they are doing and how to improve what they are doing.”
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