Episode 1 – virtual7 and the eFile
You know that story about the man who wants to borrow a hammer from his neighbor to hang a picture on his wall? In a nutshell, it goes like this: So he walks to his neighbor’s house through the stairwell and on the way he remembers the previous evening when the neighbor had looked so funny and the other day he hadn’t greeted him either when they had met in the stairwell.
The man continues down the stairs and thinks about what his neighbor would think of his request to borrow his hammer. If he doesn’t even say hello. And looks so funny. He’d probably get in line. He probably wouldn’t want to lend him his hammer, it would look like him. When he finally arrives at his neighbor’s house and he opens the door unsuspectingly, the man shouts at him “You can keep your damn hammer, you bully!”
A nice story that Paul Watzlawick used back in 1983 in his bestseller “Anleitung zum Unglücklichsein” to wonderfully illustrate how we always make life difficult for ourselves for no reason.
Perhaps it will make you smile? But perhaps someone here remembers a similar incident or situation in which we unnecessarily got into a mood that inevitably led to arguments.
virtual7 and the Bavarian State Tax Office (LfSt)
Which brings us to the topic – did you know that in 2021, for example, a total of 7,251 civil cases were settled before the local court that revolved around neighborhood matters? 7,251 cases divided by 638 German local courts is about 11 cases. Doesn’t sound like much for one year? True – but almost 800,000 sounds like a lot. That is the total number of cases settled before the local court. And they all had to be completed in an average of 255 working days. That’s 3,137 cases per day. In 638 courts, that makes about 5 cases every day. Still not much?
But hello, and why? Because it takes a lot of time to conclude proceedings. Because as a court and lawyer, I first have to familiarize myself with the case (in a paper file!) and correspond with the parties – often by letter! And when too many cases clog up the courts, it’s called a backlog of proceedings. This has to be dealt with somehow. But how?
Far be it from me to judge whether these neighborly disputes were all really necessary and whether going to court could not have been avoided through interpersonal communication, understanding and empathy. These disputes about floor coverings, birch pollen and tree roots are certainly justified. The important thing here is that we find a way as a society to deal with these problems civilly and resolve them promptly.
Fortunately, hard-working people are working to speed up these procedures and get to grips with the mountains of files. The digitalization of administration can prevent the whole country from being overburdened by too many supposedly “small” disputes.
virtual7‘s Customer Cluster Justice, for example, is working with the data center of the Bavarian State Tax Office (LfSt) to introduce electronic files in all Bavarian courts. The LfSt operates the central IT processes for the Bavarian justice system, which are used by the courts and public prosecutors’ offices. With the electronic court file, proceedings can be processed more quickly and communication between registry offices, courts and lawyers will be significantly improved.
Because this sounds so interesting and is highly topical, I asked them what we at virtual7 are working on together with the employees of the LfSt Bayern and what our part in this is. Fortunately, Alexandra Engl, who has overall responsibility for judicial operations at the LfSt’s data center, was a competent contact person.
“You [virtual7] support a very exciting part of this, namely the electronic integration portal (eIP). This is our core component for the introduction of electronic files. eIP is the platform on which the electronic file runs, which is made available to all courts and public prosecutors. And you ensure that the heart keeps beating.”
One result: clear benefits for citizens!
That does indeed sound exciting. This eIP makes it possible to process a file digitally in the first place. This applies to all work processes and requirements of everyone who works with such files in the justice system. And if virtual7 helps to ensure that the heart of the electronic integration portal beats, the contribution to the success of the eFile can certainly not be denied. Ms. Engl was also able to tell me exactly what this means for German citizens.
“Electronic legal transactions are a good example. This is mandatory for all lawyers and notaries and it also means that we can submit a criminal complaint electronically in our private lives, for example. You can easily and conveniently submit a complaint electronically via the Bavarian portal using an app and receive immediate feedback that it has been received.”
Introduction of the eFile
In other words, I can easily pick up my phone during an argument with my Bavarian neighbor and file a complaint with the portal for noise pollution or environmental pollution. Interesting.
But that doesn’t help the courts, does it? What can virtual7 do to ensure that the employees in the courts can process my and the many other complaints and reports successfully and quickly?
“The introduction of the eFile makes working at and in the courts easier, in other words you are making sure that the day-to-day work of a judge and a public prosecutor is much easier and free of media discontinuity.
But it doesn’t stop there. The introduction of the eFile also makes it possible to conduct hearings digitally. They enable video hearings by simultaneously maintaining the file while the hearing is in progress. You also make it possible to link the eFile in the eIP with other procedures. These are exciting things that go hand in hand with digitalization.”
Indeed. The Federal Minister of Justice, Marco Buschmann, already said on this topic in November last year that our justice system must become more modern, more digital and more citizen-friendly. Video conferencing should therefore be a natural part of everyday court life.
It goes without saying that you save a lot of time if you don’t have to travel from Kiel to Munich several times for a court hearing, but can instead attend it via video. According to a draft law, the existing regulations are now to be made more flexible and practicable. This will further promote the use of video conferencing technology in civil and specialist courts. And the basis for this is an eFile. This is the only way that lawyers and courts can work together on the same document at the same time.
The future of digital justice administration
But the use of the eFile does not end there. Artificial intelligence (AI) can also help to clear the backlog of cases. There are already exciting approaches here, such as setting up a standardized nationwide portal for intelligent assistance systems in the justice system. The advantages are obvious. Certain processes are automated anyway and are no longer carried out manually by a person. Instead, they are handled by artificial intelligence.
Ms. Engl was also able to tell me something about this – because the AI could take over some tasks in mass proceedings. Namely in passenger cases. If you consider, for example, that 90% of all proceedings at Erding Local Court are pure passenger cases or that over 7300 passenger proceedings were initiated in Cologne at the end of July last year. You can see that this easily leads to the courts being overloaded. In order to process this flood of individual lawsuits in a timely manner, these mass proceedings are initiated. This means that individual cases are still dealt with individually, but each of these cases has the same background. For example, a delayed or completely canceled plane. Ms Engl confirmed to me that virtual7 also helps to relieve the burden on the courts here.
Efficient processing of mass proceedings
“Attempts are being made to support passenger rights cases with AI, and all of this only works if I have a corresponding electronic file. As a basis, so to speak, to which other procedures can then dock. You (virtual7) ensure that the platform is available, to which all other components can then be connected. So you are really responsible for the heart of the whole thing.”
That sounds fantastic, of course, when we are responsible for the heart of the system with our work and this heart keeps the justice system running so wonderfully and healthily. The need for this heartbeat has just been confirmed again by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag. In a motion, it calls for “the development of artificial intelligence tools to be promoted in order to encourage more efficient processing of mass proceedings.” And without eFiles and eIP, precisely this step could not take place.
Added value of the work of the Customer Cluster Justice
Together with the Bavarian State Tax Office, the clever employees of the Customer Cluster Justice are ensuring that the digitalization of administration is progressing with the eFile and the underlying software.
“Yes, and this will hopefully make the day-to-day work of courts and public prosecutors’ offices much more pleasant, and citizens will also benefit from faster and more comprehensible proceedings.”
Even if we as humans in a complex society tend to make the world and our lives unnecessarily difficult from time to time, it is a great consolation that we can at least overcome these problems more easily and quickly thanks to Germany’s digitalization. It’s great that virtual7 can contribute to this.
