BAU Develops "E-Court" Model to Contribute to the Justice System

Bahçeşehir University (BAU) has developed an "e-Court" model that can ensure the uninterrupted and secure operation of the justice system, which had to be suspended due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that has affected the entire world.

Designed by the university's software developers without the use of open-source code, in collaboration between the BAU Cyber Security Center and the Faculty of Law, the system aims to contribute not only to the justice system but also to the national economy.

With e-Court, which will enable cases to be heard on online platforms, hearings can take place in courts independent of a physical location. Providing fast and secure end-to-end encrypted exchange of data, video, audio and all kinds of documents, the system allows lawyers, plaintiffs, defendants and the judges and prosecutors responsible for the case to attend hearings from wherever they wish.

Easily integrable with the "e-Government" system, it will allow every citizen with a case, or their lawyer, to attend their case easily via mobile phone, tablet or computer from their workplace, home or holiday, in Türkiye or abroad.

"We would like to present this to our country as a gift"

Bahçeşehir University President Prof. Dr. Şirin Karadeniz said that the product is entirely interdisciplinary, having emerged from Faculty of Law academics and Faculty of Engineering faculty members and students coming together: "Together with the experts, faculty members and students at our Cyber Security Center, we began building this process with security first, acting even more carefully because it is the justice system, and ensuring its cyber security. The product we have built here is a secure, end-to-end encrypted platform that enables everything that happens in a courtroom to take place entirely on a digital platform, without the need for any courtroom. If a lawyer submits a document or information, if a judge gives the floor, if participants are admitted after their identities are verified, if minutes are taken, if the process is recorded, this platform can do it all."

Karadeniz said she believes the system can be used for two purposes: "First, we are an educational institution. We have a Faculty of Law, and we train the lawyers of the future. From now on, in addition to the physical courtroom we have created for our students, we expect our students to conduct case simulations with their instructors on this digital platform and to work on cases with professionals working in the field in Türkiye and around the world. By establishing this balance between theory and practice and developing our students' digital literacy skills, we want them to be ready for these systems and for the new technologies that will come throughout their professional lives. Our second dream is to present this to our country as a gift. We believe it can also be used in our own justice system. If deemed appropriate, it can easily be implemented within our justice system, and such a product, born of our university's R&D, can also easily be offered to the world as an example."

"The city no longer matters, and costs fall dramatically" Metin Feyzioğlu, President of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, said: "I had thought of this a year ago as well, but today some of my highly esteemed colleagues, who announce with various photos on Instagram that they protect the interests of their colleagues, lynched us, saying, 'What is an e-hearing supposed to be? Can there even be such a thing? Lawyers have only one thing, the hearing, and now we are taking that away too?' Yet what we are trying to explain is this:

in the model we are planning, the judge will go to the courtroom and put on the robe. In other words, the judge will not hold the hearing from the kitchen at home. The judge will not resolve disputes in an unserious setting with a robe over shorts or pajamas, but will go to court. But my young colleague will no longer have to make a 12-hour bus journey to that city only to be told 'the expert report has not arrived' and have to take a new date and go back home. He or she will also put on the robe, but will be able to connect from the car, from the office or from wherever they are. And this brings us another magnificent opening: mobility.

Wherever information is, power is there. The city no longer matters, and costs fall dramatically. The state must support this project with all its might. And you must, as always, support the state with all your might. We will do whatever falls to us."

"It has become a model digital platform for the world"

Stating that with the systems now being developed Türkiye no longer lags behind the world and is taking important steps toward becoming a country the world follows, BAU Global Chairman Enver Yücel said: "This will affect every sector, but personally I had not imagined that justice and the legal system would be affected to this extent. But looking at it, we have put our finger on such an important issue that it has become a model digital platform for the world. There is a saying: 'Justice delayed is justice denied.' There is also something I learned from an American law dean. He said, 'Law is the pioneer of revolutions. Whatever you do, if you do not base it on legal foundations, there will be chaos.' That has stuck with me ever since. Whatever we do, if there is no legal basis, there is chaos. Do you know what this system will bring to our agenda? The economics of justice. If this system can be implemented, a shepherd in a village with transportation difficulties will be able to make his defense via the computer in the village head's office without going to court. Lawyers will, of course, work out the details."

"What makes me happy is this: we will no longer fall behind. Our greatest advantage is our young population. With this young population, we can very easily adapt to this new world."