Launching the World’s First Multi-jurisdiction ODR Platform
3 min read
Zug, 28th July 2020 Dear Community, After months of work and preparation, despite the COVID phase, we are really excited to publicly announce the Open Justice Platform. Originally named as the “Court Layer” in our whitepaper, the solution will be addressing a global problem in a radically new way, a use case made even more urgent by the COVID pandemic. Let’s build the future of justice. The platform's initial release is scheduled for the end of Q3 of this year. This announcement has a different structure than the usual ones. Our goal is to give you a first overview of the context, reasons, and strategy of this release. More detailed information will be published over the next 3 months. Justice, as a multi-sided global problem In every country on the planet, the average time needed for getting one first instance judgment and its enforcement takes 600 days and costs around 25% of the value of the dispute. This is a sub-optimal situation today that most of us accept despite the huge losses it creates in terms of GDP, not to mention the human suffering that is associated with these injustices. This negative situation is getting even further enhanced by the COVID-19 pandemic. The dimension of the justice problem The Justice problem is global, multi-sided, and fragmented. It is not easy to estimate the size of this problem. Taking the UK jurisdiction as a reference, a recent analysis addressed some of these numbers and they are appalling. A similar approach could be taken for every other jurisdiction as well. Alongside our academic partners, we will be analyzing the data in a deeper way but it’s reasonable to say that the dimension of the problem is in order of several trillions per year (yes, you read that right). World’s first multi-jurisdiction Online Dispute Resolution. What we propose: A globally accessible and reliable judge for civil and commercial disputes. In 36 months from now, we want to have at least one Hub (i.e. Online Arbitration Chamber) in each one of 166 Countries where the legal framework we use is applicable (UNCITRAL Model Law). 30/60 days justice. Each Hub ensures dispute resolution of any kind (preferably targeting disputes under 1M USD value) in 30-60 days. In more complex cases (when technical consultancies are needed) it can take more. The digitalization of the process cuts the time and simplifies the bureaucracy. Affordable. The cost of this procedure is around 5% of the value of the dispute. This means that for a dispute of 100K USD of value, one or both of the parties pay 5K USD and in 30 days have a legally binding decision (an arbitration award). A unique global standard. Our model is made for being the same wherever you are. As an example, the Uber experience is roughly the same in Bangalore or in Rome or in Dubai. The car might change but the efficiency and reliability of the service is the same. A better equilibrium. In the last twelve months, we spoke with dozens of stakeholders at all levels (mostly policymakers, lawyers, arbitrators, legal counsels, CLOs, CEOs). We found an incredible response and we think that with our solution everyone gets advantaged. Governments reduce the problem of backlog in public courts. Lawyers are empowered to be more efficient. Current arbitration chambers might expand their reach to target more services that are currently uncovered. Decentralized in the features. The full trial is 100% online and enhanced in critical points by blockchain. For example, given a specific pool of arbitrators selected according to expertise, the selection is randomly generated through a DLT-based algorithm that ensures truly random selection. A peer-review system for providing, in case of need, an internal second step (or revision) of judgment and objective ongoing quality assessment of each. Advanced rating system to assess the quality/reputation of every single arbitrator, guaranteed thanks to a decentralized assessment mechanism that leverages game theory. Micro-Justice. We will keep expanding the work done on the Jur Beta Platform as R&D for addressing micro-sized claims that are not currently addressed in any way worldwide (e.g. disputes of 100 USD). Road to decentralization. We believe that in a 10-20 year timeframe new decentralized models and crypto-business models will be the leading ones. We think that justice is one sector that will benefit from decentralization. We are thrilled about the new milestone ahead and delighted to finally announce this. Stay tuned for more upcoming news! Don’t forget to check out the new landing page of the Open Justice Platform:
Jur Team
2 weeks ago
