Sean Martin McDonald
The Case for mLegal
Innovations Case Narrative:
mLegal
The law touches everything we do. Whether it’s getting married, buying a house,
or starting a business, chances are the law has something to say about it. And yet,
the majority of the world never gets to hear it. According to a 2008 United Nations
report, four billion people worldwide lack meaningful access to the rule of law, et
presque 60 percent of the world’s population is excluded from the institutions and
services that govern them.1 When legal systems fail to reach the majority of the
world’s population, it leaves a gaping hole in fundamental governance.
This legal divide marginalizes people, communautés, and institutions that are
unable to engage with even the most basic government services. Par conséquent, billions
of businesses, homes, and crimes exist outside the purview of government protec-
tions.2 The UN estimates that in some places, these informal or “shadow” transac-
tions represent as much as 90 percent of business.3
Perhaps more concerning is that this is most prevalent among those who need
legal safeguards the most. Remote and poor communities, traditionally the people
most vulnerable to abuse and exclusion, face additional obstacles to justice.
Distance, éducation, and cost present often insurmountable challenges to access-
ing institutions or basic services. The increasing cost of legal services has forced
these people to rely on overwhelmed publicly supported legal aid, public defense,
or administrative service providers. These legal services, where they exist, sont
increasingly being cut or drastically altered due to budget reforms. Even in com-
paratively effective legal systems, a shortage of resources within publicly support-
ed legal services results in the functional exclusion of large swaths of most popu-
lations. The international community is candid about the fact that after decades of
programming and billions of dollars, the rule of law has yet to reach the bottom of
the pyramid.4 As a result, the poor remain unable to defend their rights, liveli-
hoods, homes, and families.
These populations, cependant, also present the greatest opportunities for
growth, empowerment, and inclusion. Mobile phones are empowering rural and
Sean Martin McDonald
pour
FrontlineSMS. Sean also leads the FrontlineSMS:Legal project, where he focuses on
the intersection of law, conflict resolution, international development, and technology.
the Director of Operations: Americas
est
© 2011 Sean Martin McDonald
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poor communities to enter economic markets, protect their rights, and engage
with their governments. There are currently an estimated 5.3 billion active mobile
phone connections in the world, 73 percent of them in developing countries.5 In
addition to basic phone services, every mobile phone in the world is able to trans-
mit text messages (SMS). Dans 2010 alone, people around the world sent 6.1 trillion
text messages, tripling the 1.8 trillion messages sent in 2007.6 Industry analysts pre-
dict that more than 10 trillion SMS messages will be sent in 2013.7 Service
providers in a wide range of fields, including healthcare, banking, éducation, et
humanitarian response, are beginning to integrate mobile technologies into the
way they communicate. These industries are using mobile technologies to reduce
frais, while also extending the reach and quality of services to previously inacces-
sible populations.
While there are a number of obstacles to accessing legal systems, many of them
are the result of barriers to communication. SMS is the world’s cheapest, most
ubiquitous data communications channel, in large part because it overcomes many
of these barriers.8 By using simple pieces of open-source software, legal service
providers could use SMS to maintain digital records, conduct basic remote intake,
and improve client management, all while reducing costs at a time when every cent
compte. This article is an exploration of the potential role of mobile technologies
in the extension and improvement of access to the rule of law.
THE CALL FOR A MARKET-BASED APPROACH
TO ACCESSIBLE AND APPROPRIATE RULE OF LAW
The rule of law is a notoriously elusive idea to define.9 It is popularly described as
a “cluster of values” that “protect people from unpredictable or arbitrary interfer-
ence with their vital interests,” which varies by context.10 In practice, cependant, le
rule of law is achieved through the efficient and satisfactory functioning of a wide
range of institutions. According to the UN secretary general, the rule of law
refers to a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and
entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to
laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently
adjudicated . . . It requires, aussi, measures to ensure adherence to the
principles of supremacy of law, equality before the law, accountability to
la loi, fairness in the application of the law, separation of powers, par-
ticipation in decision-making, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness
and procedural and legal transparency.11
Governments often approach these principles through formal institutions, typical-
ly those established by a country’s constitution. The legal system, as the check on
these institutions, usually carries the mandate of maintaining the rule of law.12 Yet,
in order to protect the full spectrum of a population’s vital interests, governments
rely on a range of administrative, enforcement, and social service agencies.
Regardless of practical implementation, many governments take a monopolistic
approach to the rule of law, explicitly asserting that formal institutions are the only
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The Case for mLegal
legitimate way of supporting and protecting the principles that underpin the rule
of law.
In a number of countries, cependant, people rely on quasi- or extrajudicial
mechanisms, such as municipal governments, religious institutions, or tribal coun-
cils, to protect their vital interests. These mechanisms, often referred to as “custom-
ary” or “informal,” fill a wide range of governance and service gaps in remote and
underserved communities. But these
mechanisms typically exist outside
the purview of standardized proce-
dure and oversight, leading to a wide
range of outcomes. Government reac-
tion to these mechanisms also varies
dramatically, from support to open
condemnation.
This legal divide
marginalizes people,
communautés, et
institutions that are unable
to engage with even the
most basic government
services. Par conséquent,
billions of businesses,
homes, and crimes exist
outside the purview of
government protections.
The interrelation between formal
legal systems, international institu-
tion, domestic governance institu-
tion, quasi-legal bodies, and other
mechanisms that support some form
of the rule of law is broadly called
legal pluralism.13 Legal pluralism con-
troversially acknowledges that, dans
many contexts, populations face a
multiplicity of governance norms and
systèmes, all of which play a role in
people’s access to the rule of law. Le
debate surrounding legal pluralism
typically comes from two perspectives: (1) that state law is the single meaningful
series of norms; ou (2) that other legal systems are equally or more legitimate than
state law. This article does not attempt to resolve this tension but to illustrate
Gerhard Casper’s assertion that the “the quest for the rule of law is relatively open-
ended and neither needs to be nor should be acontextual.”14
In context, alors, government institutions are responsible for implementing the
legal services and processes that practically comprise the principles of rule of law.
The effectiveness of these institutions, and thus of the principles on which they are
founded, are often determined by their ability to meet the needs of the people they
aim to serve.15 The concept that a legal institution’s validity relies even in part on
its ability to address local needs, rather than on state sovereignty, challenges a
number of theories about the sources of governmental legitimacy. Less controver-
sial is that by being accessible and appropriate to local needs, functioning and fair
legal systems engender public participation in, and thus legitimacy for, the institu-
tions constitutionally charged with upholding the rule of law.
Recognizing this, a number of governments are taking an increasingly market-
based approach to providing access to justice.16 The market-based approach recog-
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Sean Martin McDonald
nizes that economic realities are significant determinants of a government’s or
institution’s ability to provide even basic legal services. The economic difficulties
of providing legal services have become increasingly apparent, as both the number
of laws and the cost of legal services have grown substantially in the last 20 années.
Even governments that are comparatively able to provide the legal protections
embodied in their constitutions are experiencing resource shortages, en particulier dans
the wake of the recent global recession.
The foundations of the market-based approach, especially markets aimed at
the bottom of the pyramid, prioritize designing or altering services to be locally
affordable and useful. As governments are recognizing, dogma is not enough to
compel market growth. To that end, the legal industry is undergoing a renaissance
of exploration in how to make legal services cost-effective. Examples of this
include unbundling traditional conceptions of representation, providing resources
that support the “do-it-yourself ” approach, and consensus-driven approaches to
civil disputes. Although governments are gradually incorporating them into
administrative and adjudicative processes, these solutions have yet to meaningful-
ly bridge the growing divide between those with and those without access, lequel
leaves many without access to basic social and economic protections.
In the absence of accessible or appropriate legal institutions, populations turn
to other mechanisms, from traditional to religious service providers. In a global
environment where more than half of the world’s population lacks meaningful
access to formal legal institutions, issues of access and local appropriateness are
playing an operative role in the evolution of the rule of law.
DIRECT EXAMINATION: BARRIERS TO LAST-MILE LEGAL SERVICES
There are a number of barriers to providing legal services, and how they are prior-
itized varies substantially, depending on the perspective of those addressing them.
Governments, Par exemple, often focus on the high cost of running courthouses,
limited physical and utilities infrastructure, and the difficulty of maintaining a
high quality of service. Private legal service providers concentrate on the skyrock-
eting costs of complex litigation, the difficulty of accessing legal information,
unresponsive and noncompliant clients, and how to remain competitive in an
inflated market. Clients often focus on the increasing cost of representation, le
practical burdens of iterative legal processes, and the inefficiency of multi-institu-
tional processes.
The people who generally are not included in these conversations are those for
whom all of these obstacles are the most prohibitive: last-mile populations. Le
term “last mile” refers to areas or populations beyond the reach of basic govern-
ment infrastructure or services. Populations who live in the last mile often lack
utility infrastructure, access to most basic services, and even government influence.
Populations in these areas are often self-governing, relying on locally available dis-
pute resolution structures to protect their vital interests. Estrangement from state
services makes last-mile populations some of the most vulnerable to a range of
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The Case for mLegal
threats, including poverty, maladie, recruitment by extremists, and violence. Le
inability of institutions to protect last-mile populations from a range of dangers,
from lawlessness to insurrection, represents some of the greatest threats to nation-
al governments and is the basis of failed-state theory.17
In order to protect these populations, a growing number of governments rec-
ognize the need to understand the unique challenges last-mile populations face in
accessing essential basic services. Fundamental among these services is the legal
système, which is the front line of small-scale conflict management. Addressing the
issue of providing last-mile legal services will not automatically fix systems that are
not otherwise able to meet the needs of those they currently serve. That said, le
disproportionate vulnerability of last-mile populations means that even minor
systemic improvements typically result in significant gains in access to and the effi-
ciency of service delivery.
The unique problems that face last-mile populations are typically driven by
communications and distance, which express themselves both through cost and
other resource inefficiencies. Most legal systems require a person to appear multi-
ple times throughout the course of a process, from engaging legal representation
to final disposition. For people living beyond the reach of basic infrastructure,
something as simple as physically appearing before state and government bodies
can be an enormous problem. This requirement, in and of itself, is responsible for
a range of systemic and procedural inefficiencies. En outre, communicating
about these appearances, which may include scheduling appointments and court
hearings and gathering information, can pose difficulties in a variety of contexts.
In addition to access, a majority of last-mile populations are either unaware of
their rights or lack faith in the governing institutions meant to protect them. Pour
governments, these issues of education and trust are further complicated by dis-
tance. Engaging with remote populations, especially in areas where a government
may not have an office or representative, poses a range of challenges. Legal systems,
and the enforcement of legal outcomes, are often perceived as a projection of
authority, which politicizes their extension into areas that already have informal or
customary mechanisms for resolving disputes. To some extent, educational and
trust issues are deepened by institutions’ inability to spread basic information, effi-
ciently enforce their dispositions, and influence the perceptions of remote com-
munities. These basic educational and perception barriers often prevent last-mile
populations from even attempting to seek legal protections.
These inefficiencies are exacerbated by the need to travel long distances, attendez
for service providers to be available, and engage with complex, iterative processes.
For people who are unable to take time off work or leave a family in order to trav-
el long distances, often more than once, these seemingly simple inefficiencies
determine whether they are able to report a crime, register a business, or keep their
home.
In recognizing these difficulties and seeking innovative ways to resolve them, un
number of legal systems are beginning to bridge the communications divide that
complicates and prevents the provision of last-mile legal services.
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Sean Martin McDonald
APPROACHING THE BENCH:
APPROACH, SERVICE EXTENSION, AND TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS
The rule of law, perhaps more than any other element of basic governance, is based
on structured communications. Whether they are common or civil law, adversari-
al or consensus driven, formal or informal, almost all rule-of-law systems are based
on presenting information to a range of actors. This is not to downplay the signif-
icance of the distinctions between different, chevauchement, or pluralistic legal cul-
photos, each of which is subject to highly contextual obstacles to access, but to high-
light the fact that although process, format, and purpose vary widely across sys-
thèmes, communications play a major role in their execution.18
Legal communications, like the institutions that implement them, are not
monolithic, in that they are comprised of a number of different elements. Each of
these mechanisms can be disaggregated to the structural approach taken to resolve
a dispute, the service providers that engage clientele, and the actual format of each
interaction. Dans ce cas, “structural approach” refers to a type of legal culture or
système, such as adversarial or representational. Legal service providers are the
agents who act on behalf of clients, such as lawyers or community mediators. Le
format of legal communications, which is highly influenced by regulatory and
technological context, is the way information is conveyed in legal proceedings,
such as paper pleadings or in-person testimony. Each of these elements of a legal
system is, at its core, a practical exchange of information between parties with dif-
ferent interests. The efficiency of each element, alors, ultimately influences the
overall function of that system. To that end, innovations in approach, service pro-
vision, and communications technology, as they relate to overcoming the barriers
faced by last-mile populations, can have a disproportionate impact on last-mile
populations’ ability to access justice.
Approach Innovation
State-administered legal institutions have struggled to meet the needs of the pop-
ulations they serve. The widespread adoption of civil and common law systems,
largely a legacy of colonization, has resulted in a level of institutional and proce-
dural formalization that often requires legal representation. In many places, nei-
ther the institution nor the population has the resources to effectively engage in
formal adversarial processes. De plus, with increasingly dense bodies of law and
growing populations, the costs of legal representation have risen globally.
Recognizing this, governments all over the world are exploring new approach-
es to administering the rule of law.19 In a number of contexts, legal systems are
moving toward consensus-driven models as an alternative to litigation. A number
of other systems are shifting toward transactional and self-representational mod-
le. The move away from formalized legal processes represents the prevalence of
market-based challenges overcoming traditional cultural norms, such as the need
for adversarial dispute resolution and formal legal representation.
The most prevalent of these approaches is the widespread adoption of alterna-
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The Case for mLegal
tive dispute resolution (ADR). ADR is a blanket term that refers to a range of
processes that offer alternatives to traditional litigation, such as arbitration, medi-
ation, and negotiation. Most ADR processes involve a neutral third party who
facilitates dialogue between disputants, enabling them to participate meaningfully
in the ultimate settlement of their claims. Although these processes often involve a
service provider, they typically require significantly less institutional involvement
than litigation. Aussi, because the involved parties are more able to influence the
final disposition, they usually require less state involvement to enforce the out-
come. While consensus-driven approaches are not new, their recognition and
adoption by governments is.
Alternative dispute resolution mechanisms are most common in complex civil
and commercial disputes, and they have been adopted in some form at almost
every level of governance. At the international level, the World Trade Organization,
the International Court of Justice, and most regional trade unions use ADR
processes to settle disputes.20 At the national and local levels, a number of court
systems require some form of ADR before allowing litigation. Par exemple, le
ROYAUME-UNI, after recognizing that 75 percent of its civil cases were settled before litigation,
now mandates that small-claim civil disputants go to mediation before they are
allowed to go to court.21
In addition to moving away from formal litigation, the very concept of legal
representation is changing. In adversarial systems, clients traditionally retain the
services of a lawyer, who acts as their general counsel and addresses all their needs.
In the retainer system, a client pays a flat fee, which acts as a credit against which
the lawyer is able to bill during the term of the agreement. This model, cependant,
functions on anticipatory costs, which requires people to have a disposable income
in the absence of actual need. This cost barrier is preventative for a number of peo-
ple, who have neither the resources nor the need for the constant attention of a
lawyer.
To that end, a number of jurisdictions, particularly in the U.S., are moving
toward unbundled and do-it-yourself legal services. The term “unbundled legal
services” recognizes that for most people, the need for legal services is transaction-
al. Par exemple, a person may want to draft a will or sell a piece of property, lequel
typically only requires a finite amount of unspecialized legal attention. To that end,
a growing number of legal service providers are marketing their services as trans-
actional and providing cost structures that correspond to the work, as opposed to
long-term retention. De la même manière, a number of institutions are moving toward stan-
dardizing processes and creating publicly accessible template forms, which can be
used to engage directly with administrative service providers.
Although these innovations are not complete solutions, they reflect the chang-
ing culture of formal legal systems and the growing adoption of a market-driven
approche. The growing institutional recognition, especially among traditional and
formalistic legal systems, of the importance of cost-effective services represents a
significant step toward improving access for marginalized and last-mile popula-
tion.
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Sean Martin McDonald
Service Extension Innovation
As a number of legal cultures move away from rigid formalism, other governments
and nonprofit organizations are looking for ways to extend legal services into last-
mile communities. Legal service providers face significant barriers to extending
their services into rural areas, including limited human resources, a lack of physi-
cal infrastructure, and unsustainable market models. Most formal legal systems do
not have a sufficient number of service providers to meet the increasing require-
ments of the population. Par exemple, environ 350 lawyers provide repre-
sentation to Malawi’s population of 12 million (that’s approximately 34,258:1).22
With a shortage of legal service providers, most last-mile populations lack the eco-
nomic resources to compel market creation. De la même manière, because last-mile commu-
nities are typically geographically diffuse, governments do not prioritize investing
in building the infrastructure necessary to foster service industries in remote areas.
Recognizing that this legal divide creates substantial case backlogs and undermines
the rule of law, governments and nonprofit organizations are increasingly explor-
ing innovative ways to extend a range of service models into last-mile communi-
liens.
The most commonly cited barrier to extending legal services into last-mile
areas is cost. Although the effects of rising legal costs are heavily documented in
Western systems, they are perhaps experienced most commonly in developing and
underserved systems.23 In places where significant percentages of the population
live at the bottom of the pyramid, or in poverty, cost-driven exclusion is less the
exception than the rule. In almost all places, cependant, the prohibitive costs of pri-
vate representation leave low-resource communities either seeking alternative
mechanisms, publicly supported legal services, or ignoring the system altogether.
Legal aid programs, bar associations, and law schools are the most common
sources of free or subsidized legal services.24 These groups are able to provide legal
services by either relying on public funds or organizing volunteer labor. These
organizations are often the only providers of affordable legal services in a particu-
lar area, resulting in great demand. Malheureusement, these programs rarely have the
resources to meet that demand. This problem is worsening, as legal aid and inter-
national development programs are increasingly being cut as part of budget
reforms. Complementing these programs are a growing number of private legal
service providers who maintain substantial pro bono practices, which enables their
attorneys to volunteer for or select cases that they find particularly interesting.
These groups facilitate access to justice for poor communities, although they face
the same capacity constraints as legal aid programs.
These mechanisms to extend service are all direct, albeit questionably success-
ful, attempts to obviate cost as a prohibitive barrier to accessing legal services.25 By
working through traditional service models, legal aid and pro bono services
address the issue of cost, but in ways that lack sustainability and scalability.
Although there is no question that legal aid programs have a huge impact on the
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lives of those they are able to help, it is equally clear that subsidized legal services
are no substitute for a self-sustaining, market-driven services industry.
While legal aid programs and pro bono practices reduce barriers to access for
urban populations, they rarely address the needs of last-mile populations. La plupart
public and private legal service providers are based in urban areas and have limit-
ed reach into rural areas.26 Although there are a number of reasons for this, là
simply are not significant market incentives for already overworked lawyers to con-
front the challenges posed by distance for populations that can’t afford, or are not
interested in, their services. In the absence of a sustainable legal services market,
cependant, last-mile populations continue to generate case backlogs for legal sys-
thèmes, resulting in wrongful imprisonment, unnecessary detention costs, and a lack
of faith in the government.
In an effort to address these needs, several governments and nonprofits are cre-
ating innovative service extension models. India, Par exemple, faces a backlog of
31.3 million cases, which it is estimated will take 320 years to adjudicate under the
current system—provided no new cases are filed in the meantime.27 It is difficult
to conceptualize a backlog of this scale, let alone the disastrous effects it has on the
lives of the people who wait years for their day in court. One of the ways the Indian
government is attempting to address this problem is a system of mobile courts,
which bring free legal services to rural areas on buses.28 These mobile courts hear
predominantly civil and minor criminal cases for last-mile populations. Quand
compared to formalized processes, India’s mobile courts have demonstrated signif-
icant enough savings in cost and process efficiency that the program has expand-
ed to more than 7,000 buses.29
Colombia’s justice system distributes the authority to adjudicate civil law dis-
putes similarly across a range of actors, including the human rights ombudsman,
the Ministry of Interior and Justice, the local mayor’s office, et d'autres. This com-
plex array of actors can be overwhelming to last-mile populations who are unfa-
miliar with formal legal processes. In order to simplify the processes, le
Colombian government, with the help of international donors, established 65 casas
de justicia (justice houses). Justice houses are located in underserved areas and they
house group service providers from multiple agencies under one roof, enabling
disputants to address complex legal needs in a single location. The justice house
program helps last-mile populations overcome the complexity of multi-institu-
tional processes with one common interface.
Another way that a range of service providers, including legal aid programs,
can reach out to last-mile populations is to send trained mediators, paralegals, et
legal advisors into communities. Colombia’s Ministry of Interior and Justice trains
and certifies conciliadores en equidad (community mediators), who act as first-
response mediators and referral agents. Together these programs have responded
to hundreds of thousands of requests for assistance, and they are incredibly popu-
lar in the communities they serve.
In Liberia, the Carter Center supports a network of community legal advisors
who act as extension and referral agents. Community legal advisors “offer free
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advice on how to navigate the formal and informal legal systems and also offer
mediation services and advocacy assistance,” and they have collectively closed
plus que 1,200 cases since the 32-person program began.30 A number of other
African countries, including South Africa, Sierra Leone, Benin, Kenya, and Malawi,
support systems that employ paralegal-type agents in order to provide ADR serv-
ices for small claims and civil disputes, and to act as referral agents for more seri-
ous criminal complaints.31 For many last-mile populations, non-lawyers are the
people who play the most important role in providing rule of law services.
When looking at the ways various legal service extension systems work, le
mechanisms that appear to have the greatest impact are those that do the most to
engage last-mile populations where they are. Formalized systems, and the lawyers
who facilitate them, are absolutely essential for criminal and complex commercial
transactions. Cependant, alternatives to litigation, such as ADR, delivered through
agents in last-mile communities show substantial promise as comparatively cost-
effective ways to resolve civil, famille, and land disputes.
Technological Innovation
Formal legal systems are increasingly recognizing the potential of innovations in
communications technology to improve the quality, accessibility, and efficiency of
rule-of-law structures. The impact of the Internet and computing technologies,
specifically as they improve the availability and accessibility of information, sont
well documented through the open government and e-government communities.32
A smaller but growing legal technology community is designing and develop-
ing tools that address fundamental challenges in administering rule-of-law institu-
tion. At their core, the challenges new communications technologies address are
issues of access for legal service providers and the public. Par exemple, many gov-
ernments struggle to communicate existing laws and new legislation to lawyers and
legal service providers. De la même manière, most legal and administrative interactions have
historically been managed through paper records systems, which creates signifi-
cant inefficiencies and access issues. Even stages within litigation processes, tel que
evidence gathering and testimony, suffer from communications-driven challenges.
As new technologies and tools emerge, an increasing variety of legal stakeholders
is adopting innovative tools that address each of these challenges in different ways.
Communicating the depth and breadth of laws as they evolve to legal service
providers is a major challenge in any legal system. Governments that are interest-
ed in publicizing the legislative record face enormous challenges in terms of what
medium to use. Paper records require expensive printing processes and significant
transportation costs. To that end, a number of private organizations, and in some
cases governments have designed prolific Web-based resources that enable users to
access and search for applicable court decisions, legal frameworks, and related
scholarship. These tools were initially designed as subscription services for private
attorneys to improve the efficiency and depth of legal research, but an increasing
number of legal information systems are being sponsored by governments.
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Countries as diverse as Colombia, India, Brazil, and Malaysia have developed Web-
hosted platforms that report and distribute laws as they are passed.
Logistically, building legislative and legal information systems is driven by con-
text.33 Designing legal information systems to be universally available is even more
difficult, and meeting service providers on the platforms they already use to inter-
act often requires a range of technology, from the Internet to CD-ROMs. Pour
many, especially those who serve last-mile populations, Web-based platforms are
inaccessible, and so they are either unable to use legal information systems or must
do so through more limited means. En outre, because legislative information
and systems are typically designed for lawyers, they do more to improve the qual-
ity of legal services than the ability of populations to access them.
Some governments, particularly those supporting the do-it-yourself approach
described above, support Web-hosted interfaces for administrative services and
template legal forms. Both public and private organizations administer online
platforms that distribute template legal documents designed for public use. UN
growing number of institutions have integrated the forms they use to administer
basic services into Internet interfaces. Par conséquent, populations with access to the
Internet can use government services, regardless of distance and time, and without
the need to engage lawyers. In the United States, government services ranging from
tax departments to motor vehicle administrations and adjudication use Web inter-
faces that greatly expedite simple, transactional interactions. Cependant, there are
large populations within the United States that are prevented from using these
platforms due to educational, financial, and infrastructural barriers.
Formal legal processes, like administrative processes, also stand to benefit from
the improved efficiency of using digital and information communications tech-
nologies. Legal processes in particular require the presence not just of clients but
of a variety of people related to a case for both pretrial investigation and court-
room testimony. This tends to multiply or compound the barriers to access in last-
mile communities, whose residents must not only travel to seek counsel but also
convince neighboring witnesses to travel with them. Managing the logistics of cost
and witness testimony are issues in every legal context, which private and public
service providers spend millions of dollars addressing every year.
In answer to this, a number of legal systems have adopted videoconferencing
to enable disabled, infirm, or physically unavailable witnesses to testify.34 The
implications of using videoconferencing to reduce the costs of litigation have
grown substantially since the advent of two-way video streaming. Two-way video
streaming enables real-time witness testimony and examination, by both lawyers
and judges, anywhere there is a broadband connection and a webcam. The use of
this technology is controversial, raising questions about constitutional confronta-
tion clauses and the impact on the quality of hearings for disadvantaged popula-
tions.35 In Kenya, for example, appellate judges have begun to hear applications
from parties who “videoconference” their testimony in from other courthouses,
saving hundreds of miles of traveling for the parties and their representation.36
De la même manière, court systems from South Africa to Arizona have explored the possibili-
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ty of videoconferencing and have produced detailed reports about both the rules
and practicalities of implementing virtual courtrooms. Videoconferencing repre-
sents another exciting way that court systems and legal processes are able to use
new technologies to reduce both barriers to access and operational costs.
Private attorneys and firms have probably done the most to develop and adapt
new technologies to improve their internal management, and thus service delivery.
Most major firms use either networked or cloud-hosted case management and
time-tracking tools, which enables their attorneys to access firm records, files, et
templates remotely. De la même manière, attorneys are now virtually synonymous with the use
of certain types of smart phones, largely because of their obsessive attention to the
e-mail programs that such phones support. There is a growing number of legal
support websites and tools in development, ranging from smart phone applica-
tions to research services, yet there is still very little information on whether the
cost savings from the adoption of new technologies are being passed on to cus-
tomers. De plus, most of the firms that have the resources to invest in these tech-
nologies are not focused on marginalized populations, making it unlikely that
these intra-firm tools are having a significant impact on last-mile communities’
access to legal services.
The effectiveness of government services is largely based on an institution’s
ability to communicate with other institutions and their target populations in a
way that is both accessible to the masses and understandable to the common citi-
zen. These interactions, historically based on paper records systems, are changing
dramatically with the advent of new communications technologies. A number of
institutions, typically those with the means and the political will to adopt techno-
logical innovations, are already seeing significant efficiency gains in processes,
ranging from motor vehicle administration to multi-billion-dollar contract pro-
curement. The institutional migration to digital and Web-based services, souvent
referred to as e-government, represents an exciting and uncharted opportunity to
both improve institutional efficiency and reach new populations, thereby improv-
ing the capacity and reach of government services.
Dans l'ensemble, these innovations can be reduced to two thematic trends: a reduction
in the procedural requirements for resolving small claim and civil disputes, and a
proliferation of ways to minimize the costs and burdens of formal legal processes.
While these trends represent an evolution away from prevalent conceptions of the
state-administered rule of law, the innovations that have the greatest effect on last-
mile populations are those that meet them where they are. With the exception of
rural service extension, almost all of the major innovations in legal systems either
focus on lawyers or on populations that are comfortable using complex Web-based
services. The ubiquity of mobile phones, cependant, offers a number of people and
service providers an unprecedented opportunity to reach last-mile communities.37
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The Case for mLegal
CROSS-EXAMINATION:
MOBILE FOR DEVELOPMENT IN THE LAST MILE
With more than 5.3 billion active mobile phone connections around the world, it
is difficult to overstate the impact that this simple piece of communications tech-
nology has had on last-mile populations. For the first time, remote and poor pop-
ulations have the ability to connect with each other and with essential service
providers. A growing number of industries and governing institutions realize the
value of using mobile phones to interact with the populations they serve. The use
of mobile phones to engage clients, broadly called mobiles for development, ou
m4d, has been applied in fields as diverse as medicine, banking, and education, à
name just a few.
As mobile phones become more sophisticated, the field of m4d has grown. Le
proliferation of smart phones, particularly in wealthier countries, and mobile
Internet connections enables a wide range of interfaces, from phone-optimized
websites to customized applications. As the mobile market has become more com-
plex, the number of mobile operating systems has grown, creating fragmentation
according to regional market share.38 The smart phone market, while growing
explosively, is still significantly smaller than that of simpler, or feature, phones.39
What is common to almost all mobile phones is SMS, which operates in a stan-
dardized format. SMS are text-based messages that operate over a basic cell signal,
meaning that they also have more geographic coverage than mobile Internet.
According to some analysts, 90 percent of the world’s population and 80 pour cent
of the rural communities live in areas with access to a mobile network.40 As of the
end of 2010, there were 3.8 billion mobile subscriptions in the developing world,
accounting for 73 percent of the world’s mobile market.41 By comparison, approx-
imately 500 million people used their mobile phones to access the Internet world-
wide, y compris 277 million in China.42 Put simply, SMS is the most widely avail-
able text-based technology in human history.
Text messaging reduces a number of the barriers to communication that last-
mile populations face, including distance, coût, éducation, and synchronicity.
Given their coverage, mobile phones enable people to interact across previously
insurmountable distances. SMS is usually one of the cheapest forms of communi-
cation in a mobile market, reducing the cost of interaction over services like
mobile Internet and voice. Mobile phones are also a bridge technology, in that they
exist in many places where there isn’t a power grid, fixed-line telephone connec-
tion, or computers. To that end, many mobile phone users are completely new to
electronic tools, digital communication, and/or complex interfaces. By being cus-
tomized to local contexts, mobile phones and SMS help acclimate last-mile popu-
lations to using technology for both social and professional interactions. In addi-
tion, SMS doesn’t require that the other party be present and able to talk to con-
vey a message, removing the need for synchronous availability.
Recognizing these advantages, organizations across a wide range of industries
have begun integrating text-based interfaces into their daily operations. Although
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these efforts vary widely, a large number of m4d projects focus on adapting typi-
cal communications into structured formats that are conducive to SMS input.
There are an enormous number of industrial examples of this, from large-scale
mobile banking to language-education services. Perhaps more impressively, là
are also a number of nonprofit and grassroots examples, ranging from medical
supply inventory lists to election monitoring reports to late notices for library
livres. In order to facilitate mobile integration, there are a number of free and
open-source tools that enable users to translate this information into more com-
plex formats, such as maps, records systems, and surveys.
By integrating mobile interfaces into their work, service providers are reaching
new populations and encouraging the adoption of mobile devices, both capitaliz-
ing on and driving the market incentive to expand infrastructure. Mobile phones
are the most useful when people are able to use them to achieve practical, locale
résultats. As more local service providers develop mobile interfaces, last-mile
populations are able to use their phones to accomplish their goals. Both service
providers and mobile phone companies, alors, stand to gain from integrating SMS
into their operations. M4d, and specifically SMS integration, creates market-driv-
en incentives in the form of efficiency gains and business expansion to reach last-
mile populations using locally available technologies.
MLEGAL: A MARKET-DRIVEN APPROACH
TO EXTENDING ACCESS TO LEGAL SERVICES
Conceptualizing legal services as a market-driven service industry based on com-
munications is a paradigm shift from traditional conceptions.43 Yet legal processes
are subject to many of the same communications challenges that plague other
industries. By learning from the mobile integration experiences of other indus-
tries, such as healthcare and banking, the legal services industry may be able to
reap similar benefits in access, cost efficiency, and data usability. Using the naming
convention applied in healthcare and banking, the term mLegal refers to the appli-
cation of mobile technologies to improve or extend legal processes and services.
At present, mLegal is an exceptionally small and experimental field. Although
there are a number of organizations building legal technologies, including mobile
tools, FrontlineSMS:Legal is the only nonprofit organization developing free and
open-source tools that facilitate using SMS interfaces in legal processes. As with
any new system, business model, or approach, the ultimate effectiveness of the
process will depend on project design, local adoption, and a range of other factors.
The idea of integrating SMS into legal services is relatively new and untested, so the
expected benefits are based on the efficiencies observed in analogous communica-
tion structures. mHealth, or the application of mobile technologies to health
processes, is one of the more advanced branches of m4d, and so it is used here to
illustrate the ways SMS can be integrated into remote service delivery.
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The Case for mLegal
Chiffre 1. Referrals
Intake and Referral
The process of remote intake and referral takes a number of forms, depending on
the organization, procedural context, and infrastructure. Perhaps the greatest dis-
tinction is whether the initial interaction is conducted by a trained agent or
through a remote interface. Within legal processes, the initial interview between a
service provider and a client is an exceptionally important and complex interac-
tion. Il y a, cependant, often a number of simpler communications that precede
and coordinate the initial interview, such as very basic information collection and
appointment scheduling, which could be conducted remotely.
Given the complexity of legal institutions, providing remote intake and refer-
ral can significantly reduce the inefficiencies that last-mile populations face in
seeking access to services. The issue of complexity is often compounded by the
centralization of legal service providers in urban areas, which requires potential
clients to travel just to begin these processes. En outre, most rural or extension
services operate with paper records, which are physically transported to central
locations at fixed intervals. These records are not particularly practical from a
workflow management perspective and often are left unexamined in unwieldy fil-
ing systems. MLegal can reduce these barriers by creating mobile interfaces for dig-
ital intake and referral systems, which enables clients to undertake simple interac-
tion, such as identifying the appropriate service provider and scheduling an
appointment.
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Chiffre 2. Patient Tracking
From a communications perspective, the biggest differentiator in program
design is whether the intake system works through service extension agents, tel
as community legal advisors, or is designed to interact with the entire population.
There are benefits and drawbacks to both approaches. Par exemple, in systems
where there are service extension agents, last-mile populations have the benefit of
local support and the initial interactions are more in depth. Public-facing intake
méthodes, cependant, are able to be automated and asynchronous, which significant-
ly reduces the amount of human resources necessary to coordinate services and
enables populations without exposure to a service extension agent to access
providers.
Regardless of the method used, cependant, mobile interfaces have improved the
efficiency of intake and referral mobile health systems, which are similar to legal
service extension work. A number of last-mile health systems rely on community
health workers (CHWs), who provide remote diagnostic, referral, and triage serv-
ices. As illustrated in figure 2, by installing an SMS gateway, hospital healthcare
workers are able to use SMS to communicate with remote agents, facilities, et
even patients. In models that use CHWs, extension workers can use prefabricated
forms to create basic, standardized digital records that can be analyzed in real time.
Public-facing interfaces similarly enable people to use a series of keywords and
automated questions to create digital intake and referral records. In both models,
mobile intake and referral systems enable last-mile populations to access appropri-
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The Case for mLegal
Chiffre 3. Management
ate service providers while reducing the cost and improving the usability of the
information gathered through initial interactions.
The processes of intake and referral are, at their core, about accessing services.
By creating mobile interfaces based on available technologies, communications
infrastructure, and service providers, mLegal will lower the barriers to communi-
cation that prevent many last-mile populations from accessing legal protections.
Client and Case Management
After intake, most legal processes require service providers to interact with their
clients on multiple occasions in order to gather follow-up information, prepare the
case, and manage successive court hearings. Recognizing that each such meeting
requires people from last-mile communities to travel significant distances, the iter-
ative nature of these processes often causes a disproportionate burden for the
desired outcome. En outre, many countries struggle to provide sufficient postal
or fixed-line telephone services, meaning that organizing follow-up appointments
with clients can be a significant challenge. These challenges become considerably
more complicated in cases that have multiple elements requiring coordination
with both clients and institutions.
Client and case-management systems suffer from a number of the same dis-
tance, éducation, and cost barriers described earlier. In extended service provision
réseaux, most community agents do not communicate regularly with service
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providers, making it difficult to know whether disputants followed through on the
intake or referral processes. De la même manière, in order for service providers to follow up
with clients, when it is possible at all, they have to place person-to-person phone
calls, which can take significant chunks of time. De plus, internal case-manage-
ment systems originate from paper records, causing large amounts of duplicative
data entry and lags in data availability.
In order to address similar problems, Medic Mobile, an mHealth organization
that works closely with FrontlineSMS, set up an SMS hub in a community health
clinic in Malawi, which enabled the CHWs to update client records and track treat-
ment compliance in last-mile populations. In just six months, this pilot program
saved the facility 2,100 hours and $3,500 in transportation costs alone. In an mLegal context, legal service providers would install an SMS hub in a central location, such as a justice house or public defender’s office. During the intake interview, service agents would record the client’s mobile number and use SMS as an ongoing communications platform. By creating a sustained communi- cations channel between service providers and clients, mLegal programs could enable the collection and dissemination of simple pieces of information, such as case details and simple court hearing reminders. En plus, these communica- tions could be automated and sent to entire groups of clients, thereby reducing the amount of time required to manage clients and important case deadlines. This set of tools would reduce the barriers to communication with last-mile clients and create digital records of these interactions, enabling service providers to view all of these exchanges in one easy-to-use interface, reducing duplicative data entry and improving information usability. Caseload and Service Extension Agent Management Although this article focuses largely on innovations that improve direct access to legal services for last-mile populations, the same tools also have the effect of improving internal system efficiency by digitizing records and enabling a data- driven approach to measuring outcomes. Both urban and rural service extension programs have a difficult time monitoring their caseloads and agents in the field. The same communications barriers that limit a service provider’s ability to con- nect with last-mile clients also prevent communication with remote agents. Mobile interfaces have the effect of lowering these barriers, enabling both intake and remote reporting processes to feed digital interfaces that demonstrate each service provider’s caseload and the status of those cases. These digital record systems, when used effectively, inform a manager’s ability to allocate cases to the most available service provider. En outre, where these processes collect infor- mation about the types of the cases being addressed, aggregated records can be used to quantify trends. Medic Mobile has used a similar system to help community clinics manage CHWs and the patients they interact with. In addition to measuring workflow, comme 58 nouveautés / Data Democracy Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/6/1/41/1626148/inov_a_00057.pdf by guest on 08 Septembre 2023 The Case for mLegal shown in the above figures, these systems allow one-to-many communications to organize events and trainings, which require the presence of remote agents. Applied to legal processes, supervising attorneys can use the same SMS hubs that administer intake and case-management processes to digitize their internal management structures. One central hub, fed by the intake process that informa- tion desks often perform, and remote input where service extension agents exist will allow managers to assign cases to individual service providers, and then to track them through disposition. Ce faisant, legal service coordinators will be able to track each employee’s workload in real time. En outre, system administrators will be able to look at the types and frequency of cases they take on, which will inform their ability to allocate resources effectively. If, Par exemple, one area has a dramatically higher number of cases than another, it may make sense to deploy multiple community legal advisors to adequately address their need. These user stories are intended to be illustrative of the types of communica- tions dynamics that characterize legal service provision and the potential gains that are possible by using free, open-source mobile technologies. As with every change- management process, the integration of mobile technologies will continue to evolve both conceptually and practically as the legal community continues to experiment with their application. What is clear from the outset, though, is that legal processes depend on communications technologies to convey simple and complex information. As these technologies evolve, legal communities stand to benefit from lowering barriers to communication and the improved efficiencies that new technologies make possible. When focusing on access issues and the last- mile populations who experience them most severely, cependant, the technologies and approaches that have the most impact are those built on locally available and appropriate solutions. Simple mobile interfaces for both last-mile populations and legal service providers can improve the efficiency and extension of the rule of law by using the technology already in their pockets. CONCLUSION The rule of law, as a set of principles and institutions, is evolving to meet the needs of the populations it is designed to serve. Among these groups, last-mile popula- tions are some of the most difficult to engage with, which presents a range of unique challenges both in type and degree. What is clear from initial innovations, cependant, is that the approaches that have the greatest effect on improving access to legal institutions are those that design their services to meet last-mile populations where they are, whether in their community or on their mobile phones. In coun- tries from India to the United States, Kenya to Colombia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the United Kingdom, governments are increasingly support- ing a range of solutions intended to deliver legal representation in locally appro- priate ways. The growing prevalence of mobile phones creates an unprecedented opportu- nity for the extension and digitization of the legal services to last-mile populations. nouveautés / volume 6, number 1 59 Téléchargé depuis http://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/6/1/41/1626148/inov_a_00057.pdf by guest on 08 Septembre 2023 Sean Martin McDonald MLegal, as a field of practice, focuses on actualizing these opportunities by disag- gregating complex processes into their component communications and adapting the most relevant elements into formats that improve their efficiency. Recognizing that mobile technologies overcome a number of the barriers that prevent access, such as cost, distance, timing, infrastructure, and education, integrating mobile phones and SMS into legal systems offers the potential to significantly improve their efficiency and reach. These solutions necessarily build on the progress of a wide range of actors and innovations, all of which will contribute to the ongoing experimentation inherent in systemic evolution. In other m4d fields, the implementation of new technolo- gies has not only improved existing systems but spurred entirely new innovations. In mHealth, several institutions are developing cameras that enable CHWs to use mobile phones to deliver hospital-quality diagnostics for some prevalent diseases, which are delivered through a phone’s multimedia message service (MMS). De la même manière, the development of mobile financial transaction interfaces is increasing- ly enabling microfinance institutions to extend microloans into a wide range of contexts. And last year, the creation of a mobile learning curriculum resulted in more than 300,000 Bangladeshis signing up for an SMS-based English-language course. 44 As legal communities and institutions increasingly integrate mobile tech- nologies into their work, new technologies and communities of innovation will develop complementary solutions that address pressing rule-of-law issues. In order for any of these innovations to actually improve the rule of law, cependant, institu- tions will first need to build systems that promote access to the rule of law. As mobile phones continue to reach an increasing number of last-mile populations, so do the opportunities to engage them in legal processes and services. For the four billion people who currently lack meaningful access to legal services, the case for mLegal has never been stronger. 1. “Making the Law Work for Everyone,” United Nations Commission on Legal Empowerment for the Poor, 2008. Available at http://www.undp.org/legalempowerment/reports/concept2action.html. 2. Ibid., p. 15. 3. Ibid., p. 15. 4. Defining the bottom of the pyramid as the part of the world’s population whose incomes fall below $3,000 in local purchasing power, it is currently estimated at four billion. “The Next 4
Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid,” World Resources Institute
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Corporation,
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Available at http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/material/FactsFigures2010.pdf.
6. Ibid., p. 3.
7. “Global Mobile Statistics 2011,” MobiThinking, Février 2011, Available at
http://mobithinking.com/stats-corner/global-mobile-statistics-2011-all-quality-mobile-market-
ing-research-mobile-web-stats-su.
8. This varies by local market context but holds true in a majority of mobile markets. As with any
privately controlled service, cependant, individual markets and service providers vary widely.
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The Case for mLegal
9. For a thorough discussion of the different interpretations, see Gerhard Casper, “Rule of Law?
Whose Law?” in Festschrift fur Andreas Heldrich zum 70. Geburtstag, éd. Stephan Lorenz et al.,
München: Verlag C. H. Beck, 2005, pp. 1109-1117. An earlier version appeared in “CDDRL
Working Papers,” number 20, Août 13, 2004. Available at http://cddrl.stanford.edu.
Journal
10. Ibid., p. 1112; and Augusto Zimmerman, “The Rule of Law as a Culture of Legality: Legal and
Extra-legal Elements for the Realisation of the Rule of Law in Society.” Murdoch University E-
Loi
à
https://elaw.murdoch.edu.au/archives/issues/2007/1/eLaw_rule_law_culture_legality.pdf.
11. “Report of the Secretary-General on the Rule of Law and Transitional Justice in Conflict and
Post-Conflict Societies,” The United Nations, 2004. Available at http://www.un.org/en/rule-
oflaw/index.shtml.
Available
(2007).
Non.
14,
1
12. “As the guarantor of justice, a fundamental value in a law-governed State, it must enjoy public
confidence if it is to be successful in carrying out its duties.” EctHR, Avril 26, 1995,
Prager/Oberschlick v. Austria, Series A , Non. 313, p. 18, § 34., according to J. L. M.. Gribnau,
“Legitimacy of the Judiciary,” Electronic Journal of Comparative Law 6, Non. 4 (2002). Available at
http://www.ejcl.org/64/art64-3.html.
13. Brian Tamanaha, “Understanding Legal Pluralism: Past to Present, Local to Global.” The Sydney
à
(Septembre
Available
2008):
375.
3,
Review
30,
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Non.
3
14. Casper, “Rule of Law?” p. 1111.
15. “In each social arena, particular official legal systems and normative systems must be examined
on their own terms to see what their relations with other normative systems are, to observe their
respective capacities to exert power, and to see how they are being utilized or responded to by
individuals or groups.” Tamanaha, “Understanding Legal Pluralism,” p. 410.
16. Peter Harris, “Reforming English Civil Justice: A Market Strategy for Delivering Access to
Justice.” Presentation to The World Bank Legal Institutions Thematic Group, 2000. Available at
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17. Daniel Thürer, “The “failed State” and international law.” International Review of the Red Cross
Non. 836 (Décembre 31, 1999). Available at
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jq6u.htm.
18. For a discussion of the history of pluralistic legal structures, see Tamanaha, “Understanding
Legal Pluralism.”
19.
“No
Le
http://www.economist.com/node/18486353?story_id=18486353.
Economist, Mars
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Fee
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Available at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3923/is_200008/ai_n8911619/?tag=con-
tent;col1.
21. Tamanaha, “Understanding Legal Pluralism.”
22. Penal Reform International and the Bluhm Legal Clinic of the Northwestern University School
of Law, Access to Justice in Africa and Beyond: Making the Rule of Law a Reality. Boulder, CO:
Northwestern University, National Institute of Trial Advocacy, 2007, p. 4. Available at
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=gbs_navlinks_s.
23. Robert E. Marks, “Rising Legal Costs.” In Justice in the Twenty-First Century, Russell Fox, Londres:
Cavendish, 1999, ch. 15, p. 1. Available at www.agsm.edu.au/bobm/papers/foxch.pdf; see also
“The Rising Cost of
Juin 24, 2004. Available at
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of the Professional Services Industry and the Legal Profession,” Harvard Law School Program on
à
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24. For a thorough discussion of the relationship between legal aid programs and the rule of law in
Africa, see Johann Kriegler, “Access to Justice in Africa and Beyond” In The View from the Bench:
Awkward Decisions, Difficult Options in the Provision of Legal Aid, pp. 25-27.
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25. An initial study suggests that while legal assistance programs produced the same outcomes as
paid representation, they typically took 42 percent longer to reach. This study does not compare
results for unrepresented clients in similar processes. D. James Grenier and Cassandra Wolos
Pattanayak, “Randomized Evaluation in Legal Assistance: Report of a First Study. A Critical
Review of the Literature, and Prospects for the Future Harvard Legal Aid Bureau,” March 2011.
Available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1708664.
26. Access to Justice in Africa and Beyond, p. 12.
27. Phil Hazlewood, “Wheels of Justice: Cutting India’s Legal Backlog” The Dawn, Août 7, 2010.
Available at http://archives.dawn.com/archives/335.
28. Indian states are implementing a wide range of litigation alternatives, such as community medi-
ation and arbitration. For more details, see Grenier and Pattanayak, “Randomized Evaluation in
Legal Assistance.”
29. “Mobile Courts
the Hamlets.” UNI, Février 2, 2008. Available
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http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_mobile-courts-for-the-hamlets_1148797.
30. “Community Legal Advisors Help Ensure Rural Citizens Have Access to Justice.” The Carter
Centre, Février 16, 2010. Available at http://blog.cartercenter.org/2010/02/16/mobile-moni-
tors-in-liberia-help-ensure-rural-citizens-have-access-to-justice/.
31. Access to Justice in Africa and Beyond, pp. 21-22.
32. M.. UN. C., Dizon, “Participatory Democracy and Information Communications Technology: UN
Legal Pluralist Perspective.” European Journal of Law and Technology 1, Non. 3 (2010). Available at
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33. Charles E. Shapiro and Kenneth A. Yates, “Establishing a Sustainable Legal Information System
in a Developing Country: A Practical Guide.” The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in
Developing Countries (2010), pp. 4-20. Available at www.ejisdc.org/ojs2/index.php/ejisdc/arti-
cle/view/702/327.
34. For a brief history of videoconferencing and the legal traditions that surround it, see Matthew J.
Tokson, “Virtual Confrontation: Is Videoconference Testimony by an Unavailable Witness
Constitutional?” University of Chicago Law Review 74, Non. 4 (2007). Available at
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1249646.
35. “Videoconferencing in Removal Hearings: A Case Study of the Chicago Immigration Court.” The
à
Appleseed
http://www.appleseednetwork.org/Portals/0/Documents/Publications/Center%20Pubs/Chicag
o%20Videoconferencing%20Report.pdf.
Available
Réseau,
Août
2005.
2,
36. Michael M. Murungi, “Inside Kenya’s First Virtual Court Session.” Cyberlaw-ICT &
à
Kenya, Octobre,
Telecommunications
http://michaelmurungi.blogspot.com/2010/10/version1.html.
Available
2010.
Loi
16,
dans
37. Andy Weeks, “Wireless Can Be an Option for Last Mile Connectivity.” TechRepublic, Janvier 29,
2001. Available at http://www.techrepublic.com/article/wireless-can-be-an-option-for-last-
mile-connectivity/1054259.
38. Nokia’s Symbian OS is dominant in the global south and Asia, whereas Apple’s iOS has the lion’s
share of North America, Europe, and Oceania by a slimmer margin. “Mobile OS Usage Splits the
World.”
À
http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/11/30/mobile-os-usage-splits-the-world-chart/.
Novembre
Pingdom,
Available
Royal
2010.
Le
30,
39. “The World in Facts and Figures: 2010,” p. 3.
40. Ibid..
41. Ibid..
42. Ibid..
43. Neressian and Williams, “Overview of the Professional Services Industry,” p. 7.
44. Amy Kazmin and Maija Palmer, “Bangladeshis Rush to Learn English by Mobile.” Financial
Times, Novembre 12, 2009. Available at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/80725c2c-d06f-11de-af9c-
00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Iz2NXjSv.
62
nouveautés / Data Democracy
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