In April 2019 we launched Civil Online, our fully digital service for simple procedure cases, enabling cases to proceed from end to end online.
The Civil Online service allows parties to submit cases, pay court fees, submit supporting documents and respond to any claim lodged, all online. It also fully supports digital hearings with all case documentation available and presented digitally either in the courtroom or at a virtual hearing.
To enable legal firms to transfer simple procedure applications from their internal case management systems directly into Civil Online we have developed a new Application Programming Interface (API). Where legal firms are dealing with high volumes of simple procedure cases, they will now have the option to register them digitally, rather than manually registering each individual application.
We will provide support and advice to any legal firm who chooses to upgrade their systems to integrate with the API. Our aim is to fully embrace and welcome all legal firms who wish to be part of the new digital way of working and submit cases to the courts electronically.
For legal firms wishing to start using the API, or who have queries regarding its use, they should contact civilonlinehelp@scotcourts.gov.uk from 17 September 2020.
It is recognised that legal firms may have accumulated a backlog of simple procedure cases as a result of COVID-19 and, notwithstanding we now have an automated system for submitting bulk applications, it is important that we do not flood the court system with all of these cases at the same time. For that reason, submission limits will be set initially at 10 cases per firm each day per court. This limit will be regularly reviewed and incrementally extended.
Kay McCorquodale, Chief Development and Innovation officer, SCTS said: “We would like to acknowledge those legal firms, Brodies, Harper Macleod, MacRoberts, Nolans, Shoosmiths and Thorntons, who have invested their time, resources and energy to get the API to this ready state. Throughout the development of the API the level of openness and collaboration with the legal firms who participated in our proof of concept and testing of the API has been critical. This has enabled us to develop a robust system which meets the needs of legal firms and is now ready for wider rollout.”