Digital Legal Petition Office
Making judicial services available online, without media discontinuities
Every local court in Germany operates what is known as a legal petitions office. Constituents can visit in person to file lawsuits or petition for assistance with legal counsel. Many people are unaware that these offices exist. Not only is there a visibility problem, there are also barriers to access.
Together with the German Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ), our goal is to create an online clearinghouse for constituents’ interactions with civil and administrative law, so that these services are readily available and can be requested and used digitally. At the same time, petitioners should have ways to get answers about the relevant service (such as assistance with legal counsel or legal costs), learn about their options, and get data to the court directly. The overarching goal here is to give constituents a simple way to connect digitally with the judicial system while also relieving the strain on the courts. The project is a part of the Digital Strategy for Germany (German only) and the “Pact for Digital Government and Democracy” (German only). As a partner state of the project, the current Hessian state government has also included the project in its coalition agreement (German only).
Besonderheiten
- The “Digital Legal Petition Office” is one of three winning projects to receive the 2024 Award for Good Administration (German only)
- Participatory product development: Close cooperation with local courts and state justice ministries for joint testing and development activities
- Continuous discovery: Ongoing user research with the legal system and constituents, including visits to local courts
- Transparent work: Regular publication of project contracts, service standard reports, code, and news on project status
Facts and figures
Cooperation within the federal judicial ecosystem (with stakeholders including constituents, lawyers, state judicial administration bodies, academia)
60 interviews and 13 usability tests conducted to date (as of November 2023)
3 live online services on service.justiz.de: Pre-check for assistance with legal counsel (August 2023), digital application for assistance with legal counsel (August 2024) and digital form for assistance with legal costs (December 2024)
Dr. Marco Buschmann, Federal Minister of Justice ret.
Online procedures in the civil courts and digital clearinghouses for legal petitions create tools for obtaining modern access to the judicial system. (…) This not only makes it easier for people to reach the judicial system, but also strengthens constituents’ trust in democracy and the rule of law.
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