"Man or machine - Who will shape the future of law application?" was the motto of the 30th German Conference on IT in the Judiciary, which was held as a digital event. From September 22 to 24, legal scholars, computer scientists and experts from the fields of business, politics and administration exchanged ideas on artificial intelligence in the judiciary. Alongside the event programme, the Institute of Legal Informatics provided insights into its current research projects.
Eleven different working groups, numerous workshops, discussions and presentations dealt with IT related topics ranging from electronic mailboxes, e-justice in Europe, IT security in courts, video hearings in judicial processes to legal tech in the legal profession and other topics related to digitalization in the judiciary. Professor Dr. Georg Borges moderated the working groups on "Video Negotiation - Hearings by Video Conference" and "European Work on E-Justice". Professor Dr. Christoph Sorge was the moderator of the working groups on "The civil proceedings of the future", "The introduction of the electronic file from the perspective of legal science and judicial practice", and two events on the topic of IT security.
To mark its 30th anniversary, the "founding fathers" reflected on the history of the EDV-Gerichtstag: Professor Helmut Rüßmann gave a presentation under the heading"Great things come from small beginnings - on the roots and origins of the German EDV-Gerichtstag" and Professor Maximilian Herberger, the first and long-time chairman and currently honorary chairman of the EDV-Gerichtstag, called for "lawyers and computer scientists [to become] friends".
The Institute of Legal Informatics made use of the digital event format to present the work in a virtual meeting room alongside the official programme. Researchers and other staff members presented their research and projects, making for a varied and informative programme. Katharina Feichtner spoke on the KITT project, Sven Hilpisch, Adrian Kreutzer and Robert Hoffmann on ExamAI, Marc A. Ostoja-Starzewski on Recht-Testbed Industrie 4.0 and Puria Sheikhipour on the projects KI Wissen and INITIATIVE. Professor Borges covered the Explainable Intelligent Systems (EIS) project. Dr. Adriana Pavić presented various educational programmes offered by the institute. In addition to the "IT Law and Legal Informatics" certificate, she provided information about the LL.M. programme in "IT and Law". Jun. Prof. Dominik Brodowski introduced the "Montagspost" project and Oliver Kessler explained what the Legal Internet Project Saarbrücken (JIPS).
Professor Sorge's chair also took part in the programme: Ajla Hajric spoke on the topic of "WearPrivate" and Alessia Zornetta on "AI-based detection of terrorist content". Clemens Jaaks presented the project A-DigiKomp and Andreas Rebmann eGov-Campus.
The day concluded with a presentation of the project "Visual communication in legal education", conducted by Professor Borges in collaboration with graphic designer Peter Esser, who experienced in conducting awareness campaigns through cartoons and animations. Esser showed how lecture notes can be enhanced through funny drawn cartoons or sketches to make the lives of young lawyers "a little bit easier." For example, Esser visualized terms such as "declaration of intent" or "absolute law" in a humorous manner, so that the memorization of legal terms will be facilitated for future student. The event was moderated by Nikolas Hamm, managing director of the institute.
Further information on the EDV-Gerichtstag.
Further information about the research projects.
