It was fitting that the youngest Member of Parliament raised the issue of lacking IT equipment for lawyers to use in the law courts.

Labour MP Owen Bonnici said that while there had been slight advances in the proliferation of IT terminals in the law courts, Malta was still lagging way behind other countries.

In short, Dr Bonnici, a young lawyer by profession, is absolutely correct. The issue goes back about a decade when Austin Gatt was still Minister for Justice. Dr Gatt, also a lawyer – and a doer – had stipulated that the law courts had to become more IT compliant in order to tackle the ever swelling list of cases that had been dragging on for years and years.

He did get some initiatives going, but he was then moved to another ministry in the meantime. The government did manage to at least exert the pressure that was needed to cut down the amount of cases that had been dragging on – some of them over a decade old. Quite how more people did not take the authorities to the European Court is a bit of a mystery, but perhaps it could be put down to the fact that the cases were eventually decided in Malta. To put one in the picture, a person must exhaust all possible national remedies before resorting to the European Court, so the fact that they took so long could have worked in the administration’s favour as they were eventually decided.

And this brings us back to the issue in question. As mentioned, the law courts’ IT system is decades out of date – as are the relevant archives and work practices. But we must not look at it only from a view of communication. We must look at it from the view of expediency in dealing with cases. One acknowledges that the government has put the Laws of Malta on line and has introduced a system whereby lawyers can use computers to check on their cases. Judgments are also posted online. But one wonders whether the actual court rooms make full use of IT potential.

It stands to very obvious reason that magistrates and judges are people of a certain age, and people of a certain age – by and large – are not as proficient in the use of IT systems as the younger generations. Again, we emphasise, this is through no fault of their own and we also acknowledge that members of the judiciary must have a certain degree of maturity in years before they are elevated to the bar.

However, there are ways to improve this situation. First off, magistrates and judges should be given proper IT training, at least those who are not that familiar with computers. There is no shame whatsoever in taking an ECDL (basic computer skills) course. Stenographers and courtroom assistants should also be given the training they need.

Of course, one can never have a paperless law court. Official records and case files are obviously important for purpose of record. But if the resistance to new technology continues, the judicial system can never hope to leave the Jurassic period. One feels ashamed when one sees a government employee carrying the ancient “mill-AG” and “Ghall-AG” books that merely carry records of what cases have received consent from the Attorney General’s office to proceed. Would simple emails not work better? It is not possible to go through each and every facet of how IT can improve expediency, simply because the list is endless. If most of Malta can do it (yes even government entities), then so can the judiciary. After all, it will make their stressed lives easier.