Effective judicial case management By Daniel Bulusson – TheNigerialawyer

Case management generally connotes the entire set of actions
that a court takes to monitor and control the progress of a court,
from initiation of a suit, to trial, to disposition of all
interlocutory applications, to judgment, and post-disposition
matters to ensure that justice is done properly.

Courts have been adopting several case management techniques in
an effort to ensure efficiency, service delivery, and dispose of
matters promptly. This led to the creation of court registry made
up of educated staff (not necessarily lawyers) to assist the court
in facilitating justice dispensation. The court registry is in
charge of overseeing case files, document proceedings and court
processes filed before the court, keeping records for accessibility
by the public, and assisting the court in researching judicial
opinions.

Case management in the Nigerian legal system begins from the
commencement of a suit, a litigant through legal representation
files a court process (writ of summons, originating summons,
complaint, charge, etc) to a court registry within jurisdiction.
The court registry then assigns the case to a particular court to
dispense of the matter. This particular court has its own registry
which then takes charge of every proceeding that happens in that
matter before the court.

Since proceedings are public records, the court registry is
saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that the case files are
arranged in a manner that can be accessed by the public. At the
same time it does not tamper with the court proceedings to suit a
particular party, and likewise protect the sanctity of the
proceedings.

It is imperative to note that efficient case management plays a
vital role in justice dispensation, as record tampering can mislead
a judicial decision to a party at the detriment of another.

According to H. A. L. Balogun in his book ‘Court Case Management
(A Handbook for Judges of Lower Court)’, “Case flow management is
defined as the coordination of court processes and resources to
move cases in a timely manner from filing to disposition, to assure
justice is provided in a prompt and affordable manner”.

Generally, the term case management refers to the sophisticated
information management and workflow practices that are tailored to
meet the legal field’s specific needs and equipment. The essence of
an effective judicial case management is to control the flow of
information in a manner that it does not get tampered or interfered
with, and still serves justice to all parties concerned.

The judges of a court are there to adjudicate a matter, and due
to the peculiarity of the analogue system, judges write down every
happening in a case. They cannot be saddled with the responsibility
of writing a judgment, and still manage the records of cases before
them, considering the number of cases that come before our
courtrooms for adjudication.

This same information is supposed to be public record, meaning
it can be accessed by any interested party, thus judicial case
management is developed to primarily safeguard the sanctity of this
proceeding.

The importance of an effective judicial case management cannot
be overemphasized. Court case management is aimed at improving the
efficacy of the primary duties of courts, i.e. court processes
filed for adjudication; it serves as a means to institutionalise
dispute resolution with due process, and in due time; it aids the
court to properly organize and dispose of backlog of cases pending
before the court, thereby creating space to accommodate more cases;
it improves the efficiency in accessing justice; it helps build
public confidence in the effectiveness of the court system, and
accountability of its judges; it guarantees the principle of fair
hearing, as every party has access to the records of the court; and
preserves the sanctity of the court and its proceedings.

It is for the above stated reasons that judiciary staff ought to
be up to date with contemporary laws and use of Information
Communications Technology (ICT) to help speed up justice
dispensation and ensure that all parties represented get the best
of their service without bias or sentiments. They are the hands and
legs of our justices, and judges, as such play a vital role in
determining how long or fast a matter is adjudicated upon.

Godspeed!

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