Making a more citizen-centered judicial system
Planning and delivering a detailed study of customer experience and workings of the judiciary processes, and creating recommendations and end products to improve the working and perceptions of the Supreme court of Slovenia.
Enhancing the digital and physical experience of individuals involved in judiciary processes to improve the perception and reputation of the Supreme court of Slovenia
As the judiciary system represents the repressive organ of the modern state, it contains the potential danger of placing the end user into a subordinate and helpless role. This can have lead to a diminished participation of users, more conflicts and less trust in the judiciary system. We can alleviate this by bringing the workings of the courts closer to the end users. The challenge of this project was to improve court services, so as to improve the user experience of courts and processes and, in turn, increase confidence in the judiciary system of Slovenia.
EVALUATING THE STARTING POINT
We performed a thorough analysis of common problems that arise during the judiciary process and the user experience through these processes. Our research included netnography, discovery workshops with internal audiences and experts, field observations, user interviews, quantitative analysis of existing activities and identifying user scenarios and journeys.
BASING THE IMPROVEMENT PLAN AROUND THE END USER
We used our research to establish a plan of action aimed at extensive improvements across three key fields:
communication - how to improve communications between users and other key stakeholders, and general communication within courts,
infrastructure and equipment - how to improve the available equipment to enable employees to work more efficiently and provide a better user experience,
people and processes - how to improve processes and train employees for more efficient work with users.
CHANGING COMMUNICATIONS TO PROVIDE A BETTER USER EXPERIENCE
We conceptualised and created a suite of tools in accordance with our initial plan: a website, animations, a set of brochures, an improved map, a handbook for legal writing and form preparation, and a handbook for controlling activity successes.
Success based on data
We performed 13 in-depth workshops during the course of the research, which included a grand total of 71 individuals. Field observations included three courts and 14 micro-locations within them. We performed 28 interviews with users, that touched upon 45 judicial experiences. Netnography included 98 online forums and 390 forum posts, along with 32 blog posts.
This project is all the more valuable as we were able to connect all key stakeholders within the judiciary system, as we included judges, legal staff representatives, governmental lawyers, attorney general, notaries, experts, insolvency managers, interpreters, media representatives, plaintiffs and the general public.
mag. Jaša Vrabec, LL.M.,
Head of the Supreme Court’s Office for the Development of Court Management
Awards
Supreme court of Slovenia at UX design Awards - The project won at the UX Design Awards, a global competition for excellent user experience design. It is a prestigious accolade, reserved for projects that demonstrate exceptionally crafted user experiences.
Supreme court of Slovenia at Crystal Scales of Justice – The project was nominated at the Crystal Scales of Justice. The prize is known as the most prestigious of its kind in the field of judicature and the ceremony is held by Council of Europe and European Commission. The aim of the prize is to identify and promote innovative practices regarding the court systems as a whole.