It is the beginning of a new era in law practice at the Supreme Court of Nigeria as all communication between lawyers and the court will be done exclusively through electronic mail.

According to the new policy of the apex court, electronic filings and case management systems software deployment will be used in the administration of justice. 

Consequently, manual forms of communication within the Nigerian courts will soon be phased out. This is done in a bid to enhance the justice administration and provide Nigeria with a 21st Century Justice System.

The Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria has encouraged lawyers to obtain the legal mail as “the Supreme Court will only serve processes by electronic means on all matters as all new filings must bear counsel’s legal email address.

Also to ensure compliance, Heads of Courts are to acquire legal email addresses for their courts from the Judicial Information Technology Policy Committee, especially for their litigation department staff. Communication between the various judicial bodies will be through electronic system only – thereby harnessing the benefits of the system in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability. 

As a virtual IP & IT law firm, we at Infusion Lawyers heartily applaud this initiative. The benefits of having the Supreme Court go digital or paperless include ease of communication between lawyers and the court; reduced paperwork, logistics and cost; promoting and serving as undeniable proof of service on parties; and generally improving the efficiency of justice administration while blazing the trail for integration of ICT in government.