Sir David Neuberger, a High Court judge since 1996, found himself the owner of two new titles in 2004. First, in January, he was made a Lord Justice of Appeal, and then, in the summer, he was appointed Judge in Charge of Modernisation. Everyone in the legal profession will have a good idea of what being a Court of Appeal judge entails, but the latter role might cause a few furrowed brows. Just what do we mean when we talk about the ‘modernisation’ of the civil justice system?
Neuberger explains the role by referring to what his job used to be called. “Formerly, the title was ‘Judge in Charge of IT and Modernisation’,” he says, going on to add that he regarded the emphasis on IT as a mistake. “It tended to create an attraction to IT ideas and technical concepts, rather than a focus on what we were trying to achieve. We need to be led by a clear idea of what we are trying to achieve, rather than be overly influenced by what IT can do. Of course, available IT systems will have an influence on what we want to achieve.”
