Presentation of IT Solutions Developed by EU Project Pravo-Justice for the Supreme Court

On 18 December, EU Project Pravo-Justice, together with the Supreme Court, presented the Supreme Observer online portal and the updated Legal Position Database developed by the Project.

Supreme Observer is a portal of modern law that will be useful for the entire legal community. The site contains up-to-date news on legal matters, as well as analytical materials produced by Supreme Court justices and staff.

The Database of Legal Positions is an innovative tool that allows users to quickly and easily find relevant jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. This search tool allows users to explore the prospects of how a case may be considered in Court and familiarise themselves with the latest opinions on applying the legislation. Its updated functionality was presented at the event.

"While working on these IT solutions, we worked closely with the Supreme Court for two years. We started with a database that was available only to judges. Now we see how we have improved it in technical terms over this time. Therefore, even more lawyers can start using these solutions to pursue our main goal of ensuring the unity of jurisprudence in Ukraine," emphasised Oksana Tsymbrivska.

For his part, Valerii Bakal, Senior National Expert of EU Project Pravo-Justice, E-Justice Component Lead, noted that the work on IT solutions started in 2021 and continued even during martial law.

"While working on the Database of Legal Positions, we gradually enhanced its technical features, in particular, by introducing AI elements. Today, we are presenting the second product, the Supreme Observer platform. I am glad that EU Project Pravo-Justice has joined this step in developing the Supreme Court," said Valerii Bakal.

Vitalii Urkevych, Secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, presented the portal itself. In his opening remarks, he thanked everyone who contributed to developing and deploying this modern solution. He said setting up an information portal for legal professionals was long overdue. Every day, the Supreme Court produces a lot of information for the legal community, which should be available.

"We all understand that we live in the information age. Almost all of us start our day with a news feed. Nowadays, information is a crucial component of our lives, including that of a modern lawyer. Indeed, without information, exchange of opinions and the opportunity to acquire new knowledge, it is impossible to carry out this activity today. Therefore, on behalf of the Supreme Court leadership, I am grateful to EU Project Pravo-Justice and all the people involved in implementing this idea," said the Secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court.

Olha Kravchenko, Project Manager of OSCE Project "Support to the Supreme Court and Higher Courts in Implementing Judicial Reform and Ensuring Access to Justice in Times of War", also joined the presentation of IT solutions of the Supreme Court. In particular, she emphasised how important it is to strengthen communication between government agencies.

"I sincerely congratulate the Supreme Court on receiving new IT solutions to improve the Court's communication with the legal community and the public. There is no doubt that properly arranged communication is one of the prerequisites for the effective functioning of any public authority. That is why the OSCE Support Programme for Ukraine was pleased to respond to the Supreme Court's request to support the implementation of the Supreme Observer platform together with EU Project Pravo-Justice since strengthening the communication capacity of the Supreme Court is one of the goals of our Project," said Olha Kravchenko.

In turn, Rasim Babanly, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Supreme Court, also thanked EU Project Pravo-Justice for its support in implementing the IT solutions presented.

"The key value of these two resources is that they are truly innovative in our geographical area. Looking at other Supreme Courts in the world that present or have and use such resources, there are few of them, but they are of great value... While the Supreme Observer is a means of communication of the Supreme Court, the Database of Legal Positions is a tool for ensuring the uniformity of jurisprudence," Rasim Babanly emphasised. He presented the updated functionality of the Database of Legal Positions in detail.

At the event, Oksana Tsymbrivska, Country Manager of EU Project Pravo-Justice in Ukraine, noted that the Project will continue to support the implemented IT solutions for the Supreme Court.

"We understand that these IT solutions, like any IT product, require constant support and development. That is why I want to assure you that we will continue to contribute to the improvement of both the Database of Legal Positions and the Supreme Observer information resource so that they keep up with the time and address all the challenges we may face," summarised Oksana Tsymbrivska.

The video recording of the presentation is available at link.