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The Platform (ODR) That Revolutionizes Judicial Process

Adv. Meerza Zaheer

In the quest for improving access to justice, online tools considered to be the cheaper procedure comparatively and hence the lawyers’ start feels uncomfortable about the online dispute resolution process.

Initially some e-commerce websites have started incorporating automated dispute resolution tool to settle e-commerce claims every year. This automation procedure in the ODR platform has been slowly getting accepted as a fine alternative which could even help people to have an access to justice without hiring lawyers or going to court. As such similar technologies get familiar with tackling most complicated issues like settling divorces, landlord-tenant disputes and other legal conflicts.
Employing online tools to settle routine legal disputes can improve access to justice for people who can’t afford to hire a lawyer, while freeing up court dockets for more complex cases. The platform uses algorithms to find solutions or points of agreement. The lawyers may be wary of such process coming up and becoming popular. But slowly they also understand that online platform as an efficient way to process simpler case, while more complicated matters still require their expertise. There is no room for any apprehensions to crop up among lawyers so far as the market for legal professionals would not get diminished; it is rather a matter of reshuffling.

Today, the term ODR is linked to a broad range of topics. The field of ODR has matured. Topics they covered ranged from reputation and trust issues for businesses to Intellectual Property and privacy issues and use of IT in Government. Indeed ODR is often seen as appropriate for low value, high volume cases. Automation and extreme simplification of processes is especially appealing for people with a small claim for whom the legal system is not an attractive option. ODR now directs its attitude in a different dimension and it fashions new designs in the resolution of divorce as well as other family issues. An ODR platform for family and divorce issues needs a different value proposition and design principles.

Fast, fair and efficient does not resonate with the divorce professionals working in mediation, in our courts or who otherwise help people at these difficult moments in their lives. The people who experience how emotions play an important role in coping with divorce. Who see the full complexity of getting to a divorce agreement that is built to last. That achieves the best for the children, the separating spouses and others involved. Or who see the pro se litigants file for a divorce in their court who go unrepresented because they either cannot afford a lawyer or want to stay in control of their process. Fast, fair and efficient seems an inappropriate proposition for relational disputes.

Let us acknowledge it: divorce is tough and the divorce process is complex and difficult. Technology in no way will be able to make it fast and efficient nor should it aspire to do such. But it can help people by providing structure for reflection, communication and solution-building. And by providing information, model solutions and support tools. The value proposition of ODR for relational disputes should rather be about an interest-based, empowering, fair and sustainable process and result: Divorce is tough. We will empower and support you throughout the process.

The value proposition of ODR has always been that it helps people to get fast, fair and efficient dispute resolution. Automation and extreme simplification of processes is especially appealing for people with a small claim for whom the legal system is not an attractive option.

That’s where robot divorce can play a part – helping families to avoid the expense and stress of having to go to court for a resolution.

Soft Settle Facilitates Loan Defaulters

SoftSettle Support

It is true that defaulting on a loan is associated risk that comes from borrowing and sometimes circumstances beyond your control can cause you to be dragged into a spiral of debts.

These circumstances could be bad economic conditions, job loss, partial or complete disability, or a family emergency.

In banking parlance defaulting on a loan is a serious offence. Most of the time, however, borrowers face temporary problems which can be managed with some extension of payment period.
However if you do not tend to it immediately and take corrective action it can become tough to handle the mounting debt.

Recovery agents employed by banks in the past have shown high handedness in handling customers in debt, which was brought to the notice of the Reserve Bank of India as a result of which it has enforced certain rules to protect the borrower’s interests.

In fact it has asked banks to check the background of the recovery agents and the agencies to ensure customers are not harassed.

There are enough laws in place to protect the borrowers from harassment and torture. However, we must remember, at the end of the day, banks have the right to recover the loan from the borrower by proper and just means as formulated by the RBI.

As such for the relief of the debtors/borrowers SOFTSETTLE SUPPORT has come up with a new unique platform under the brand and banner of SOFT SETTLE.

Let us now think about settling the debts with Creditors

If you settle a debt, you get a creditor to agree to accept less than the amount you owe as full payment. But a lot of painful things have to happen first.

If you are worried about falling behind — but haven’t yet — you won’t be able to settle. A creditor or collector is not going to accept less than you owe if there’s reason to believe you could pay the full amount that you originally agreed to.

Debt settlement comes into play only when you have many late or skipped payments and possibly collections accounts. Your credit scores will have been shredded; you feel hopelessly behind; your income isn’t enough to keep up with your debt obligations.

As a general rule, people who pursue debt settlement can’t afford to pay off all their debts. A successful settlement allows them to walk away without having to pay everything, potentially saving them a lot of money.

The creditor should consider it will receive as much as it can from the settlement and wipe an overdue account from its books.

That is why a defaulter is facilitated with virtual interaction with the creditor and creditor can perceive how genuine the defaulter’s intent and case is, the creditor may look for various feasible solutions subject to the participation in the e-Resolution process powered by Soft Settle through which a creditor can benefit of the agreement generated as a result of e-Resolution and the defaulter could be able to retain his asset and safeguard his/her CIBIL rating.

With the Soft Settle decides over the rescheduling of the time and reshuffling of the EMI, the defaulter should consider the immediate relief it can bring to their current situation. Again when a defaulter gets confronted with better time he/she can try negotiating with the Bank for settling their payment against loan by higher EMI or prepayment.

Soft Settle Case Management Procedure is organized with sessions. Each session consists of three attempts. Agreement is declared if there is a decision at the end of an attempt. If there is no agreement at the end of a session (three attempts), the parties are left with their choices whether to begin a new session or not This tends to speed up the process if the negotiation would otherwise drag on over numerous sessions.

Hence escaping from the problem is cowardice. It is the right time to ponder over options and do not undergo emotional stress which could end up losing your asset. Soft Settle is there to support you so far you are intent to pay off the loan that should be evident to the creditor.

The other thing Bank would enjoy as Soft Settle provides the platform for resolution, where debtor would be alerted in each intervals during the period of repayments like early intervention, middle level intervention and final intervention. Hence there is no opening for the debtor to go for frequent defaults and the debtor will be saved from being subjected to the harassment and pressurization of the Recovery agents authorized by the Banks and above all from getting clasped in between the sharp claws of CIBIL.

The significant and interesting aspect of the Soft Settle makes everything possible for the defaulters is its wonderful attitude seeking the loan defaulters’ participation without making any payments and everything is free (free signing up and free e-Resolution). If you are a loan defaulter why can’t you try? He mobile app is designed with Android and IOS. Simply download the app freely and enjoy your settlement process without any tension, pressure, strain or something like that so far you are going to be a winner.

Opportunities with Softsettle

SoftSettle Support

Internet connectivity facilitates the communication from any place in the globe. It further makes easy to exchange of offers and counteroffers while simultaneously managing confidential information at a neutral site. As such, the parties’ decisions are based on certain information that brings the interests and positions of the parties. The parties could reach an amenable settlement where nobody is losing anything

Soft Settle is the multiparty e-Resolution System that reduces time, cost, and stress for decision-makers in all types of cases. Soft Settle’s Internet network connects parties located anywhere in the world by means of a neutral server that manages private information and keeps it confidential and secure. Using powerful fair and fast algorithms, Softsettle can quickly transform conflicting objectives into fair and efficient solutions.

Soft Settle can be viable platform where decision makers could rather be supported to deal with any type of matters irrespective whether they are complex or simple.
Soft Settle’s products are designed to be able to help with any conflict, no matter how big or small..

The software SS-Equity is powered by sophisticated optimization algorithms at a neutral site that securely manages confidential data without human intervention. SS-Equity quickly becomes the eventual unbiased virtual arbitrator or mediator Suggestions made by SS-Equity are completely unbiased and impartial, based only on information that parties provide. Parties can do everything by themselves without any help or assistance from the part of any lawyers or authorized experts and hence they could control the process by themselves.
The best time to choose SS-Equity is at the beginning and the middle level (termed to be early and middle level interventions) in certain conflict segments, could rather help the affected party from all the drastic consequences he is supposed to undergo. Litigation is adversarial, which means less regard to fair solution. Court decisions might not acceptable to either party, result in disturbance of commercial relationship.
SS-Equity integrated in Soft Settle is a tool that can work for peace and harmony ultimately leads to a harmonious bondage between or among the parties. Everybody is invited and they can experience the vibrant process as an eye witness.

Soft Settle provides invisible and secure neutral site server on the Internet that Soft Settle employs to keep party’s choice of interest and their respective position confidential and thus pursue the effort for attaining fast, fair, efficient and cost effective attributes.

The 24×4, round the clock discharge of services and the convenience of synchronous and asynchronous feature the scheduling of the parties’ participation in the process more facilitative so that the resolution process can be structured with each sessions consisting of three attempts. The recurring attempts would provide the parties more opportunities and confidence and their anticipation of result might never go betrayed.

Court Litigation, ADR, Technology and Access to Justice

SoftSettle Support

COURT LITIGATION
Litigation is very costly and expensive. Every citizen has the right to seek satisfaction for his or her grievances in the courts. The problem is paying the bills. A trial of a complex business case normally takes months; some have gone far for more than a year.

Examples of the fees and expenses required to pay are lawyers’ fees, expert witnesses’ fees and others associated fees. Notably, the pre-action stage of proceedings can often be a very time-consuming and an enormously costly exercise. In addition, the uncertainty of the period of time that a trial might use will raise the expenses and fees time to time.

Other disadvantage of litigation is it is more benefit to wealthier party. Litigation is not a process of solving problems, but a process of winning arguments. Wealthier party is enable and affordable to hire an experienced and good lawyer to engage in the lawsuit. Judge and jury can be easily convinced by a good lawyer whom has strong convincing skill.

Litigation is adversarial, which means less regard to fair solution. Court decisions might not acceptable to either party, result in disturbance of commercial relationship. Adjudication of court results in win-lose scenario and not a mutually acceptable decision.
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ADR
Giving adequate attention to important decisions tends to be very time consuming, especially in multiparty negotiations, mediations in its traditional form. Not all forms of ADR are quick, in fact some forms of ADR require a client to pass through many stages before adjudication.
ADR is not always cheap, and can be as expensive as court action. Drawn-out negotiations involving professionals can be very expensive, both in time as the process used to creep and crawl and unutilized negotiation energy.

TECHNOLOGY
In recent years, the legal sector has seen the introduction of numerous software designed to make legal work more efficient. In some cases, the software is able to automatically analyze court and tribunal cases or even produce “better quality” work than that traditionally done by paralegals. On the flip side, this software is also able to reduce legal costs, and work towards closing the justice gap by helping those who aren’t able to afford a lawyer or qualify for legal aid, access appropriate legal resources.

Online dispute resolution was sup¬posed to take over the legal profession. With the rise of the Internet, ar¬tificial intelligence and other clever bits of technology, lawyers would be able to solve legal disputes with computers, not courtrooms and judges.

ODR promotes a virtual scenario to facilitate the mediator or any presiding officer interacting with the disputing parties. By formulating a technology stimulated ambience, ODR has cleared a way for bringing justice most transparently and thus winning the trust of the people.

The approach to justice will become easier and quick with the aid of technology supported ODR. A key advantage of resolving disputes through the use of cyber-resolution is that it avoids the issue of whether a particular court has jurisdiction over the dispute. Since disputants can bind themselves to resolution through an agreement, jurisdictional issues can be avoided altogether.

The claim of saving court litigation expenses used to be the primary advantage of the traditional dispute resolution. The business segments all around the world is experiencing a tough time as the result of the recession prevailing and dominating in all countries. It has become indispensable for even ordinary individuals to stabilize their financial position at this juncture. Hence to a great extent Online Dispute Resolution has become a blessing to the society so far as this method can be adopted to make the resolution process most cost effective. The online resolution mechanisms eliminate the need for physical travel which used to be long and tedious one to reach particular forum to participate in the alternative dispute resolution process. This level of convenience obviously saves both money and time.

ACCESS TO JUSTICE USING SOFT SETTLE
Considering the technical inputs to simplify the process to accessing to justice, SoftSettle Support has built a platform Soft Settle where technology can interact with disputes with fast and fair criteria being integrated for an efficient mode of case management so as to reduce the cost and bring justice to the parties without any complications, hassles and leaving no room for tensions or stress for the parties what they are forced to experience during the court litigation and ADR

The digital platform Soft Settle helps people deal comprehensively with their legal problem and encourages a mediated settlement rather than recourse to lawyers and courts. Agreements reached through collaboration and respective generous interests of the parties tend to more effective and proposes a harmonious bondage paving way for an accurate judicial reasoning and in every ways rather efficient than decision imposed by judges.

Technology must be utilized to better assist Indians and other Asians get fair and proper access to justice.

Soft Settle is on the mission to make the law accessible – with the Artificial Intelligence igniting the fire hence calls for technological legal tools. Soft Settle revolutionizes the legal assistance technology that suits the needs of ordinary people – and that extends to low-income and disadvantaged Indians and Asians.

Can a loan default be the final of everything?

By SoftSettle Support

Repaying a loan and keeping up with the EMI can be quite an uphill task. This may bring worries and all ways tends to be anxious about the tomorrow’s consequences. But it is a guaranteed fact that the default of loan is not end of everything.

You have reasons to believe that your worries could haunt you. But SoftSettle Support can safeguard the interests of the loan defaulters.

Once you file a case in the case management segment of portal www.softsettle.com or mobile app. under the banner of Soft Settle or SoftSettle Support the defaulter may get an opportunity to interact virtually with their creditors say bank. This interaction would bring down the fuming stance adopted by the creditor or bank. This will provide the defaulter a positive chance to negotiate with Creditors through which banks can restructure the loan. The period of loan can be rescheduled and EMI can be reshuffled.

Owning a house or a car is a dream come true for many because of the easy availability of loans. In the last few years with an increase in the standard of living particularly in the metros, the once conservative and loan-averse investor is now willing to take on loan commitments to satisfy even leisure requirements. However, if you find that you are in a situation where you will not be able to meet your loan obligations, what do you do?

Soft Settle offers the parties to the dispute a win-win proposition.

As such you can believe, Soft Settle is your friend. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Technology in Dispute Resolution

By Adv.Rajesh, Chief Co-ordinator, ODR, SoftSettle Support Pvt. Ltd.

So far as most of the states of India and the countries like UAE, Qatar in Western Asia are booming MNCs, Corporations and IT companies it has become a challenging affair for business people to look forward to find a reasonable dispute resolution mechanism to settle the business disputes within the country and across their borders. As such when I was asked by some professionals from India to build an online segment in a portal which could cater to the needs of the business people in respect of settling their disputes, I had no second thoughts of integrating an ODR Club and ODR Resolution Center in the form e-courts in the portal under the domain of www.softsettle.com, making the justice possible by means of e-negotiation using self automated and stimulated software. In this context I would like to share some of the information I gathered, with you.

The approach to justice will become easier and quick with the aid of technology supported ODR. A key advantage of resolving disputes through the use of cyber-mediation is that it avoids the issue of whether a particular court has jurisdiction over the dispute. Since disputants can bind themselves to resolution through an agreement, jurisdictional issues can be avoided altogether.

This method invokes special attention of the business people so far as the features like convenience, transparency, competitiveness, neutrality to an extent strange to the traditional alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process. In addition ODR benefits the business community across borders and ODR is a borderless “service business” opportunity.

The parties to the dispute may be fairly relieved so far as they need not confront with each other directly. The virtual ambience facilitates the parties to enjoy a non-confrontational state of affairs so as to reach a settlement.

The willingness to integrate technology inspite of reservations about confidentiality is fueled by the belief that whatever is lost in terms of privacy is less valuable than what can be gained in terms of efficiency, transparency and convenience. So question remains answered without any second thoughts that people can forgo privacy for transparency.

Soft Settle – A Platform for Robot Lawyers ignited by Artificial Intelligence

Soft Settle Support

Artificial intelligence is changing the way lawyers think, the way they do business and the way they interact with clients. Artificial intelligence is more than legal technology. It is the next great hope that will revolutionize the legal profession.

Change can be brought on through pushing existing ideas. What makes artificial intelligence stand out is the potential for a paradigm shift in how legal work is done.

AI, sometimes referred to as cognitive computing, refers to computers learning how to complete tasks traditionally done by humans. The focus is on computers looking for patterns in data, carrying out tests to evaluate the data and finding results.

Soft Settle first time in India, and among in other Asian countries has shown the mettle to disclose how Artificial Intelligence combining with Digital Technology can eliminate lengthy, expensive lawyered-up court litigations; the technology is already adapted to reshape and revamp the justice patterns, by making its presence felt in the issues relating to debt, insurance, consumer matter and other different forms of civil and corporate disagreements.

Indians and other Asians are in the process of embracing digital technology – using it for their shopping, communicating, house hunting, work and leisure activities etc.. Simultaneously, it is to borne in mind, the digital revolution can prevent costly and lengthy court action – so it would benefit our justice system and out society as a whole. Hence the digital sparkling would have to reshape the Indian and Asian societies ultimately would offer the opportunity to address fundamental problems in our present legal system – combating the legal menaces like expensive lawyers and slow, confrontational and painful court proceedings.

Technology must be utilized to better assist Indians and other Asians get fair and proper access to justice.

Realization of of Loan – Routine Alert & Resolutions

SoftSettle Support

Loan collection is usually a process which is highly regulated. As the creditor wants to get back the loan with its interest, they usually offer the loan with either a mortgage or a guarantor to back the debtor. The debtor enters into a legal agreement with the lender to repay the loan by a particular time and date.

This is monitored by both the creditor and the rating agencies to track how prompt a debtor is in repaying the loan. This is used to calculate the credit score of a debtor for future loans.

Generally, the method to collect a loan follows the steps given below:
• Collect the money coinciding with the arrival of the debtor’s income cycle
• Maintain a systematic follow-up on how the customer can handle the repayment
• If the customer shows discrepancies in one or two installments, reach out to the customer to find out the cause.
• If the customer is prompt, preserve goodwill and promote more offers to him.

When it comes to collecting back the loan, banks adopt usually two methods of collection. As loans are paid back in EMIs, the banks do not intervene or disturb a customer if the payment is prompt and on time. They maintain a cordial relation with the debtor and accord them with further credit proposals if the client exhibits discipline in the repayment process.

However, not all debtors can pay back on time. Owing to various reasons, they may default on the payment of their owed capital. Such defaulters are usually provided with several opportunities to pay back their owed sum.

Following methods are usually undertaken to ensure that the debtor is legally requested to fulfill his commitment:
• The bank will send a ‘letter of demand’ to the debtor on its letterhead, demanding that the debt is to be paid within a particular date or legal action may be taken.
• Secondly, they may issue a ‘final’ letter of demand
• Several banks also contact their clients via phone to get them on record to find out the reason for their potential defaulting.

Let a new device helps both creditors and debtors

SS-Equity, a virtual neutral comes to help both creditors and debtors to come in terms rather than fighting with each other or leading their relationship in bickering.

Rather the defaulters would be approached at their time of default and they would be alerted regularly so that they can participate in the resolutions offered by the platform SOFT SETTLE as early, middle and final level intervention. Even the alert would also provided information about their Credit Ratings updates (CIBIL in India).

Even before going for the resolutions in each level of interventions, the debtor would not be denied an opportunity for interacting with the creditor virtually and that itself would pave way for any easy resolution probably results in both parties winning without any hurdles.

An automatic agreement gets generated duly executed, which has legal validity and enforceable in the eyes of law.

This method could leave the parties taking the control of the financial problems and settling the financial issues in a faster, efficient and cost-effective manner.

Automated ODR – Never a nightmare for Lawyers

Adam Sharon, Family Mediation Center, Boston

I happened to meet my friend Jammie Pennings comparatively junior, doing her second year JD in Hamline University School of Law. Whenever she meet me she seems little bit excited and a lot to talk about her legal studies and how she is going to pursue with her profession in the future. I too encourage her and I always appreciated her smartness. She happened to be selected to represent ODR Conference from Hamline last year in California. But after back from the conference, she found to be tranquil and remain less enthusiastic during our meeting. May be due to some family problems, I tried to convince myself. But from her Professor, I learnt that she was too anxious about the advent of potential use of technology in the area of providing legal services replacing lawyers altogether for certain basic legal activities and can go to a level of meeting most complicated civil conflicts reaching a settlement. As such she was under the impression that many functions traditionally performed by lawyers will soon be routinely undertaken by software systems, whether such situation likely to present challenges for the legal community – I mean lawyers as a whole.

But as a legal professional I feel her fear is quite unwanted and unwarranted. The situation confronting her is presenting both challenges and opportunities for the legal community. The rationale in support of automating legal activities is simple. The automated systems can help to make the legal functions more readily accessible to the public at lower cost. Automation can also help to make legal activities more transparent to participants and faster to process.

At present, software-based systems are focusing their efforts on the resolution of some of the more common legal disputes. I am associated with Settlement Support, a dispute resolution based in India operating from Bangalore and Kochi. They have promoted a project “Gateway to Equity & Justice” where they are having two segments functioning under a portals www.mediatoraffair.com and www.softsettle.com . The later one is a prospective one and supposed to accommodate Automated Dispute Resolution software. They are bent on resolving civil disputes such as settlement of monetary disputes including debt resolution apart from insurance claim settlements, resolution of ecommerce disputes, consumer dispute resolution, settlement of the issues arising out of the M & A in the corporate sector etc. along with the social issues like patching up of conjugal life on the eve of divorce, divorce settlements and post divorce settlements are also being considered to facilitate whole proceedings.

Automated systems are not nearly as effective, however, for legal functions that are less standardized. Activities that require the exercise of judgment applied to the specific circumstances of each situation are less suitable for automated systems. These legal functions continue to be the domain of human legal practitioners.

Software-based systems designed to facilitate public access to legal functions are important and very valuable. We will likely see in the near future a rapidly growing number of legal activities and disputes handled by automated systems. This will benefit clients, who will have faster and less expensive access to legal support, and it will also benefit lawyers, who will be able to focus on the judgment-based and more nuanced services that clients can not obtain from automated platforms. Software-based systems provide critically important supplements to traditional legal services, but there will always be legal functions that can only be effectively performed by humans.

Call for Win-Win Propositions

SoftSettle Support

While exploring how the financial institutions treat their customer who are unable to repay their loans, a study has to be conducted analyzing the perspectives of both creditors and debtors. Despite the institutions or creditors are bent on prioritizing client protection as a statutory obligation, there is a surprising question on what happens when the contractual relationship breaks down between the creditor and the debtor.

It is true that there is more willingness to discuss default management which includes various high profile repayment crisis, generates a feeling that there should be a system where the creditors as well as the debtors shall steal the show together. The defaulter’s perspective may be completely different. Most serious difficulties are in financial distress and often in the midst of other life crisis. A sick child, parent needs medical treatment and in another case an elderly borrower was robbed on his way after finding the resource towards repaying his debts. Defaulting customers are already likely to be full of anxiety because their lives are not working as planned. The consequences of non-payment may be one among many major concerns of a defaulter. They skip meals, sell possessions, or compelled to take their children to a lower fees academy to save school fees. These sacrifices happen on the way to default. As a result they struggle to remain current on their debts, say by taking another loan, the chains may only get tighter. To reach a position justifying the debtors, there shall be a statement totally be submitted as “ordinary people in bad situations are not liars and cheats- at least not until pushed by crisis into desperate measures” . Such debtors need help and compassion.
Taking into account – the concerns of both Creditors and Debtors, a new system shall be evolved instead of harassing and pressurizing collection agencies to realize the loan amount from the defaulters. At the same time creditors shall also be benefitted in the course of collection and realization of loan amount.

SoftSettle Support can be a magnificent technology based alternative in sourcing the deliberations which would make everything easy for both creditors and debtors in settling their financial issues. Soft Settle can come up with three types of interventions such as early, middle and final interventions at each stage of the repayment period. As such the creditors need not wait for another 90 days after the completion of the payment to receive the defaulted payment and need not go for any legal proceedings against the debtor. The intervention in each stage would benefit the debtors by getting alerted about their CIBIL rating and they may not be complacent to repay the reshuffled EMI and properly comply with rescheduled repayment period. The final intervention too would help both creditor and debtor by settling the issues using the Mediation and Arbitration tools. At each intervention the e-resolution takes place and on the successful result, legally valid agreements would be generated and have to be executed properly so as to be subjected to enforceability.

Soft Settle is an ideal platform where disputing parties can interact virtually and thus reducing the problems related to creditors which used to bring violence and other offensive techniques from the part of the collection agencies against the defaulters at the behest of the creditors. While the creditors start taking lenient attitude towards the debtors, there shall be some options can be worked out during the negotiating process that could bring results which is more or less win-win propositions