Civil Online, which was launched in April 2019, is a fully digital service for simple procedure cases, enabling cases to proceed from end to end online.

The service allows parties to submit cases, pay court fees, submit supporting documents and respond to any claim lodged, all online. It can also facilitate digital hearings with case documentation available and presented digitally in the courtroom or at a virtual hearing.

A new Application Programming Interface (API) has recently been developed to allow legal firms to transfer simple procedure applications from their internal case management systems directly into Civil Online.

Where legal firms are dealing with high volumes of simple procedure cases they will now have the option to register them digitally, rather than manually registering each individual application.

The SCTS says it will provide support and advice to any legal firm who chooses to upgrade their systems to integrate with the API.

From tomorrow (17 September 2020), legal firms can start using the API, although due to a backlog of simple procedure cases as a result of COVID-19, each firm will be limited to 10 cases each day per court. This limit will be reviewed and adjusted accordingly as the backlog is managed.

Kay McCorquodale, chief development and innovation officer at SCTS, said: “We would like to acknowledge those legal firms, Brodies, Harper Macleod, MacRoberts, Nolans, Shoosmiths and Thorntons, who have invested their time, resources and energy to get the API to this ready state.

“Throughout the development of the API the level of openness and collaboration with the legal firms who participated in our proof of concept and testing of the API has been critical. This has enabled us to develop a robust system which meets the needs of legal firms and is now ready for wider rollout.”