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Israel - Civil, Criminal and IPR
ISDLS is conducting criminal justice and intellectual property rights
(IPR) reform projects with the Magistrate (first instance) Courts
of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The criminal justice reform initiative
seeks to improve the efficiency of the courts and reduce backlog
and delay through the design and implementation of trial alternatives.
The IPR project examines and will revise the way that intellectual
property cases are handled in Israel. ISDLS also conducted a civil
justice reform project in Israel (1999 - 2001) that resulted in
a modernization of the established civil dispute resolution processes
to incorporate the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
Criminal Justice (2002 - 2004)
ISDLS
worked with the Israeli Criminal Justice Study Group to come up with trial alternatives
to reduce backlog and delay in the Israeli criminal court system. Based on observations
made during a study in California in January 2002, the study group decided to
implement forms of criminal ADR in the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Magistrate Courts.
The Israeli Supreme Court has approved the substance of the reforms.
In
March 2003, the Israeli study group is scheduled to work in the US to determine
the ways they need to revise their legal infrastructure to efficiently accommodate
criminal ADR.The Israeli system is currently designed to accommodate trial preparation,
and allocates resources accordingly. In California, the system is designed to
accommodate trial alternatives. (Some form of criminal ADR resolves about 92%
of criminal cases in California ; in Israel, only 40% are resolved by ADR.) Through
observing the California system, the study group will determine how to reallocate
resources and revise their infrastructure to accommodate the selected criminal
ADR procedures. Upon the completion of this study, the reforms will be implemented
via pilot project in the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Magistrate Courts.
IPR (2003 - 2004)
The Israeli study group also is working to revise the handling of
IP cases in Israel. For further information regarding the Israeli
IP initiative, click
here.
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