Why the LexMap Observatory exists
A space for professional reflection on the digital case file, the right to a defence and the technological criminal trial. The culture of the problem first, the tools second.
The LexMap Observatory is an editorial initiative promoted by CMcube, the company that develops the LexMap suite. It exists to examine a concrete problem in defence work: how to find one's way through the records of criminal proceedings when the material is extensive, layered and available in very different digital forms.
Having the records is essential. Understanding their structure, tracing what concerns one's own client and checking the links back to the sources takes further work. That work is what the Observatory is devoted to.
Our starting thesis
Having the records in digital form is not the same as being able to govern a case file. A set of PDFs can make access and search easier; in complex proceedings, however, defence counsel must also reconstruct people, facts, records, statements and relationships, while remaining able to return to the documents each piece of information comes from.
Those who took part in building up the investigative material over time may already know its history and organisation. Defence counsel, especially when stepping in after many records have been gathered, may have to reconstruct its structure and its relevance to their client within tight deadlines. It is a difference of perspective and of time that tools for the digital case file should help to address.
Four convictions
A governable case file can strengthen defence work. The right to a defence requires access to the records, but counsel's work does not end with obtaining them. They must be able to examine, order, connect, verify and, where necessary, challenge them. Technology can support these activities if it leaves the professional in control of the sources and of the assessments.
Defence counsel reconstructs a position within the proceedings. In proceedings with several parties, charges or strands, many records do not concern every client in the same way. Identifying what is relevant, and understanding how it connects to the rest of the file, is part of defence work. The file must also be read from the perspective of the person being defended.
An electronic binder is not yet a governable case file. Scans, folders and text search can be useful, but on their own they do not convey the structure of the proceedings. Scattered attachments, duplicates and documents without searchable text make it harder to find the relevant elements. The further step is to make the links between records and information navigable, without losing the reference to the source.
A changing trial calls for adequate tools for the defence too. The evolution of the tools of the criminal trial raises a practical question: how can defence counsel examine and verify a growing mass of material, reconstructing what matters for the case at hand? Digital tools are useful to the extent that they help with this work, without replacing professional judgement.
What we want to observe
The Observatory will deal with the problems that arise in accessing, reading and reconstructing criminal case files: the organisation of records, the search for sources, the links between documents, the time pressures of defence work and the limits of the tools available. We want to distinguish observable problems from proposed solutions, and to discuss the limits of the latter as well.
CMcube works on the same problem with LexMap Penale, the vertical of the LexMap suite devoted to the case file from the defence's perspective. This connection is explicit. The Observatory exists to develop a professional discussion about the digital case file and about what it takes to make it genuinely usable in defence work.