Enhanced Workflow Models as a Tool for Judicial Practitioners

Abstract

In the past, attempts were made to make law and justice more accessible to general audience and to legal practitioners using models of legal texts. We present a new approach to make the judicial workflows easier to understand. By using process modelling methods, the developed representation emphasises on improving transparency, on promoting mutual trust and on formalising models for verification. To design semi-formal models interviews are used as well as legal texts are consulted. These models are formalised in a second step. The models are enhanced with hierarchies, modules and the generation of different views. Language problems are also treated. The subsequent formalised models are used to verify trigger events and timing of judicial workflows, which have very specific requirements in terms of periods of time and fixed dates. A new tool, Lexecute, is presented which gives new perspectives into justice and reveal new potentials for modelling methods in the field of justice.