National spokesman for courts and associate justice Chris Penk visited Invercargill yesterday and met a number of lawyers.
He said one of the major issues voiced by them was the system delays which put people’s lives on hold.
Mr Penk believed while there were "a lot of good measures that have been taken" there were bigger system-wide fixes that could be employed to "help out".
Good use of digital technology meant less strain on the system in terms of not needing security guards, nobody in the court was in danger and logistical transport issues were eliminated, Mr Penk said.
"If you do stuff by AVL you unlock the whole country; you remove that postcode lottery in terms of availability of lawyers".
He also believed this would allow courts to have more specialised judges nationwide.
It would be more efficient if in-person court appearances were removed entirely, but he acknowledged if that was the case people would lose "something important in terms of a right of access to justice". While there may be some exceptions, a judge should decide if AVL was appropriate depending on the court case or if a person had difficulties with technology.
AVL had "got to be the way to go".
