MEXICO: An Introduction to Dispute Resolution: Monterrey

Access to Justice in the Digital Age: the Modernisation of the Mexican Judicial System

For the Mexican legal system, the first quarter of the 21st century has been one of transformation. In recent years, the practice of law in Mexico has undergone significant modernisation, with substantial legal reforms driven by the need to enhance access to justice and adapt to a rapidly changing, increasingly digital environment. Lawyers specialising in litigation currently navigate a field experiencing an ongoing overhaul, as prompted by the 2011 constitutional reform, which placed the promotion and protection of citizens’ human rights at the centre of the Mexican legal system.

Oral hearings 

Spearheading the efforts to increase access to justice, as enshrined in Article 17 of the Mexican Constitution, are the legal reforms by which mainly written proceedings have been replaced with oral trials. Over the years, these oral hearings have proved to be more transparent and have increased credibility in the judicial system, as well as considerably reducing the length of litigation. Currently, civil, mercantile and family law continue to further integrate oral hearings into their proceedings, prompting operators of the judicial system and litigating lawyers to keep abreast with changing adjective law. Furthermore, this new system requires lawyers to have a thorough understanding of the case in order to present it effectively before the court.

Harmonising the law 

In addition to reforms related to oral proceedings, the Mexican legal system has also undergone changes aimed at homogenising criminal, civil and family law codes across all 32 Mexican federative entities. Thus, initiatives for the drafting and publication of a single National Codes of Procedure, as opposed to individual local procedural codes, have strived to create a more coherent legal framework, facilitating legal practice across different regions of the country. This new legislation will accomplish nationwide recognition of the recent technological advances that have so far been integrated in only certain federative entities, harmonising law regarding: the offering of all means of digital evidence, including that which is recorded in blockchain; the holding of hearings through video-conferences; the implementation of digital court files; and even defining what courts of law must understand by “metaverse” and other novel concepts conceived in the Information Age.

Among the notable reforms during this period, the modernisation of the Mexican judicial system by its integration into the digital sphere stands out as a significant development. This process began in 2011, with the creation of the Online Justice System (Sistema de Justicia en Línea) in the then-Federal Court of Tax and Administrative Justice (Tribunal Federal de Justicia Fiscal y Administrativa), and subsequently with the 2013 reform to the Amparo Law, which provided for the electronic filing of constitutional law and amparo proceedings.

The impact of COVID-19 

Similarly, the COVID-19 pandemic left a plethora of communication tools, and a budding video-conference business culture which allows people to keep in touch more regularly and efficiently than ever before. It is not only business meetings and conferences which can be held via video-conference, but also judicial or arbitral hearings. This, along with the previously cited reforms which introduced digital trials, has played a pivotal role in bringing the Mexican legal system into the digital age.

In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on the operations of the federal courts, leading to a temporary closure of physical facilities. However, this unprecedented situation accelerated the digitalisation of commercial proceedings and amparo suits before such courts, with the implementation of an institutional portal for this purpose, regulated through a general agreement issued by the Federal Judiciary Council in June 2020. This agreement allowed for not only amparo proceedings, but also disputes of a federal civil and commercial nature, to be carried out in a completely digital manner. This shift towards digitalisation has yielded multiple advantages, including a drastic reduction in paper usage, thereby benefiting the environment, and it has considerably diminished the transportation costs associated with handling lawsuits at the federal level. Furthermore, the digitalisation of legal processes has resulted in the expedited resolution of cases, ensuring the swift delivery of justice.

The state of Nuevo Leon leads the way 

Leading the way in this wave of modernisation and adaptation to the digital age is the state of Nuevo Leon. The aforementioned reforms have had a profound impact on the dispute resolution legal market of a city that has long been a key player on the national industrial and financial stage. Due to its strategic geographic location in the northernmost part of Mexico, its high quality of life, prestigious educational institutions, and diverse industrial landscape, Monterrey serves as a magnet for investments in the era of near-shoring. As of 2023, the State of Nuevo Leon, with Monterrey as its capital, holds the top position in job generation, ranking second only to Mexico City in attracting foreign investment, according to information provided by the Ministry of Economy regarding the first quarter of activity in Mexico.

In addition, the state of Nuevo Leon has recently announced the implementation of large-scale infrastructure projects involving collaboration between federal, state and municipal authorities. Such projects include the expansion of metro lines, and the construction of new dams, highways and aqueducts, among other ventures. These ambitious initiatives, backed by billion-dollar investments, further enhance the appeal of this region for foreign investors.

Leading the implementation of virtual courts and online trials, Nuevo Leon has created a sole Commercial Oral Proceedings Court (the “Oral Court”), tasked with hearing and reaching resolution on the majority of commercial matters throughout the state. The state currently boasts a top digital court where litigants can make online filings, receive notifications, and hold almost every hearing in the proceedings via video-conference, thus expediting judicial proceedings.

In general, the trials before the Oral Commercial Court of Nuevo Leon are agile, which is due not only to the fact that no appeals are admitted in such proceedings, but also to the outstanding functioning of the Oral Court, which, according to the latest statistics published on the official website, issued a total of 1,197 final rulings and 465 interlocutory rulings in 2022. Undoubtedly, this state is among those that set the standard for the modernisation of a judicial system and regulatory order, and it has now turned to the task of using emerging tools and recent technological advances to strengthen its rule of law and lift historical barriers to access to justice.

Conclusion 

More than ever, the resolution of legal disputes in Mexico has experienced a profound, radical and overwhelmingly positive change. Litigation attorneys in general, and particularly those who provide services in regions with relevant commercial exchange, are building an improved legal system through their daily practice and the generation of relevant precedents – a system which increasingly guarantees the efficient and expedited resolution of clients’ problems, as well as a system that strengthens the rule of law in Mexico, with the purpose of increasing the country’s competitive advantage.