In a remarkable effort to reduce long waiting times for civil lawsuits, the Copenhagen City Court (Københavns Byret) is now offering to expedite cases scheduled for 2025, allowing them to be addressed as early as this year. This initiative from the country’s largest court aims to combat the prolonged processing times that have been a persistent issue within the legal system.

This opportunity is available to parties involved in civil cases who can agree on a date with their counterparties and lawyers. In such cases, the City Court promises to provide both a courtroom and a judge. Court President Nikolaj Aarø-Hansen has expressed his satisfaction with this option, noting that processing times have been a significant challenge that negatively impacts legal security.

The average processing time in Danish City Courts has been 14.5 months, and for cases of shorter duration, lasting between half a day to a full day, the waiting time has reached 12 to 18 months. These delays cause frustration among the parties involved and hinder their ability to achieve timely and fair resolutions.

Therefore, the hope with this new arrangement is that more cases can be processed more quickly, benefiting the involved parties this year and creating capacity for faster processing in the future. Aarø-Hansen encourages users of the system to take advantage of this opportunity to improve the efficiency of the justice system for everyone.

However, the offer for expedited processing is contingent upon available capacity at the City Court. As a result, affected parties are encouraged to make decisions promptly if they wish to take advantage of this unique opportunity.