In a world where technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives, the legal industry is not left behind. The emergence of the eCourt system has sparked curiosity and innovation, promising to revolutionize how justice is administered. Imagine a courtroom where documents are filed electronically, cases are tracked in real-time, and legal processes are streamlined to enhance efficiency and accessibility. This transformation is not just a dream; it is becoming a reality, driven by visionary leaders who are committed to making the legal system more user-friendly and transparent.
One such leader is Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir, the Founder and CEO of Justikal. Since its inception in 2017, Justikal has been at the forefront of this digital revolution, creating a platform that allows for the electronic management of court documents and case tracking through cutting-edge technology—such as trust services including eSeals, qualified timestamps, eIDs, eSignatures, qualified validation services, and more.
Justikal is innovative in two key ways: through its technology and its business model. The platform leverages trust services that comply with EU Regulation No. 910/2014, commonly known as the eIDAS Regulation. Innovating in the public sector is challenging, but Justikal addresses this by offering its solution completely free of charge to courts indefinitely. This presents a new option for the market: the party initiating the case pays a modest monthly fee while the case is active, while all other participants such as opposing counsel, associates, clients, and others can use the platform at no cost.
Margrét’s innovative approach aims to reduce the time and costs associated with traditional court processes, making justice more accessible to everyone. Her commitment to democratizing legal resources reflects a broader trend in the industry, where technology is leveraged to bridge the justice gap faced by many individuals.
“Our goal is to enable a more modern way of working—one where attorneys can deliver a smoother, more efficient service experience to their clients,”
Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir
Transforming the Justice System
Margrét’s journey in the legal tech industry began with her decade-long experience as an attorney, where she faced the frustrations of a slow and inefficient court system. The reliance on paper processes created significant challenges, leading her to spend excessive time preparing documents and navigating logistical hurdles.
“I remember one time I had to submit documents to the court and, following the rules, I had made several copies. The paper bundle was so massive I had to pack it into a suitcase. As I dragged it to the courthouse—wearing high heels—one of the suitcase wheels broke off. This was in Iceland, in the middle of winter, during a storm. I just wanted to scream. But somehow, I made it on time—soaking wet, with my hair looking like I had just stepped out of a tornado. That’s when I thought: there has to be a better way to do this.”
This experience underscored the urgent need for a modernized approach to legal proceedings, particularly as society moved towards digital solutions.
Motivated by these challenges, Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir founded Justikal, particularly in light of the evolving eIDAS regulation in Europe, which not only granted legal recognition to electronic documents but also established a framework for trusted eSignatures and eSeals, and—through eIDAS 2.0—introduced the European Digital Identity to further facilitate secure, cross-border digital services. This development presented a unique opportunity to create a secure and efficient system for managing court documents electronically. Justikal’s mission is to modernize legal processes, making them faster, more transparent, and secure for all parties involved.
“We started the company with a primary focus on legal proceedings—looking at how we could make them more efficient, secure, and transparent. We’ve since added two new services. The first is general cases, a feature designed to help users prepare a court case before formally submitting it—and to support matters that never reach the courtroom, as many disputes are resolved beforehand. The second is registered eDelivery, which enables the secure delivery of highly sensitive documents, ensuring proof of delivery when it matters most.”
In its early stages, Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir encountered various obstacles, including the need to build a platform that met legal standards while remaining user-friendly. Nevertheless, her vision for Justikal focused on improving access to justice and streamlining legal processes. By enabling electronic document handling, Justikal aims to alleviate the burdens of traditional court procedures, enhancing the overall experience for clients and attorneys alike. Through her leadership, Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir is transforming the legal landscape and fostering a more efficient and accessible justice system.
Making Legal Proceedings Easier and More Affordable
Justikal is revolutionizing the legal sector with its innovative digital solutions aimed at modernizing justice delivery. The platform enables courts, arbitration centers, and tribunals to comply with the eIDAS regulation, ensuring secure digital processes. By adhering to high security standards, Justikal is able to reduce the average case processing time by 25–30%, benefiting legal professionals and lowering costs, which makes the justice system more accessible for individuals with limited incomes.
What sets Justikal apart is the enhanced experience it offers to all participants in legal proceedings. Attorneys can securely submit documents electronically, while participants can track their cases through strong authentication, reducing reliance on their lawyers. The platform employs eSeals and qualified timestamps to maintain document integrity and accurately record submission timings. Additionally, Justikal fulfills a crucial legal requirement by allowing EU courts to accept electronic documents with Qualified Electronic Signatures, which cannot be printed because then there are no means of validating the eSignature, thus streamlining the validation process. Justikal uses an eIDAS certified validation service which is important because the results the service shows when validating eSigned and eSealed documents are binding before all courts in Europe.
“Knowledge of trust services is still relatively new, and it’s crucial that national courts and arbitration centres keep pace with developments in the market. Today, many documents exist only in electronic form—especially those signed with electronic signatures. In Iceland, with a population of around 400,000, we use approximately 200,000 eSignatures each month. That amounts to roughly 2.4 million electronically signed documents per year.
When such documents are used in court proceedings, it is essential to understand the type of trust service applied. Does the document contain a qualified electronic signature (QES), an advanced electronic signature (AdES), or a basic electronic signature? This distinction is critical for determining the document’s evidentiary value, as outlined in the eIDAS Regulation. Justikal makes this process seamless—at no cost to the courts.”
Many legal documents now exist exclusively in digital form, such as eSigned contracts and various types of forms. Justikal automatically validates all documents containing eSignatures or eSeals in accordance with eIDAS regulations, ensuring that the validation outcomes are legally binding before all courts across Europe.
In Iceland, where Justikal is implemented, the solution has the potential to save society up to €24 million annually by increasing efficiency and reducing administrative burdens. The platform is free for courts, with only a small fee charged to the case initiator—promoting broader access to justice without placing a financial burden on public institutions.
All courts and tribunals in Scotland accept documents sent via Justikal to be used in judicial proceedings, and courts in Iceland already accept documents through the solution. It’s also being used by the Nordic Arbitration Centre and by UBIKourt in Croatia. Beyond that, the company is in discussions with several national courts and arbitration centres across Europe and beyond. “But there is also a risk of onboarding many markets too fast. Each market has their own way with legal processes which we have to comply with to ensure everything works smoothly,” adds Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir.
Overcoming Legal Challenges
Today, law firms and legal professionals face several significant challenges, including increasing administrative workloads, the demand for faster service delivery, the urgent need for digital transformation, and the expectation for greater transparency and security. Traditional paper-based systems hinder legal proceedings, create inefficiencies, and increase the risks of lost documents or missed deadlines. Moreover, clients now seek more direct access and visibility into their cases.
Justikal currently offers three services i.e. court cases, general cases and registered eDelivery. The Court cases feature is used to deliver documents to the courts and to manage and handle all court documents in legal proceedings.
The Court Cases feature in Justikal enables attorneys and legal professionals to manage and submit court documents electronically in a secure and transparent environment. Documents in various formats can be submitted through the platform, where they are eSealed with a qualified timestamp and automatically validated by Justikal’s Qualified Validation Service. This service validates both eSigned and eSealed documents in accordance with the eIDAS Regulation, and the validation results are legally binding before all courts in Europe.
To ensure secure access, Justikal uses strong authentication via eIDs in supported markets, and offers video onboarding with two-factor authentication in markets where eIDs are not yet widely distributed. All user activity is logged in a comprehensive audit trail, ensuring full transparency and traceability. External participants, including clients, can be granted read-only access, and all parties receive automatic notifications when updates occur. Features like document search with OCR, personal annotations, and collaborative tools further enhance usability.
The General Cases feature in Justikal empowers users to prepare and refine legal disputes long before submitting them to the courts, and it can also be used for cases that are not intended for court. Whether it’s strategizing a court case or negotiating a settlement, users can create a “general case” as a private workspace where sensitive documents are securely shared and collaboratively annotated among selected parties.
Unlike in the past—when cases in Justikal were either submitted directly or not at all—this update gives users the flexibility to iteratively build their case over time and submit it to the court with a single click when ready. Leveraging the platform’s existing tools for secure document sharing, eSigning, OCR-powered search, and audit trails. General Cases enhances negotiation and preparation workflows, ensuring readiness, clarity, and confidentiality—all within Justikal’s trusted eIDAS-compliant environment.
The Registered eDelivery feature provides a secure way to deliver sensitive documents such as summons, letters of default, payment warnings, and statements of claim directly to a designated recipient.
Senders upload a document, input the recipient’s identity details, set a deadline, and optionally request an electronic signature. The recipient receives an email with a secure link and must authenticate via eID or video onboarding to access and, if required, sign the document. The sender can track each step—authentication, receipt, and signature—and receives a delivery confirmation report once the process is complete ﹣ all managed seamlessly within Justikal – endursing confidentiality and accountability.
By using Justikal, legal professionals can significantly reduce administrative workload and accelerate case processing times. The platform incorporates strong authentication, qualified electronic signatures, eSeals, and timestamps to ensure the integrity and authenticity of every document. Justikal also enhances transparency by allowing clients to track their case status in real time, fostering trust and improving communication. Since the platform is free for courts and most participants, it promotes broader access to justice without placing financial strain on legal institutions—enabling the legal sector to embrace a more efficient, secure, and modern way of working.
Ensuring a Smooth and Secure Legal Experience
At Justikal, transparency, efficiency, and security are core principles guiding its mission. Legal proceedings can be stressful and complex, making it essential to develop a platform that all users—clients, attorneys, and courts—can trust.
To ensure transparency, Justikal enables all parties to track their cases in real-time. Clients and legal professionals can securely access updates, documents, and filings directly through the platform, minimizing reliance on intermediaries. Each action taken in a case is logged and timestamped, creating a clear, auditable trail that enhances confidence in the process.
To promote efficiency, Justikal has digitized the entire document management and case-handling workflow. This allows legal documents to be signed, submitted, and validated electronically, eliminating delays associated with paper submissions. The platform is accessible through web browsers and is optimized for laptops, desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets. Justikal is user-friendly, requiring no special training for users to start using the system effectively. This ease of use helps legal professionals adapt to new technologies without unnecessary complications.
Regarding security, Justikal adheres to the highest international standards, including the eIDAS regulation. All documents are protected with e-Seals, and qualified timestamps, ensuring their integrity. Strong authentication measures safeguard user identities, and sensitive data is encrypted and stored securely. Justikal is also ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certified by DNV, affirming its commitment to information security and privacy management (certificates). By integrating these strategies, Justikal aims to make justice more accessible, transparent, and secure for everyone involved.
Expansion and Partnerships
- Current Users: District Courts in IcelandNordic Arbitration CentreUBIKourt, CroatiaApproved by Scottish Courts & Tribunal Service in Scotland.
- Expansion Efforts: Actively discussing partnerships with national courts and arbitration centers worldwide.Open invitation for interested parties in new markets to connect.
- Implementation: After receiving approval from relevant authorities, the platform adapts to new markets in 8-12 weeks. Anticipating significant growth over the next five years through expanded reach and enhanced offerings.
Leading with Values
One of the core values guiding Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir as a leader is: “Be steadfast in adversity and humble in prosperity.” This mindset shapes her decision-making and the culture at Justikal.
Being steadfast during challenging times means staying focused, resilient, and committed to the mission, even in the face of uncertainty. Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir believes that a leader’s response to challenges is vital for long-term success. Difficult moments are inevitable, especially when pursuing innovation. By maintaining integrity and clarity, they can uphold trust both internally and externally.
Conversely, humility is crucial during successful times. While achievements are celebrated, the team remains grounded, understanding that success is often a collective effort involving the entire team, partners, and sometimes a bit of good timing. Staying humble encourages continuous learning and improvement rather than complacency.
To foster innovation and growth, Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir emphasizes an environment where:
- Open communication is encouraged, ensuring everyone’s ideas are valued.
- Psychological safety is prioritized, allowing team members to take risks and learn from mistakes.
- Continuous learning is embraced through training and professional development.
- A clear vision is balanced with flexibility, enabling adaptability and welcoming new ideas.
In addition to nurturing the team, Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir underscores the importance of taking care of yourself—as a leader and a team member. A company can only thrive if the people behind it are healthy, focused, and balanced. Maintaining physical and mental well-being isn’t just a personal responsibility; it’s a strategic one. By prioritizing rest, resilience, and self-care, leaders set an example and help ensure the long-term success of both the company and its people.
By embodying these values, Justikal cultivates a culture that supports sustainable growth and genuine innovation, inspiring bold thinking while remaining connected to its deeper purpose.
Roadmap for the Future of Legal Services
Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir believes that the future of legal services will focus on three key areas: efficiency, security, and accessibility. Clients now expect faster case handling, direct access to their legal matters, and online interactions with legal systems, similar to other industries. Courts and legal institutions must ensure that digital processes uphold or exceed the security standards of traditional methods.
Justikal plays a vital role in this transformation by bridging the gap between traditional court processes and modern digital needs. The platform offers a fully electronic system that enables secure case management, legally valid electronic signatures, and full compliance with the eIDAS regulation. With features like qualified electronic signatures, e-seals, and time-stamping, Justikal guarantees that every legal action is authentic and traceable.
Additionally, Justikal enhances access to justice by reducing administrative burdens and costs while enabling remote participation. Justikal has the potential to deliver substantial savings and improve court efficiency, empowering all stakeholders to embrace the future of justice confidently.
Simplifying Technology Adoption for Legal Institutions
Justikal simplifies the transition to digital workflows for law firms and institutions in several key ways. To operate in a new market, Justikal first secures formal approval from the relevant government authority or arbitration centre, ensuring that documents submitted through the platform will be accepted by the relevant institutions. Importantly, this service is provided at no cost to the courts or arbitration institutions. Their staff can access and use all of Justikal’s features free of charge, indefinitely.
This model introduces a new option to the market: the party that initiates the case pays a monthly fee while the case is active. In some instances, arbitration centres have opted to cover the usage costs themselves. Justikal fully supports this approach and can provide customized offers based on anticipated case volumes.
Open Letter to Aspiring Leaders and Entrepreneurs in the Legal Tech Industry
Dear Future Leaders,
The path ahead is exciting, but it is not without challenges. My advice to you is simple: solve real problems. Focus on how technology can make legal processes faster, fairer, and more transparent. Always keep the human impact at the center of your innovations.
Be persistent. Building something meaningful takes time, and you will encounter resistance—sometimes from the very systems you’re trying to improve. Let that resistance sharpen your vision, not weaken it.
Surround yourself with people who believe in your mission and who challenge you to grow. Stay curious, stay humble, and remember that leadership is about service—service to your users, your team, and the broader goal of improving justice for all.
The legal world is ready for positive change. Be courageous enough to create it.
Sincerely,
Margrét Anna Einarsdóttir,
Founder and CEO
Justikal
