The new system - dubbed eBench - will be introduced to the country's major courts from next May. Other courts set to follow by July 1, coinciding with the introduction of the Criminal Procedure Act.
At a demonstration at John Wickliffe House, in Dunedin, yesterday, Ministry of Justice chief executive Andrew Bridgman said eBench would provide greater accuracy for judges, police, lawyers and court staff, saving about 93,000 hours across the sector each year.
Justice officials would not be drawn on whether the new system would lead to job cuts, but said it was aimed at introducing efficiencies.
With police bringing around 250,000 charges each year, the present paper-intensive system of printing documents, signing by hand, stamping, photocopying and filing had to change, Mr Bridgman said.
"It means you are not having to worry about paperwork, or police officers are not walking in with suitcases of active charges, and the judges are not having to use the stamp system," he said.
"It is about making the process faster. It is about making the process more accurate, and therefore improving the quality. Those are three key themes we need to focus on over the years ... and that is why this project is so important."
Under eBench, judges would no longer have to write out decisions and, in the case of bail decisions, would save around 10 minutes per case.
"Administration times will go down, and the room for errors is minimised."
As a result of the paperless court, people would be in and out of court faster, he said.
"You want to make sure this is dovetailed with judges and lawyers having conversations that the people they are affecting really understand, so they walk out of this process having a real understanding."
Ministry of Justice ICT project manager Chris Pennell said a prototype had been shown to district court judges and they were "really positive".
Three servers would run the system and provide backup in the unlikely event of a crash.
The system would be available on judges' laptops, but would be secure.
The system was loosely based on one used in Victoria - the only state of Australia that had the judiciary recording their decisions - "but we have leaped them already".
