Learn Italian: Gli è stato notificato oggi in tribunale.

In English, we frequently take the indirect object of a verb and make it the subject of a passive sentence ("He was notified"). Italian strictly forbids this. Because the verb is notificare qualcosa a qualcuno (to notify something to someone), the person remains an indirect object in the passive. Italian phrases it as "It was notified to him", which is why we must use the indirect object clitic Gli.

Since "he" isn't the subject, what is è stato notificato agreeing with?

It agrees with the unstated "it" that was notified (such as a verdict, a document, or a general fact). In this impersonal or implied-subject construction, the past participle defaults to the masculine singular (notificato). If the "something" were explicitly mentioned and feminine, it would agree with that instead (e.g., Gli è stata notificata la sentenza - The sentence was notified to him).

Could Gli mean something else besides "to him" in this context?

Yes! In everyday spoken and written Italian, gli is very commonly used for "to them" as a replacement for the more formal a loro. Without additional context, this sentence could easily mean "They were notified today in court."

Why is it just in tribunale rather than using an article, like nel tribunale?