Law Times

PAGE 2 Survey seeks national approach to technology in court NEWS BY ELIZABETH THOMPSON For Law Times OTTAWA — A landmark survey of Canada' underway in a bid to develop a national approach to technology in the courtroom. The survey, described as the first of its kind, is looking at a wide range of technological issues confronting Canadian courts. They include journalists tweeting live from high-profile murder tri- als and concerns about lawyers' BlackBerrys interfering with the digital recording of proceedings. Ontario Superior Court Justice survey, says the issue of electronic devices in Canada' topical and in some places very controversial. "It' s conducting the s courts is both ing issue," she tells Law Times. "It s a really, really interest- requires us to realize that this is the new normal and the courts s legal community is have to catch up." ing the survey across Canada to judges, court administrators, Crown prosecutors, defence lawyers, police, and journalists. Among the questions it' Kiteley says the centre is send- is whether there should be regula- tions for text-based communica- tions in the courtroom, how that should happen, and what practic- s asking important time for us to really have a discussion on a national level as opposed to the provin- cial levels that it is happening on right now. technology in the justice system have exploded in recent months as judges and courts across Canada find themselves dealing with the impact of social media Questions about the use of " a keyboard and access to a blog can now be a reporter. And who is to say they are not?" Informing the public accu- rately in 140-character tweets and avoiding witness or juror contam- ination are among the other issues courts have to face, she added. Courts in various provinces are grappling with the issue as well. For example, there have Ontario has a particularly large number of jury cases, I think more than other provinces. So that tends to make the concerns more profound. es their jurisdictions are following. Once the results are in at the Frances Kiteley, co-chairwoman of the Canadian Centre for Court Technology that' end of May, the centre hopes to draft a discussion paper in time for its Canadian Forum on Court Technology planned for late October in Montreal. "I am hoping we will be in a on proceedings. In a speech in Ottawa in January, Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin out- lined some of the challenges the courts are facing. "The explosive growth of position to recommend what might be considered to be a national approach to the use of electronic devices in courtrooms," Kiteley explains. "I actually see that as an new media signals a shift in who reports on legal proceed- ings," McLachlin told students at Carleton University. "Court decisions may no lon- been discussion papers on how to deal with questions about reporters tweeting court pro- ceedings live in both Ontario and British Columbia. Kiteley says the number of ger be the preserve of trained pro- fessional journalists. Anyone with cases tweeted live by reporters has risen sharply since 2009. During that year, reporters sent out live tweets from the trial relat- ed to the Bandidos biker gang in London, Ont. It happened again during the case of former Ottawa mayor Larry O'Brien that ended ly, says Kiteley. She points to an incident earlier this year during the murder trial of former RCMP officer Kevin Gregson for the murder of Ottawa police officer Eric Czapnik outside an Ottawa hospital. A reporter tweeted live the fact that Gregson entered the courtroom in shackles before the jury filed into the court, some- thing Kiteley says the courts delib- erately avoid having juries see. Live tweeting of trials is of with his acquittal on charges of influence peddling. Nor has it always gone smooth- particular concern in Ontario, she says. "Ontario has a particularly of the most obvious challenges, Kiteley says it' ber of questions the survey hopes to address. In the United States, for exam- But while live tweeting is one s just one of a num- " large number of jury cases, I think more than other provinces. So that tends to make the concerns more profound. May 28, 2012 • Law TiMes ple, there have been cases of jurors live tweeting cases. "There are some very egregious ONTARIO LAWYER'S PHONE BOOK 2012 YOUR MOST COMPLETE DIRECTORY OF ONTARIO LAWYERS, LAW FIRMS, JUDGES AND COURTS With more than 1,400 pages of essential legal references, Ontario Lawyer's Phone Book is your best connection to legal services in Ontario. Subscribers can depend on the credibility, accuracy and currency of this directory year after year. 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Internet also make it more tempt- ing for jurors to log onto Google Earth and other web sites to do their own investigations with- out even leaving the courthouse, Kiteley points out. "Increasingly, what we're telling The ease and access of " situations in the States where jurors will use social media from within the courtroom to inform others about what the jurors at the beginning [is] don't do that and we explain to them why. In the old days, we just said don't investigate, which meant don't go to the corner of Queen and Bay and take your own count on it. But now we try and explain that it is critical that the outcome of the trial is predicated on evidence that is heard in the courtroom and that it would be contrary to rights to fair trial if they went off and inves- tigated using electronic devices or otherwise. excluding witnesses more compli- cated, Kiteley adds. Officials can put a sign on the courtroom door excluding witnesses, but it' to tell whether friends or fam- ily members inside the court are sending them messages. "We don't know that it didn't happen in the pre-tweet world," she says. "It's just way more acces- sible in a tweet world." s harder also looks at the impact of devices such as BlackBerrys on the digital audio recording of court proceed- ings. Kiteley says there have been enough cases of their signals inter- fering with the recordings for it to be a problem. At the same time, the survey LT Social media has also made "

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