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Law Times • OcTOber 4, 2010 BRIEF: LEGAL TECHNOLOGY PAGE 13 Envisioning a virtual justice system Country's top legal minds lay out the future of our courtrooms BY GAIL J. COHEN Law Times W elcome to the Ontar- io Superior Court of Justice. For service in English, press 1. Beep. To enter a guilty plea, press 1. Beep. Please hold the line while you are connected to a judge. OTTAWA — Th at was the gist at the start of a presentation at the recent Canadian Forum on Court Technology on what judging might look like in 2020. In a role-playing scenario that included former Ontario Court of Justice chief justice Brian Lennox, Superior Court Justice Frances Kiteley, and Dominic Jaar, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Court Technology, the presentation showed how easy it could be to have simple criminal matters resolved swiftly through video- conferencing, e-mail, and other readily available technologies. An accused can log in via video link, be connected to a judge, a Crown, and court staff , and have a guilty plea sorted out in minutes with even the fi ne being payble by credit card during the process. Governments and court sys- tems are facing increasing cost pressures while at the same time having to improve service delivery and decrease the time- lines for dispute resolution, noted Ray Bodnarek, deputy attorney general of Alberta. "We have to compete with building schools and hospitals and we're competing with other ministries for a piece of a small pie, so do bricks and mortar make sense for the future?" he asked. Kiteley questioned whether the justice system needs to con- tinue its commitment to adju- dicating everything in a court- room, especially in the case of appeal courts where there are no witnesses and the matter is based on the record below. "Why do we build court- houses for the fi ve per cent of cases that go to trial?" she asked a packed room of conference delegates. "Why not focus on the environment in which 95 per cent of cases are resolved?" Technology needs to be har- nessed in the interests of ear- lier, less expensive resolution, she said. Th ere must be a more effi cient way to deal with the overwhelming number of cases that result in guilty pleas, for example, and do so quickly. Th e biggest problem going forward, according to Kiteley, isn't so much the technology itself but the culture. Th e legal profession is very much based on precedents from the past and it's not a system that has great enthusiasm for change. But the new realities are that people work from home via high-speed Internet con- nections. Going forward, life will involve personal encryp- tion keys and biometric iden- tifi cation with no more credit Been in Law Times? Want a record of it? Promote your law firm by ordering reprints of articles from the voice of the profession — Law Times! Reprints are great for: • Firm promotional material • Use on your web site • Training and education • Suitable for framing $175 - $225/reprint We provide a color PDF and unlimited reproduction rights. LAW TIMES For more information or to order reprints, please e-mail Gail Cohen at: gcohen@clbmedia.ca Untitled-1 1 8/20/09 1:11:45 PM #1 Untitled-1 1 Software application for Real Estate Law Offices in Canada. Used by over 6,000 professionals in 2,500 law firms. To find out more call or email us today 1 866.367.7648 I sales@doprocess.com ©2010 Do Process Software Ltd. The Conveyancer is a registered trademark of Do Process Software Ltd. All rights reserved. www.lawtimesnews.com 9/28/10 8:59:06 AM cards or carrying around a wal- let, Jaar predicted. It will be a world of virtual courtrooms. "Th ere will be no more in- vestment in bricks and mor- tar. It will be used for servers, and services will be delivered through technology," he said. While much of what Kiteley, Bodnarek, and Jaar predict can already become reality through available technologies, there are still many issues to resolve, often just in the minds of par- ticipants in the justice system. Open and transparent courts are vital to the Canadian legal system, but with the Internet and widespread and easy access to documents and informa- tion, privacy matters must also be taken into account. "Th e Internet shifts the light from the court to the parties," said Chantal Bernier, assistant privacy commissioner of Canada, in another conference session. Th e principle of open courts must be maintained, she said, but not without limits. "Th e point is not to revisit the principle of open justice but how to fulfi l it." Th ere must be a balance be- tween transparency and public disclosure of personal informa- tion, she said. Th is tricky bal- ance is already an issue with the number and amount of decisions from administrative tribunals posted online, many of which contain tremendous amounts of personal informa- tion about individuals. Bernier emphasized that there are ways of handling pri- vacy concerns while still serving the fundamental interests of jus- tice. Th e Offi ce of the Privacy Commissioner has done much work in this area and its web site, priv.gc.ca, has guidelines and other useful information. University of Montreal law professor Pierre Trudel noted it's tempting to limit public access to information related to judicial procedures, especially under the guise of protecting privacy. "But transparency of jus- tice should not suff er from the risks of broadcasting over the Internet and social media," he pointed out. Th e way courts are covered by the media is an example of how rules and attitudes need to change. Th e public character of justice must be maintained, he said. "Th e right to report what takes place before the courts cannot be limited to the mod- els that prevailed . . . when print was the dominant me- dia," he said. "One should not invoke the risks of the online environment in order to sup- press information." With more and more infor- mation available in electronic format — from documents to video confessions — we must accept that the "evolution of media necessarily entails a logi- cal evolution of the content and scope of rights and freedoms to inform," he added, noting it's in the public interest that the system be transparent in order for there to be a continuing evaluation of the proper ad- ministration of justice. Still, there are limits, he con- ceded. "Information on pro- ceedings must circulate publicly except if it puts privacy at risk and serves no legitimate public information purpose." LT Subscribe to Law Times Why pay extra for your legal news? Cutting-edge legal affairs, news and commentary for just 37¢ a day! 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