Technology in the Courtroom: NSW joins the Virtual Revolution
Tuesday 11 August 2015 @ 1.13 p.m. | Legal Research
NSW has this week announced a trial for online court for civil cases, joining the trials which have already been undertaken in both SA and QLD for desktop audivisual links (in the case of SA) and for virtual courtrooms (in the case of QLD).
NSW Civil Online Court Cases
Building upon the current Courts Online Registry with Service NSW, in a bid to further improve the efficiency of the justice system, the Baird government is trialling an online court to allow parties to manage cases and seek preliminary orders without setting foot in a courtroom.
The Current Online Courts Registry is a virtual registry that provides 24 hour access to the legal profession, and anyone involved in civil cases in the NSW Supreme Court, District and Local Courts. After registering online, you can view case information, publish and search probate notices, download documents, file a wide range of forms, check judgements and search court lists. By enabling users to track the progress of their case, the NSW Online Registry makes dealing with the NSW Supreme, District & Local Courts, easier and more efficient.
Through this portal, anyone in NSW can:
- Appeal a licence or rego decision;
- File court forms;
- View case information;
- Publish probate notices; and
- Download documents.
The proposed online court pilot will kick off in the Sydney Downing Centre Local Court in the final quarter of this year, covering civil cases in the general division. A previous pilot in 2011 covered criminal cases. The online court is part of the government's $9.2 million Justice Online project, which already allows lawyers to file documents in the local, supreme and district courts online and outside registry hours.
Lawyers who opt in to the online court can seek preliminary orders online, such as an adjournment or an order that documents be filed by a certain date, rather than appearing in person in court. The 28-day waiting period before the first preliminary hearing does not apply online and parties can start making requests immediately.
The government believes the online court is the first of its kind in a jurisdiction as large as NSW, although some work has been done in the United States and other States in Australia. Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton said:
"By embracing the power of technology, the NSW government is making the justice system fast, easier and more accessible for the community…We are leading the nation in the use of online legal services."
Desktop Audiovisual Links in SA
SA commenced a pilot program in April 2015 which enabled lawyers to appear in court from their private offices via ‘desktop audio visual link’ instead of in person.
The courts currently use AVL for people to appear, when they are being held in custody, but the trial to allow the legal profession to appear from their offices by AVL is likely to be the beginning of a new era for the courts and lawyers. Cases expected to be tested in this way involve instances where:
- The defendant is excused from appearing and the lawyer appears by AVL;
- The defendant appears with lawyer from their office by AVL; and
- The defendant appears by AVL from prison and lawyer appears from their office by AVL.
Chief Magistrate of South Australia, Judge Elizabeth Bolton said there were many benefits to extending AVL to private practice:
"There is a reduction in travel time and waiting time within the court precinct for matters to progress through the list...We expect there may be concerns expressed about the use of desktop AVL. All technology can challenge a culture and sometimes can lead to initial inefficiency. The purpose of this pilot is to assess what concerns there may be and whether they can be surmounted to the satisfaction of all relevant court users and the Court.”
Virtual Courtrooms in QLD
The Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration (AIJA) conducted a mock trial in Brisbane in May 2015 adding to the current virtual revolution.
With a real judge, Justice Michael Jarrett of the Federal Circuit Court, and experienced prosecution and defence teams, the trial took place entirely via large video conferencing screens in Queensland's Elizabeth II Courts. The distributed courtroom model aims to represent a real courtroom as closely as possible by placing life-sized video screens around an appropriately formal room and using directional sound.
Chief Justice of the WA Supreme Court Wayne Martin acted as the defence attorney in the mock trial and has overseen the use of video links for witnesses in WA for two decades, seeing distributed courtrooms as the logical extension of that technology:
“In our regional trials, sometimes up to half of the witnesses will be appearing by video link because they are somewhere else in the state…Anything that reduces the need for travel and makes it easy to participate in court processes has got to be an improvement in access to justice. There are also the security opportunities. You can ensure people can participate safely from a secure place, whether they are a vulnerable witness or an accused where there are legitimate security concerns or things of that sort.”
The project, undertaken by David Tait, professor of Justice Research at the University of Western Sydney, marks the first time this model has been used anywhere in the world:
“The real aim is to allow a greater use of videoconferencing for court purposes without undermining the rights of the accused, the comfort of the witnesses, [the lawyers'] ability to cross-examine, the judges’ ability to see all of the parties and check if they are behaving themselves or telling the truth or taking it seriously.”
However, he cautioned against introducing video links without examining in detail the psychological impact of having jurors, witnesses, judges, defendants and lawyers physically absent from the courtroom.
“In some ways you could say the witness’ presence is critical because you have to decide whether their evidence is credible and whether they are telling the truth.”
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