NY Courts Should Adopt Google+ Video Hangouts

Traditionally, court systems have been slow to adopt new technology. Using video in the courtroom was a big stumbling block here in New York. Committees had to evaluate it. Conferences and meetings to determine the feasibility, efficacy and usability were held. After years of analysis, there is no live video streaming of court cases in civil cases in the New York Court system.

Here we are in the year 2011 where Google has just released Google+ with video chat capability called hangouts and Facebook has released video chat as well. I was recently in court on a status conference and spent the majority of the morning sitting in the back of the courtroom wondering how we as attorneys can better utilize our time and energy. I also contemplated how the court system could make better use of its resources by using relevant technology.

A status conference is where attorneys who represent the people in a lawsuit are required to appear in court and let either the judge or the judge's law clerk know what is happening in the case. There may be issues with exchanging documents, or one party may be stalling before producing a witness for deposition. In some cases, there may be no problem whatsoever and everything is on track. Regardless of what is actually occurring within the case, the attorneys must travel from their offices to the courthouse and then wait their turn among all the cases that are on for conference that morning.

Most judges will handle a large caseload on days that they hear conferences or motions. (A motion is a request by one party to a lawsuit for the court to take action.) Depending upon the judge's rules, it may be first-come, first-served in the courtroom as far as getting seen. That means that if your adversary does not show until late in the morning you may be waiting around for hours before being able to see the judge or the law clerk. After completing the conference the attorneys must then travel back to their office and resume working on their cases.

For years there was no other alternative to streamlining this process. Busy lawyers, or solo attorneys who were unable to attend a particular conference in court would often hire per diem attorneys to handle that a conference for them.

Here is what I propose: Since we have easily accessible technology such as Google+ video chat, the courts now have the ability to have a video conference with the attorneys at a pre-scheduled date and time. This would alleviate the time required to travel from an attorney's office to the court house and simplify matters greatly. All parties would still be heard and seen as if they were in the courthouse. I know some of my fellow colleagues will certainly raise the issue about what happens if their Internet connection is down or there are technical issues with their computer. Dealing with technology is always a potential challenge. However, the benefits of using videoconferencing in a simple, free and effective manner far outweigh the limited instances where technology prevents us from communicating effectively.

This suggestion is not for litigants or people who are observing what goes on in the courthouse. Rather, this is to streamline the court system, make conferences more effective and assist counsel by making them more productive without the need to travel to court for every status conference. This type of innovative thinking will help the public recognize that the Court system is trying to help and not hamper their ability to seek justice.

Hopefully, someone in the court system will read these suggestions and it is my hope that they will be ultimately implemented at some point in the not-too-distant future.