Legal Current

A juror sends out a tweet on Twitter after a verdict is reached in a multi-million dollar case.

Another asks Facebook friends for help making a decision on the verdict.

A courtroom employee uses a cell phone camera to take a picture of the defendant, in the courtroom.

Think it couldn’t happen? It has.

Michael Sommermeyer, court information officer with the Clark County (Las Vegas, Nev.) Courts talked about the challenges that Twitter – and social media in general – are providing for courts and judges, at the National Association of Bar Executives (NABE) Communications Section’s annual workshop in Las Vegas. His session was titled “Your Court’s All-A-Twitter.”

Sommermeyer said Twitter’s popularity – and the prevalence of cellphones – means courts must have new rules. And, they have to communicate those rules to the people who will be in the courtroom, from jurors to lawyers, spectators and court staff, whether or not courts will trust people not to use their phones or ban them.

“If you don’t tell them the rules they won’t know how to follow them,” Sommermeyer said.

But you can’t argue with Twitter’s popularity and that it can have a real purpose for communication, as Sommermeyer says in this video clip:

Sommermeyer says he expects it might reach a point where it will be harder for courts to manage Twitter and Facebook. “I think people understand that courts have a duty to do something,” he said. “You’ll have a hard time unless you literally do like the federal courts do and say no cell phones in the courtroom, to keep the general public from tweeting out something or sending an SMS text.”

Clark County Courts is on Twitter at @lvcourts. It also has a blog and is on Facebook. Michael Sommermeyer is on Twitter at @wordymouth.

Posted by Kevin Hunt in: In Practice | Technology and innovation |