By Doug Mondell
Recently, a Justice of the New York Supreme Court gave an inside look at the technological advances he is bringing to his courtroom and his chambers… by using email to communicate. As someone who considers himself to be only mildly fluent in technology, I cannot believe that the use of email is considered to be a major advancement in the year 2016. This is not a problem that is only plaguing one judge in one county; the legal system as a whole seems to have fallen out of touch with anything technological (if they ever were in touch with it), but why?
Judge Thomas Stander shared that he has been changing the way communication is taking place in his courtroom. He has been using email as way for him to communicate with his staff, and before he delivers his judicial decisions and opinions to the clerk’s office, he saves the document as a PDF and emails it to the attorneys involved in the case. Email, the pinnacle of high technology sixteen years ago, could only be characterized as mundane, at best, today. Just about one in every three people sends electronic mail; this is far from an unheard of practice. So how could this possibly be something that is being lauded by the legal community?
Rather than acting like we’re impressed by courts using email, we should be pushing them to do more. E-filing should be a requirement in every case in every court. Do we really need to waste all that paper? Judges should use iPads, or other tablet devices, while on the bench to help keep them organized. All court opinions should be released electronically. Witnesses should be allowed to testify via webcam. All court proceedings should be recorded electronically. I could go on and on. There is so much technology available, and the legal profession simply chooses not to use it. Why? Because “change is scary,” and “this is the way we’ve always done it.” We simply cannot hide behind these excuses for avoiding technology anymore.
My point in writing this blog is not to mock the New York Justice who is embracing technology. In fact, I’m glad that he is trying to figure out how to use technology to aid in the never-ending fight for justice. But, attorneys should have never let themselves get so out of touch with it in the first place. Technology is evolving and growing more advanced every single day, and it’s certainly not going to slow down and wait for us to catch up with it.
Student Bio: Doug is the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of High Technology Law. He is a current 3L at Suffolk Law concentrating in Trial and Appellate Advocacy. He graduated from The Ohio State University in 2011 with a B.A. in International Studies.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHTL or Suffolk University Law School.
