How has new technology improved the running of our courtrooms? Lorraine Medcraft reports
Perhaps the most established of the current crop of applications in the courtroom is real-time reporting, which enables a transcription of court proceedings to be available within seconds. Stenographers, working at high levels of accuracy, transcribe proceedings and their output is fed direct to the judge, counsel, solicitors, juries and clients. The feed can be made available beyond the confines of the courtroom. At the Diana and Dodi inquests, transcripts and evidence were immediately available to journalists and reporters attending court and those in the annex at the Royal Courts of Justice. There was also a live broadcast feed to the BSkyB newsroom for the first three days of the hearing.
Savings in time accrue at the end of each day because there is no longer a need to compare notes and decide what was said. Key points are already highlighted and tagged ready for review and discussion. While the court is in session, practitioners outside the courtroom can keep track of what's going on and comment and advise remotely.
