I bumped in an article recently on a virtual court hearing about whether it is legally right and valid to conduct a court hearing virtually.  And the conclusion that was reached was it is legally right and the judgments are binding.

So, in this post, we are going to talk about virtual court hearings.

A virtual court hearing is when all relevant parties to a legal case appear over one or more video conferencing or phone lines instead of appearing in person. Many judges have conducted some proceedings via phone calls for several years. Most of these conversations addressed preliminary or status issues

As face-to-face meetings became impossible in today’s world, lawyers and firms alike are seeing a significant benefit to virtual court hearings. Virtual Court hearings reduce or eliminate paperwork as the entire process becomes paperless and digital. Another benefit is that firms can leverage secure document repositories to maintain firm control over relevant documents. Tech is overhauling the way arbitrators and attorneys communicate.

Consolidated Communication

Legal firms need to share a huge volume of data and confidential information. This is why it is important to maintain synchronisation between your database and your software. A synchronized solution lets you include all the members of your organization into the workflow without missing a single thing.

Tech Trends in Virtual Court Hearings

Robert Bradshaw published a paper on witness polygraphs that stated in Arbitration International 2021,: ‘A number of cases before the Court of Arbitration for Sport have considered whether polygraph evidence is admissible as a means of verifying witness testimony. Although tribunals have not reached any consensus. Authorities in multiple countries are trialling a new generation of “lie detectors” and using technologies such as eye-tracking, artificial intelligence, and brain imaging.’

Thus, we can neither ignore these trends. Like other areas of commercial life, Arbitrators must take care in researching the latest technological developments around client security, automation, and so on.

In conclusion, a virtual court hearing is now the future. Whether we like it or not, it has come to stay.  For your own good, you have to be flexible and look for ways to adapt it into your legal practice. Sooner or later it will be a necessity for your practice.

If you are interested in knowing how to go about the adaptation in your practice, reach out to us here: [email protected] or leave a comment below.