IS ONLINE LITIGATION HERE TO STAY?

As we are reach the 3rd phase of reopening guidelines by Governor Eric Holcomb, it seems that courts are moving towards remote mediations and trials. Last week, the Indiana Court of Appeals heard it’s first virtual argument via remote video teleconferencing. The move comes in response to social distancing precautions taken due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Zoom Platforms #1 for Mediation and Trial

 Judges side with Zoom as their top choice of platforms for remote court hearings during the COVID-19 crisis, a National Judicial College survey found.

An unscientific poll received more than 700 responses from jurists nationwide, 48% of whom said Zoom is their go-to platform for remote video court proceedings. The WebEx platform was a distant second with 25%, followed by Skype (9.69%), Microsoft Teams (9.12%), GoToMeeting (6.13%), Google Hangouts (3.85%), BlueJeans (3.56%), CourtCall (3.13%), Adobe Connect (0.14%) and other (10.54%).

Judges said they liked these Zoom features:

• The “waiting room” that limits admission to meetings;
• Recordability, which can create copies of hearing for court files;
• Breakout rooms for confidential counsel, and;
• Greater access to the justice system overall.

Several judges reported that Zoom streamlined operations and that they plan to continue using the service even after social distancing requirements have been lifted.

Zoom Update

Beginning May 30, 2020, all Zoom clients must be on 5.0+ in order to join any meeting, as GCM Encryption will be fully enabled for all Zoom meetings. The most recent update (Zoom 5.0.4) was released on Sunday, May 24th.