Seamus E. Byrne's - In Pursuit of Relevance

In this month's Proctor, Sheryl Jackson, Associate Professor of Law at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and fellow speaker at the recent VSCL Legal Technology Conference, provides an overview of her forthcoming paper in 'Court-provided trial presentation technology – the way of the future?'.

Professor Jackson surveyed the parties involved in the electronic trial (eTrial) for the proceeding (Covecorp Constructions Pty Ltd v Indigo Projects Pty Ltd (BS 10157/01; BS 2763/02), which settled during trial, and also obtained feedback from the judge, Justice Fryberg.

Key Points

1. Courts, such as the Queensland Courts, are bridging 'the eTrial divide' by delivering affordable, useable and efficient electronic courtbook (eCourtbook) technology. Traditionally, legal practitioners were limited to a completely paper-based trial or the relatively daunting engagement of a third-party service provider to deliver an eTrial solution;
2. Whilst difficult, parties should endeavour to identify whether a matter will proceed to trial, and where reasonably likely, agree upon an appropriate eTrial strategy at the earliest opportunity; and
3. The Document Management Protocol for a proceeding must be appropriately detailed, and completely adhered to by all parties to ensure consistent indexing, searching and viewing (i.e. display) of documents, both paper and electronic, in the courtroom.

Cost?

Access to the eCourtbook technology and infrastructure is currently provided by Queensland Courts at no cost to the parties!