Lawyers and journalists will be allowed to use Twitter in some South Australian courts from tomorrow – 19 months after the UK courts started tweeting their decisions.
The new court rules, approved earlier this month by the Supreme Court, means verdicts, sentences, judgments and rulings will be made public the instant they happen.
Some court proceedings, however, will be subject to a time delay.
“There is a 15 minute delay for text being sent from the courtroom where the text is about ‘evidence adduced or a submission made in proceedings’ (for example witnesses giving evidence, submissions made during legal argument, or trial opening and closing addresses),” a spokeswoman for the Courts Administration Authority (CAA) said.
The Magistrates court is currently considering whether to adopt the new rules while the District Court has elected to follow suit.
The Supreme Court passed two new rules to let members of the legal profession and bona fide members of the media to use electronic devices during criminal and civil cases.
“Subject to the control at all times of the judge presiding, the devices may be used in various ways, for example, to text to and from the courtroom, to take down notes and to research online,” the CAA said.
“New Rule 9B (Electronic communications to and from the courtrooms) prohibits communication by means of an electronic device to and from a courtroom during the conduct of proceedings. However parties to the proceedings, a legal practitioner or a bone fide member of the media may do so, subject to certain conditions and the control at all times of the judge presiding in Court.
“Rule 9B permits live instant texting from court of outcomes, such as verdicts, sentences, judgments, rulings, results of appeals in bail cases.”
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The SA decision comes 19 months after the UK Supreme Court started tweeting its own decisions, including links to judgements.
It also posts videos of judgements on its own YouTube channel.
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