Judges and Technology

Judges routinely face the challenge of balancing their duty to facilitate the effective administration of justice with the ever-increasing number, complexity and length of cases over which they are called to preside. The growing reliance on technology to help ease that challenge is increasingly becoming a reality. Council’s Judges Technology Advisory Committee (JTAC) has as its mandate to monitor and advise judges on technical issues and tools that may have an impact on access to justice. JTAC’s recent article “Is Skype Safe for Judges?” tries to help judges understand whether Skype and other internet-based telephone services may be used safely, both for personal calls and for carrying out judicial business. It recommends that judges make good use of the tool, but only if they are aware of the inherent security issues and take certain precautions.