What US courts learned using video communications platforms

In courtrooms across the US, judges hear from lawyers, prosecutors, plaintiffs, law enforcement officers, witnesses and others, all with the mission to resolve criminal and civil disputes fairly and transparently. Most observers agree, however, that the volume and complexity of cases before the courts in recent years have slowed the proverbial wheels of justice to a crawl. Then suddenly, the courts came to grips with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and scrambled to defer in-person hearings. Many feared cases might grind to a standstill. Instead, something remarkable happened. Judges and courts systems all over the country successfully pivoted to video communications platforms. Through that process, judges not only kept their dockets moving; but they also discovered it was possible to make court proceedings more accessible, more convenient and more transparent for everyone involved. More fundamentally, court officials also gained a new view of how the court experience as a whole could be improved. Procedures in place since our nation’s founding could function more expeditiously and less expensively than many judges and court officials had previously imagined.

[Stephen Ellis leads Government Solutions for Zoom Video Communications.]