“Coping with Social Media”
BC Council of Administrative Tribunals
2014 Conference
Patrick Cormier
Quebec Bar
CCCT CEO (2011 – 2014)
VP Business Development & Sales
Solutions Notarius Inc.
Today
•
•
•
•
Social Media 201
CCCT IWG Social Media – Introduction
CCCT IWG Social Media – Survey Results
Interactive Questions
SOCIAL MEDIA 201
Web 1.0:
The Webmaster is King!
Web 2.0:
YOU are the King (or Queen)!
“The read-writable web”
“The web as a platform”
How is “social media” defined?
“Social Media web sites are a class of web sites
deriving their primary value
from the interactions taking place
on the site”
Facebook
(screenshots removed)
LinkedIN
(screenshots removed)
YouTube
Wikipedia
Flickr
8:45
(screenshots removed)
Twitter
Coping with Social Media?
USE
- If directed
- Getting closer to family
- Facilitate hearings
- Enhanced effectiveness
- Enhanced efficiency
- More fun at work and at
home!
DO NOT USE
- No clear advantage for you or
your tribunal
- Fails « Globe & Mail » test
- Creating an appearance of
partiality
- Reasonable investment of
your time will not yeld the
expected benefits
- No backup of critical
information
Technology & Effectiveness
• The judicial officer and effectiveness
– Enhance mastery of facts
– Enhance legal research
– Enhance implicit knowledge of Information Technology (IT)
(e.g. “judicial notice”, framing of legal issuesand findings of
fact)
• Day-to-day and effectiveness
– Office suites
– Family software
– Communications and social media
Technology & Efficiency
• The judicial officer and efficiency
– Simplify evidence management, reduce costs
– Allow remote appearances
– Finding information more quickly
• Day-to-day and efficiency
– Researching information (e.g. gmail, google)
– Synchronisation (e.g. PDA’s, calendars)
– Online reference sites (e.g. wikipedia)
So… Ready for Social Media?
1. Social Media is hard to understand without
experimenting
2. It is prudent to use social media with the following
precautions (tribunal members):
- Do not use your real name, do not use your primary email
- Facebook, LinkedIN, Flickr…: DO NOT USE DEFAULT SECURITY
PARAMETERS!
(e.g.: « Friends only » in Facebook, etc.)
- Only publish in accordance with the « Globe & Mail test »
Ready for Social Media? (cont’d)
3. Traditional tribunal ethics stands… The right to
independent and impartial tribunals remains.
Perceptions matter!
4. Chances are that parties, lawyers, paralegls, media
and witnesses will try to find information about
you!
Vulnerabilities (examples)
Account
Action
Risk
Consequence
Facebook, LinkedIN,
Twitter, Flickr…
(real identity &
default parameters)
Publication of
legitimate
content
Contenu re-used in other context
without your permission
May create an appearance
of partiality and have an
impact on the reputation of
the author and/or of the
tribunal
Facebook, LinkedIN,
Twitter, Flickr…
(real identity &
adjusted parameters)
Account
hacked
Illegitimate content published
under your name
Account holder (and
possibly tribunal) reputation
affected; hard to get the
account back
Facebook, LinkedIN,
Twitter, Flickr…
(real identity &
default parameters)
Facebook
friends,
LinkedIN and
Facebook
endorsements
You never know what issues and
people will come to your
tribunal!
May create an appearance
of partiality
Facebook, LinkedIN,
Twitter, Flickr…
Publishing
content
Content stays online
(indefinitely)
What is appropriate today
may not be in 5, 10, 20
years…
How can risk be reduced?
CCCT IWG SOCIAL MEDIA
October 2011
CCCT IWG on Social Media
Objectives:
- Assess and determine the needs of courts and
develop best practices;
- Consider best practices … use of social media.
December 2012
CCCT IWG on Social Media
1st Deliverable:
“National Guidelines Regarding the Use of
Electronic Communication Devices In Court
Proceedings”
December 2013
CCCT IWG on Social Media
2nd Deliverable:
Survey on the Use of Social Media
by Judicial Officers
2014
CCCT IWG on Social Media
3rd Deliverable:
Discussion paper to explore the implications
(includ legal, social and technological) of the use
of social media by “judicial officers”.
CCCT IWG on Social Media
Membership includes:
Santina DiPasquale
Cheryl Vickers
Juge administrative
Commissions des lésions professionnelles
Québec
Chair, Civil Resolution Tribunal
British-Columbia
9:00
SOCIAL MEDIA SURVEY
“Judicial Officer”
Provincial Tribunal Members
Superior Court Justices
Federal Tribunal Members
Court of Appeal Justices
Justices of the Peace
Masters
Provincial / Territorial Court
Judges
Prothonotaries
Type of Participant
#
Federal & provincial tribunal members
205
Federal trial & appellate judges +
Provincial judges
380
Masters & prothonotaries
18
Justices of the Peace
75
TOTAL
678
English:
474
French:
204
Average age - Commission lésions prof.
54
Average age – Federally appointed judges
62
Terminology
Social Media Policies
Out of the 85% of judicial officers who visit social
media sites and work in a court or tribunal that does
not have a policy on personal use – whether official
or unofficial – 42% believe that it would be useful for
their organization to develop such a policy (34%
disagree, 24% are unsure).
As for the 79% working where there is no policy on
professional use of social media, a stronger 73%
believe a policy would be useful (13% disagree, 14%
are unsure).
Privacy & Security Concerns
In regards to perceived risks where limited precautions can
be taken by the user of social media, the survey results
potentially reflect an elevated concern about security and
privacy amongst judicial officers.
When asked about major social media websites like
Facebook and LinkedIn, 36% of judicial officers feel that their
computer and the electronic documents it contains are
secure while using such sites (32% disagree, 31% are
unsure).
As for the online account itself, only 24% feel that they are
secure (45% disagree, 31% are unsure).
In the context of
hearing a case, do you
research background
information (other
than legal issues) on
social media?
If you do conduct such
research, do you
disclose that fact to
the parties?
The Case of Justice Nicholas
The Case of Justice Nicholas (cont’d)
http://bit.ly/judges-social-media
INTERACTIVES QUESTIONS
9:20
Patrick Cormier
Quebec Bar
CCCT CEO (2011 – 2014)
VP Business Development & Sales
Solutions Notarius Inc.
Canadian Centre for Court Technology
http://ccct–cctj.ca