♫ Our generation has changed
The way we communicate
A hundred and 40 characters to say what you’ll say…♫
Lyrics, music and recorded by @gabebondoc [1].
The Courts of Nova Scotia are the First in Canada to Enter The “Twitterverse”
The Courts of Nova Scotia have achieved a “First”. They are now “tweeting” news and information about the Courts, decisions of the Courts, and notices to the Bar as a way to better serve the public, the legal profession and the media.
The Nova Scotia courts, on their web page [2], state that Twitter “replaces a similar but outdated notification technology on the Courts website known as RSS Feeds.”
RSS feeds outdated? Pity – seems I was just getting used to them.
The Courts of Nova Scotia website sets out the twitter feeds that have been created. I have reproduced them below. As you can see, each is targeted to the needs of prospective subscribers. But since Twitter is an open platform, anyone can choose to “follow” any of the feeds:
| News Of The Courts | |
| Notices To The Legal Profession |
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| Amendments To The Civil Procedure Rules |
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| Changes To The On-Line Dockets |
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| Decisions Of The Court of Appeal |
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| Decisions Of The Supreme Court |
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| Decisions Of The Provincial Court |
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| Decisions Of The Small Claims Court |
I think this development is significant as it indicates the growing importance of Twitter to the legal community. Twitter is a mobile technology, meaning that lawyers and others can receive updates from these feeds on their smartphones and iPads and other devices. Twitter is also a social medium – allowing anyone to retweet a breaking decision of the courts – thereby spreading word of new developments quickly.
There is another implication of this move by the Courts. It underscores the fact that lawyers who are not keeping up with legal technological developments are becoming increasingly outdated in a connected, mobile and very digital world.
Just recently I reported on the first every Twitter Moot -held here in Canada [3].
I would respectfully suggest that Nova Scotia tweeting lawyers consider using a twitter hash tag #NSLegal – as a way to aggregate and follow all developments in the legal area for Nova Scotia (we have a similar hash tag for BC: #BCLegal [4]).
(hat tip to Judge Gary Cohen of the Provincial Court of British Columbia for putting me onto this development!)