NCJ Number
185706
Journal
ABA Journal Volume: 86 Dated: November 2000 Pages: 52-56
Date Published
November 2000
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article examines the need for judges to familiarize themselves with technological developments and ways to obtain that education.
Abstract
The article considers how the bench as a whole will fare as high-tech cases start flooding more and more courtrooms around the country. Judges will be required to deal with new and overlapping legal issues and to apply that law to complex and rapidly changing technologies. Many such cases are concentrated in intellectual property, a traditionally small practice area that most law schools still do not mandate as part of their core curriculum. It is important that judges consider public policy at the same time they consider the novel legal issues that will affect the evolution of technology. Even where Congress has acted, understanding and applying the new rules is a difficult task for federal judges. Judges leery of technology may unwittingly bring biases to certain cases, or be subject to lawyers' "technology hazing" tactics, used to confuse judges as well as juries. The article briefly describes seminars to educate judges in intellectual property and new technology, the use of independent experts and video tutorials in the courtroom, and the appointment of special masters to assist judges' analyses.