Social Media and Jurors

By now, most lawyers have heard judges tell jurors not to post their views about a case on Facebook during deliberations.  But the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management has made the policy official.

Las month the CACM approved model jury instructions regarding using electronic technology to conduct research on or communicate about a case.  Among the Do's and Dont's:

No communicating with anyone about the case via phone, email, Blackberry, text, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, You Tube, Google Plus, My Space.

Judges hope having a policy like this set in stone with keep jury fingers from tapping out information to the World Wide Web that's best left in the Courtroom.

Legal Research? There's (almost) an App for That!

FastCase, a legal research service, is about to launch a tool you can carry wherever you go. Yep, that's right. They're rolling out an app that allows full case law and statutory research on an iPhone. And get this, not only is the app free, but so is the research.

While the App is not yet available in Apple's App Store, Robert J. Ambrogi of LawSites blog was given a sneak-peek at this service. He says, "I was impressed. The app is easy to use and produces lightning-fast results."

The App is awaiting final approval from Apple before it appears in the App store. What to do while waiting? You might want to get yourself an iPhone if you don't have one already.