Overview

Twitter is both a source and subject of the news whether it be for super-injunctions, the election in Iran or Lady Gaga having 10 million followers. This article looks at the more prosaic subject of live, text-based communications from court.

The matter really came to prominence in England when Julian Assange was before Belmarsh Magistrates' Court on a bail hearing on 14 December 2010. The Chief Magistrate gave explicit permission to tweet proceedings "if it's quiet and doesn't disturb".

This presumably prompted the Lord Chief Justice, who had previously talked publicly about the subject, to issue interim practice guidance on 20 December 2010 on the use of live, text-based forms of communication (including Twitter) from court for the purposes of fair and accurate reporting. The guidance extends to mobile email and internet enabled laptops.

To continue reading Allen & Overy’s article on live communications from court, click View Briefing.