Dr Marilyn Krawitz, Senior Lecturer in Law at The University of Notre Dame Australia, has this week spoken to judicial officers from across Australia on how to effectively manage the risks of social media.
Dr Krawitz spoke at the Challenges of Social Media for Courts and Tribunals Symposium in Melbourne, in a session titled ‘What Can be Done: the Way Forward’, and looked at specific strategies and actions that courts can take regarding social media.
“Judges and tribunal members should know to better protect themselves, their families and the court system,” Dr Krawitz says.
Organised by the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration Incorporated and the Judicial Conference of Australia, the goal of the Symposium was to teach Australian judicial officers about social media and some of the most important ways that online communities impact upon the courts.
Other speakers at the Symposium included Senator the Honourable George Brandis QC, Attorney General of Australia; Professor George Williams AO from the University of New South Wales; and the Honourable Justice Sharon Johns from the Family Court of Australia.
Dr Krawitz spoke alongside Professor Greg Reinhardt of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration Incorporated; Justice Steven Rares from the Federal Court of Australia; Justice Greg Garde, President of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal; and The Honourable Justice Simon Whelan from the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Dr Krawitz has researched the area of social media and the courts for approximately six years. She successfully completed her PhD thesis, An Examination of Social Media’s Impact upon the Courts in Australia, in 2014. She has spoken about her PhD research at Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts), the Supreme Court of Canada (Ottawa, Canada), the Federal Court of Australia (Sydney, Australia), the Supreme Court of Western Australia (Perth, Western Australia) and the County Court of Victoria Judges’ Conference (Mt Eliza, Victoria).
In an interview before the event, Dr Krawitz said the Symposium will explore the nature of social media, and how judicial officers, tribunal members and their families personally use social media.
“And the potential risks associated when social media is used to maliciously or contemptuously denigrate, threaten or cyberstalk judicial officers or tribunal members, in addition to other important topics,” Dr Krawitz said.
“I look forward to discussing how social media impacts upon the courts with a variety of important stakeholders. I also look forward to continuing to research in this area.”
Professor Doug Hodgson, Dean of the School of Law, Fremantle, says the School continues to encourage its academic staff to explore research topics of interest to the legal profession and wider community.
“Dr Krawitz is renowned nationally and internationally for her interesting, innovative and important research in the forensic social media context. She was one of the first scholars in Australia to write a thesis that considered the impact that social media has on the courts,” Professor Hodgson said.
For more information about the Symposium, Click Here.