The COVID-19 pandemic has forced individuals and institutions alike to use online platforms to do their work. This includes branches of government and one of them is the Judiciary.
The Judiciary has been sending out notices on social media informing lawyers that they will be sending pending judgments through electronic means. These include via video chat or via email.
The interesting thing is that the Judiciary decided to use popular platforms like Skype and Gmail to deliver these pending judgments.
For instance, the Justice Department announced on Twitter that they will deliver a number of judgements via Skype on April 3rd, which is this week’s Friday.
CAUSE-LIST FOR DELIVERY OF JUDGMENTS VIDE VIDEO LINK (SKYPE) ON FRIDAY THE 3RD APRIL, 2020 AT 9.00 AM.@lawsocietykenya pic.twitter.com/gLcfTUCy7W
— The Judiciary Kenya (@Kenyajudiciary) March 31, 2020
They also announced that all courts will be making arrangements to deliver pending judgements via email. Lawyers have been advised to send information to emails provided by the judiciary which includes the case number, email address and telephone number, whether the case is awaiting ruling or judgement, ruling or judgement date to be delivered, name of the judge that heard the case and the consent for the matter to ve delivered electronically.
The use of Gmail is interesting. The Judiciary shared a Gmail address for the Family court, which is weird since we should expect them to use the official government email system. The use of Skype is not weird at all, but it is interesting they haven’t hopped on Zoom, which is a video conferencing platform suited for meetings.
The coronavirus pandemic curve is yet to be flattened out globally so such measures by the Judiciary may become the norm in the near future.
