This means anyone with access to the Net can receive the text instantly - but for the moment, this applies to only a select few. The LiveNote Internet software developed by Smith Bernal International is being used on the airport inquiry, the largest case in the world using this new feature.
Users can download the hearing while it is proceeding and any part missed.
To avoid hacking, the software is encrypted at the source and then decrypted at the receivers' terminal. It is also password protected. They get the relevant bits and e-mail it to the client. The spectacle of lawyers donned in wigs and gowns pouring over a laptop in the High Court has been a recent feature in a number of cases. Although minus the Net feature, the software has been used in corporate cases and fraud trials like the recent Tomson Pacific case.