Michigan court hearings can now be viewed online.
The new Virtual Court Directory allows viewers to watch legal proceedings from every Michigan county. Many cases are live streamed, while others are posted as a link after the court adjourns.
Bridget McCormack is the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.
She says the service was in the works even before the coronavirus pandemic forced courts to conduct business online.
“We’d already purchased the hardware and the software; the Zoom licenses, for our judges before this happened, which put us in a good position. We’re seeing efficiencies across the board, and there’s no way we’re going back.”
McCormack says she believes the new virtual portal will increase the transparency of the state judicial system.
The Virtual Court Directory can be found at courts-dot-michigan-dot-gov.