Colorado Supreme Court
Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel
Promoting Professionalism. Protecting the Public.
How @CoSupremeCourt launched a Twitter initiative powered by professionalism
By BRYON LARGE
and ZAK BRATTON
Over the last several years, Colorado Courts have gone electronic in a variety
of ways.
Case files are no longer maintained in paper jackets but instead managed on a fully-integrated,
statewide computerized network. Attorneys, and soon unrepresented parties, are
able to file documents with the Court with a simple mouse-click.
The Chief Justice’s Commission on Professional Development (CJC) is also
embracing the online culture – through Twitter.
Expanding on Professionalism Month each October, the Commission’s
Professionalism Working Group has created a Twitter initiative,
#ProfessionalismMatters #CoLaw, that seeks to reach a wider audience through
social media and carry its message year-round.
Originally, Chief Justice Nancy Rice authorized the launch of Twitter accounts
for the Colorado Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and State Court
Administrator’s Office in late 2015 as another communication channel for the Judicial
Branch to reach new and different audiences. The Twitter handles for these
accounts are @CoSupremeCourt @CoCourtAppeals and @CoCourts.
Now, the subcommittee wants to connect with all lawyers, from seasoned attorneys
reading this and asking, “What is Twitter?” to the newly-initiated who have
held Twitter accounts since its inception in 2007.
The Committee believes Twitter is a solid platform, offering a good starting
point for easy communication to re-introduce Colorado’s legal community to the
importance of practicing professionalism every day, and to remind lawyers that
#ProfessionalismMatters through tweets.
Attorney Regulation Counsel for the Colorado Supreme Court, Jim Coyle,
concurred, stating that lawyers are leaders in the community, and that
exemplary professionalism should be the norm, not an exception.
“Professionalism in the practice of law establishes credibility, strengthens
trust, and gets better results,” Coyle said in support of the Committee’s
efforts to emphasize professionalism through social media.
#ProfessionalismMatters kicked off at the
beginning of 2018. Court of Appeals Judge and Chairman of the CJC Professionalism
Working Group, Robert Hawthorne, said the tweets will focus on demonstrating
“Why Professionalism Matters” with a wide variety of content posted through
@CoSupremeCourt.
“We are going to tweet anything related to fostering professionalism within the
bar, including articles, awards, events, meetings, milestones, people, and
presentations,” Hawthorne said.
“However, we cannot make this happen alone. We are calling on all members of
Colorado’s legal community to use their Twitter accounts to capture and post
examples of professionalism. @CoSupremeCourt will be pushing out tweets and
will be looking for your tweets with #ProfessionalismMatters and #CoLaw to
retweet.”
Have your own professionalism milestone or upcoming event, but don’t have a Twitter
account? Share your ideas and experiences by emailing your submissions for
#ProfessionalismMatters to Rob McCallum, Public Information Officer for the
Colorado Judicial Department, at robert.mccallum@judicial.state.co.us.
Become part of the #ProfessionalismMatters #CoLaw conversation today!