I was in graduate school when the O.J. Simpson trial was televised. It was my first time ever watching a real trial. Kato Kaelin’s unique personality, F. Lee Bailey’s examination of Mark Furhman and the “tapes,” and Johnnie Cochran’s famous closing argument captivated the audience. I was hooked. Legal experts would explain some of the proceedings during breaks, but much of the televised coverage of the O.J. trial involved simply watching the trial play out.

Trials today are still televised, but how I watch them has changed. This is due to the rise of “LawTube.” LawTube is a subculture of lawyers (“lawfluencers”) who stream on Rumble, YouTube, etc. LawTubers explain court proceedings in layman’s terms, livestream trials, and create recap videos. If you are following a certain trial but missed a day, you can always pull up video from the stream later and catch up.

Watching a court proceeding this way is so much better than simply watching on Court TV or some other station. Many LawTube channels include a panel of lawyers with varying specialties, which allows for numerous perspectives. For example, one channel livestreaming the Darrell Brooks trial, where the defendant claims he is a sovereign citizen, included on its panel a criminal appellate expert and an expert in admiralty/maritime law, both of whom are very familiar with the sovereign citizen theory.

My first LawTube experience was a livestream of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. The case involved a deep dive into self-defense law, where three separate but related encounters involved a claim of self-defense. The LawTube channel I watched included a panel of self-defense experts who broke down the testimony for the audience and explained the defense in layman’s terms. Watching the verdicts announced in that case brought me back all those years ago when the country tuned in at lunch to watch the O.J. verdicts being read.

Will we see Indiana cases livestreamed on LawTube anytime soon? Not likely. Indiana has been very slow to allow cameras in the courtroom. As a result of accommodations made during the pandemic, some Indiana court proceedings are livestreamed. But the audience is prohibited from recording or livestreaming the proceedings in any way.

Given what happened recently during the Darrell Brooks trial, there may be a good reason for this. The defendant, who is representing himself, called as a witness a victim to the crimes. She was asked about her injuries, which forced her to explain the mental health issues she suffered since the crimes. This private information was broadcast for all the see and is forever memorialized on the internet.

Also, many of the livestreams include live chats and “super chats,” where those watching can donate money to the channel in exchange for their comment being read during the livestream. In Indiana, any implied approval of an offensive comment could subject the lawyer to disciplinary action. The Indiana Disciplinary Commission issued an advisory opinion that made clear lawyers are responsible for monitoring third-party comments on their social media accounts. Reading offensive comments made by donors of the channel could lead to disciplinary action.

All concerns aside, LawTube can be helpful for attorneys, particularly those just starting their practice. Livestreaming provides lawyers with real-world examples of how to present certain evidence, how to make a complete record, etc. In the Darrell Brooks trial, video evidence has been a large part of the State’s case. The prosecutors have provided excellent examples of how to make a good record of exactly what the jury was seeing by always providing timestamps of where the video started and stopped and creating subexhibits of still images from the videos that were marked up by the witness. Attorneys still perfecting their craft can learn what works (and what doesn’t) through watching actual trial proceedings.

For the top LawTubers, this is more than just a hobby. Most (or all) of them make seven figures from their channels. If interested in checking out a channel, here is a list of some of the top channels:

• Rekieta Law

• Nate the Lawyer

• LegalBytes

• The DUI Guy

• Legal Vices

• Law & Lumber

• Good Lawgic

• Viva Frei