Florida Courts have been leading the nation in social media with 90 percent of their jurisdictions utilizing social media platforms. Joining us for this episode we have Craig Waters, who has been credited for this accolade. Waters is the current director of the Public Information Office at the Florida Supreme Court, where he has worked for the last 34 years. He is also an attorney and former journalist. He launched his career in court communications in 1994 when, as a staff attorney, he created the court’s first website.

The innovative communications programs he spearheaded included establishing the court’s Public Information Office in 1996, organizing the first gavel-to-gavel livestreams of his court’s oral arguments starting in 1997, founding Florida’s first professional association for court PIOs in 2005, and using social media for court communications starting in 2009. He is best known as the public spokesperson for the Florida Supreme Court during the 36 days of election disputes 20 years ago known to history as Bush v. Gore.