E-Courts 2012 Wrap-Up

I hope that many of your reading this post were able to attend last week’s E-Courts 2012 Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.  This article discusses some highlights.

***

For those who attended, please complete the conference evaluation that was e-mailed to you.  We take your input very seriously.

Judge Lee Hayworth speaking at E-Courts 2012

For those of you not attending there were several themes that dominated this historic event (and I don’t make that comment lightly).  Judge’s technology has taken a huge leap in a few years.  Judge Hayworth’s presentation on “The Manatee Model” and their electronic bench system including the thought and effort put into the system by many fellow judges was impressive.  Judge Dixon and Justice Torres presentation highlighting their use of iPad technology was an eye opener.  Remember that Steve Jobs introduced the iPad on January 27, 2010.  No other device has had such an impact on the courts in such a short time period.

Another overall theme was metrics.  Presentations on Manatee County, Florida’s return on investment work supplemented Judge Hayworth’s presentation by showing the everyday impact of total electronic conversion.  But the presentation by the Missouri Office of State Courts Administrator showed how workload measures can be performed in order to understand the issues and impact of E-filing implementation.   The Las Vegas, Nevada Justice Court’s E-filing implementation metrics were instructive.  And Bob Roper/Jorge Basto’s presentation on The E-Courts Maturity Model provided a structured approach for understanding E-filing systems.

And yet one more theme was court developed software.  The New Jersey Courts showed their Integrated E-Forms approach to E-filing (with a live demonstration building a form).  And the Texas Office of Court Administration showed their extensive Child Protection Case Management System (a very cool online presentation using “Prezi” – click on the images to zoom) and the Rhode Island Courts showed their new Child Protection Portal.  And last, Ms. Valle Bowman-English, Clerk of the Toledo, Ohio Municipal Court shared “How Not to Develop an App” that provided both great information and an informative close to the conference.

If you wish to share your conference observations feel free to use the comments section below.