This and That in Court Tech - January, 2012

During the past month we have found quite a few interesting bits of information that we would like to share with our readers below.



Florida Courts E-Filing Authority Website

For half of the states that don't have a unified judicial model, you might be interested in all the documentation that the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers have posted on the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority website at: http://www.flclerks.com/eFiling_authority.html  Several contractual documents as well as their financial audit, E-filing portal operating controls, and annual report are posted.

Texas Supreme Court Electronic Document Format Rule

As mentioned in the CTB before, the Texas Supreme Court has taken focused action to make electronic document submissions more useful.  The following rule speaks for itself:

"5. Format of e-filed document. An e-filed document must be formatted as follows:
(a) An e-filed document must be formatted in accordance with Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.4(b)–(e). The “paper” requirements in Rule 9.4(b)–(c) apply equally to a “page” of the e-filed document.
(b) An e-filed document must be in text-searchable portable document format (PDF) compatible with the latest version of Adobe Reader.  Except as otherwise provided by this rule, an e-filed document created by a word processing program must not be a scan of the original but must instead be converted directly into a PDF file using Adobe Acrobat, a word processing program’s PDF conversion utility, or another software program. Whenever possible, scanning should be avoided. An EFSP may convert each e-filed document from its original form into a PDF file that complies with this rule.
(c) Records filed in original proceedings and appendix materials may be scanned if necessary, but scanning creates larger file sizes with images of lesser quality and should be avoided when possible.  An appendix must be combined into one computer file with the document it is associated with, unless the resulting computer file would exceed Texas.gov’s size limits for the document.  If a record filed in an original proceeding or an appendix contains more than one item, it should include a table of contents and either bookmarks to assist  in  locating each  item or separator pages  with  the title of the item immediately following and any number or letter associated with the item in the table of contents.
(d) A scanned document must be made searchable using optical-character-recognition software, such as Adobe Acrobat, and have a resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi).
(e) An e-filed document may contain hyperlinks to another part of the same document, an external source cited in the document, an appendix item associated with the document, an embedded case, or a record cite.  Hyperlinks within an appendix item are also permitted.
(f) An e-filed document must not contain a virus or malware. The e-filing of a document constitutes a certification by the e-filer that the document has been checked for viruses and malware."

The court also provided practical guidance on how filers can comply with the rule at:
http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/pdf/AppellateBriefsOfTtheFuture.pdf

Nebraska Subscription Services Agreement

Access to court E-filing in Nebraska is paid via Automated Clearing House (ACH) debit billing.  Click here to see their service agreement form (PDF).

Woodford County, Illinois Courthouse Sags Under Paper Weight

From the Wisconsin Law Journal: Yet another reason for E-filing and electronic documents.

Two Interesting Tech Products

LetterSigner - Digital pen connected with PKI signature.  http://www.lettergen.com/products/lettersigner

DisplayPort Multi-Monitor Adapter - if you have a new laptop with a digital Displayport, Accell Cables offers a multi-port monitor adapter.  And we are big fans of mulitple monitors for all court staff.

Return of the Jury-Vac (Fun)

In 1962, the television cartoon show, The Jetsons, Episode 15 (or 16 depending on which list you read) "Millionaire Astro" contains a courtroom scene where custody of Astro the dog was submitted to "The Jury-Vac" for decision.

Forward in time nearly 40 years and the next step in court automation is shown in an episode of "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law".  Enjoy.

If you have access, you can watch the original 1962 episode on Amazon Instant Video for a small fee at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HIYZI8