Monday, December 9, 2013

25 Years Later, PACER, Electronic Filing Continue to Change Courts

In the above titled article dated December 9, 2013, the US Federal Courts celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the approval of the PACER online system.  The article begins:

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Information Systems Security Primer – Final Parts

This is the fourth and fifth part of Fortune 100 Corporation Security Director Ken Lobenstein’s primer on computer security and more...

Monday, December 2, 2013

North Carolina Court Technology Said to be Outdated

In a hearing before the recently created North Carolina House Judicial Efficiency and Effective Administration of Justice committee, John W. Smith, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) noted the challenges that the courts are facing.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Monday, November 4, 2013

Information Systems Security Primer – Part III

Here is the third part of Fortune 100 Corporation Security Director Ken Lobenstein’s primer on computer security.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Making the Record: Utilizing Digital Electronic Recording Paper Released


My good friend, former Vermont State Court Administrator, Lee Suskin and I have been busy this year working with the digital electronic recording industry to write the above titled report that is now available.  Click here to download a PDF copy of the paper.


Monday, October 28, 2013

JTC Resource Bulletin: Strategic Issues to Consider before Starting an E-filing Initiative




The Joint Technology Committee (JTC) of the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) and the National Association for Court Management (NACM) recently published a resource bulletin on "Strategic Issues to Consider before Starting an E-filing Initiative."  This paper discusses some of the key policy, operational and technical issues to consider before embarking on an e-filing project.  It also includes feedback from interviews with several Court and IT managers who have graciously shared experiences and lessons learned from their own e-filing projects.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Handwritten Signatures – Now a Punch Line, Part 2

Another example that judicial signatures cannot be reliably used to verify court orders occurred when Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida Chief Judge, Belvin Perry’s signature was forged on fraudulent court orders resulting in the freeing of two prisoners convicted of murder.

In the AP/USA Today article – “Men who escaped prison with forged papers registered as felons” the judge commented:  “One of the things we have never taken a close look at is the verification of a particular document to make sure it's the real McCoy”

We offered some potential solutions in our earlier “Punch Line” article.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

SEARCH Group Announces Grant Program

The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics has announced the "Justice Information Exchange Implementation Project Competitive Award" program.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Information Systems Security Primer - Parts I & II

Our good friend, former Court information technology officer and now, Information Security Director at a Fortune 100 multinational corporation, Ken Lobenstein (and author of the popular Twelve Days of Court Tech article) has written a series of short posts on technology security.  Here is the first and second parts of the series.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Thanks you and CTC Video Online

I want to thank everyone for their good wishes after my son helped the NCSC to establish the Jim McMillan scholarship fund announced at CTC-2013.  The announcement video, keynotes and other video is now online at: http://vimeo.com/statecourts  And please see the conference website for much more at: http://ctc2013.com/  

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Pre-CTC 2013 This and That in Court Technology


CTC-2013 Coming Soon

Baltimore Convention Center
We are looking forward to seeing everyone at CTC-2013 next week in Baltimore, Maryland (September 17-19).  We will try to post a note or two but as any of you who have attended the conference knows, it is a busy time.  Keep an eye on the NCSC Twitter account (@StateCourts) and the conference website at: http://ctc2013.com/ for news.

For more this and that click on the read more link below …

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Webinar Offered on Wednesday, September 11 on Technologies to Assist the Unrepresented

Webinar Offered on Wednesday, September 11 on Technologies to Assist the Unrepresented

The Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project (NTAP) will offer an online workshop looking at web tools that are being used to assist those that have a legal problem and don't have an attorney representing them. will quickly review the building blocks of online self-help: online forms, web chat, and statewide websites and their tools and then focus on new and innovative tools that are coming into place that will be game changers.  For more and to sign up to participate click here for the webinar web page.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

CTC-2013 Mid-Note Address Session

The title of the session to be presented at 8:30 AM on Wednesday, September 18th is: Winning the battle in the court of public opinion: Why technology, efficiency and customer service are key.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Arizona Traffic Ticket and Complaint e-Citation Program

The Arizona Courts have developed a program to support the use of e-Citation systems in the state. The program manager explains their system, approach, and benefits.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Thursday, August 1, 2013

North Carolina Announces CIO Position

The NC Administrative Office of the Courts seeks a business focused technology leader to develop and implement the next generation of court technology, while optimizing the current technology portfolio to prepare for future changes.

This and That in Court Technology, August 2013 Edition

News and updates from around the court tech world.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Corpus Christi Municipal Court issues RFP

The City of Corpus Christi “City”, Texas Municipal Court is seeking proposals from qualified Proposers for a MUNICIPAL COURT AUTOMATED CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.  The court will also consider jury system functionality as part of this RFP.

Vendors interested in responding will need to register via the Public Purchase website at: http://www.publicpurchase.com/gems/cctexas,tx/buyer/public/home  This same website will be used to upload responses to the RFP.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Texas Modifies Mandatory E-Filing Rules

On June 24, the Supreme Court of Texas issued an amended order requiring electronic filing by attorneys in the appellate courts, district courts, statutory county courts, constitutional county courts and statutory probate courts.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Friday, July 5, 2013

Avoiding the Zimmerman Trial Skype Problem

The high profile trial of defendant George Zimmerman in the Florida State Courts had an embarrassing moment with Skype video conferencing on July 3, 2013. There is a way to keep that from happening.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

NCSC Issues RFI for ERP System Solutions

The NCSC is embarking on a mission to implement a software solution that will support improved administrative business processes.  Vendors are invited to provide complete ERP solutions, or they may partner with other providers to ensure a complete solution of integrated “best of breed” products. Responses to the Request for Information (RFI) should be submitted no later than July 1, 2013.

Judge Herbert Dixon Shares His Juror "Internet Charge"

The "Googling Juror" is a continual challenge to trial judges.  Here is how one addresses the issue in plain language.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Sunday, May 12, 2013

An Important Report on the Needs of Self-Represented Litigants Released

A significant report has been created and shared by Dr. Julie Macfarlane at the University of Windsor, Canada with results that all courts should consider.  Her report is summarized by our good friend, Rob Richards of the Legal Informatics Blog.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Washington State Courts Announce Data Breach


Via Press Release, May 9, 2013

OLYMPIA, WA -- The Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) announced today that a data breach occurred recently on its public website.  No court records were altered and no financial data was maintained on the site. However, it has been confirmed that 94 social security numbers were obtained. There is also the potential that up to 160,000 social security numbers and 1 million driver license numbers may have been accessed as well.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Court Case Management Systems Part 9B: Scheduling and Calendaring


In the previous article we discussed the concept of “buckets” or “slots” that are created so that cases can be assigned in a controlled and orderly manner.  And we also discussed the idea of scheduling a team of staff.  But there are many additional needs that should be addressed in a modern court calendaring system.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Court Case Management Systems Part 9A: Scheduling and Calendaring


This edition of our Court Case Management Systems series will discuss court scheduling and calendaring.  This first part will focus on core functionality while in the next, we will discuss what needs to be done to have scheduling and calendaring systems take advantage of existing and future technology.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

NIEM 3.0 Alpha 2 Draft Open Public Review Announced


The National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) working groups have announced a public review of their latest draft standard.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Virginia Courts Announce E-Filing Pilot


Press Release - April 10, 2013

The Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia and George E. Schaefer, Clerk of the Norfolk Circuit Court, announce that the Virginia Judiciary E-Filing System (VJEFS), which allows attorneys to electronically file civil actions in circuit court, will be implemented as a pilot program in the Norfolk Circuit Court, beginning April 15, 2013.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Friday, March 29, 2013

Q&A with Daniel Lewis of Ravel Law


There are many exciting things happening in the world of legal information systems.  One innovative graphical presentation approach has been taken by Ravel.  We were recently fortunate to have Daniel respond to our questions in the following article.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

2013 Top Ten Websites Award - Call for Nominations!


The Forum on the Advancement of Court Technology (FACT), a special committee of NACM, is pleased to invite you to nominate a court or court-related website for its 2013 Top Ten Websites Award. All nominations are due no later than May 15 to be considered.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Hello, are you a human?


As courts increasingly introduce online services a key question is whether the Internet connected user is an actual person to validate the action?

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Court Case Management Systems Part 8: Criminal Case Sentencing and Consequences

Criminal sentence data is one of the most challenging aspects in Court Case Management Systems design.  This chapter in our ongoing series forwards some ideas on the subject.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Friday, March 1, 2013

Computer Assisted Deception Detection


One of the courts key functions is determining "the truth" in testimony.  There is work being done to provide automated assistance.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

More on Open Document Format (ODF)


ODF is an XML international standard for word processing documents that is now fully supported in Microsoft's recent release of Office 2013.  Why does this matter?



Thursday, January 24, 2013

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

CTC 2013 Ideas Requested




The NCSC is asking our court and technology friends what you want to see at CTC 2013?

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Court Policies Issued


Several courts have issued new court policies dealing with electronic device use in the courthouse, E-filing, and the California Attorney General provides mobile application privacy recommendations.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Massachusetts Announces Public Access Program


The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Probate and Family Court is pleased to announce that publicly available Estate and Administration cases are now accessible via the internet.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Arizona Courts Release Judicial Decision Support RFP

The  Arizona  Supreme  Court  is  requesting proposals  from  qualified  bidders  to  provide  an  automated  judicial  decision  support system  designed  to  reduce  the  courts  reliance  on  paper  that  will  allow  for  real-time updating  and  viewing  of  digital  case  documents.

To download a PDF copy of the RFP click here.

Pennsylvania Expands Internet Access to Case Records


Via Press Release, January 7, 2013 - Pennsylvania CMS Internet access to records expanded.