This and That in Court Tech – April, 2014

Time for our regular compilation of news we have heard about and related to court technology.

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Texas Announces New E-Filing Technology Standards

Back on March 21, 2014 the Texas Judicial Committee on Information Technology released version 1.3 of their E-filing standards.  As noted in their announcement: “The new standards simplify filing codes used in the new e-filing system and will be a tremendous help for filers who practice in multiple jurisdictions.”

To view the full standard (in PDF) click here.


Latest from Manatee County, Florida

Our good friend, Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court R.B. “Chips” Shore had a nice article posted about his online records access program at the Bradenton Herald newspaper website, Bradenton.com.

To see the full article click here.

Ethereum

Via the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society a presentation by Ms. Primavera De Filippi on Ethereum is available online (click here).  Ethereum (https://www.ethereum.org/) is described as:

 “a contract validating and enforcing system based on a distributed public ledger such as the one implemented by the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The system allows for the management of complex distributed autonomous organizations, which raises questions about legality. Could this new platform promote the establishment of an entirely decentralized society, or will its disruptive potential eventually be absorbed by the established system? In this talk Primavera De Filippi -- Berkman fellow and postdoctoral researcher at the CERSA/CNRS/Université Paris II -- explores the dangers and opportunities of Ethereum.”

Interesting.

Tyler Launches Odyssey Guide & File

Via press release, April 9, 2014:

"Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TYL) today launched its Odyssey® Guide & File solution, which provides courts with a powerful suite of tools to guide pro se litigants, also known as self-represented litigants, through the process of completing court forms and filing cases online. Courts can now easily create Web-based interviews for their court by leveraging the library of existing interviews from other jurisdictions and the Odyssey Guide & File authoring tool. This provides courts an easy way to produce online interviews that apply the business rules of the court and guide pro se litigants with relevant and informative content about the rules of the court. 

Early adopters of Odyssey Guide & File include the Council of Magistrate Court Judges of Georgia; the South Dakota Unified Judicial System; the State of Idaho Judicial Branch; Eighth Judicial District Court in Las Vegas; and the Second Judicial District court in Albuquerque, New Mexico."

For the full press release click here.

Future of Law Predictions

Future prediction is a perilous business.  We received news about a study looking at and trying to predict the future of the practice of law.  With the economic, cultural, and technological pressures that are being felt, it is a good that academics and others are considering the future.

You can check out their prognostications at: http://www.law2023.org/

PC Magazine’s Best Antivirus 2014 Compilation

And last, since security is on our mind due to the “Heartbleed” vulnerability (aptly described in this XKCD cartoon), the annual evaluation of Antivirus and Anti-Malware software is available on their website.  Click here to go to their lead article on the subject with links to all the software they reviewed.