This and That in Court Technology – July, 2017

Library of Congress Exhibition Image

This month's news about court technology and related topics includes CTC 2017 Experts, a proposed American Bar Association resolution, 10 tips for IT administrators to deal with password lockout, Margaret Hagan's artwork and observations from the NACM/IACA conference, the Center for Court Innovation's treatment courts online training offerings, the IJIS Institute announces a new Executive Director, and the Library of Congress exhibition, "Drawing Justice: The Art of Courtroom Illustration".

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CTC 2017 Experts

The Court Technology Conference will once again present great information from the most knowledgeable people in the field from September 12-14 in Salt Lake City.  A sample of some of the professionals you will hear from at CTC are:

Seth Stoughton, our mid-note speaker, will talk about body-worn police cameras. As an assistant law professor in the University of South Carolina, he teaches criminal law, and his writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, and in numerous law journals.

Margaret Hagan, a lecturer at the Stanford Institute of Design, directs the Legal Design Lab, a team that develops new models of user-friendly and engaging legal services. Ms. Hagan, who is also a lawyer, will lead two sessions:

Paul W. Taylor, the chief content officer of e.Republic, also serves as editor-at-large of Governing magazine. He has also worked in academia and the government. He will lead this session:
CTC is the world’s largest conference dedicated to court technology. It provides judges, court administrators, and technologists with three days of professional development, education sessions, and networking.

ABA Committee Recommends Referral Resolution

RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges courts and other governmental entities, bar associations, non-profit organizations and entrepreneurial entities that make forms for legal services available to individuals through the Internet to provide clear and conspicuous information on how people can access a lawyer or a lawyer referral service to provide assistance with their legal matters to prevent errors or omissions.

The full resolution (PDF) including an extensive discussion of self-help services is available at:
https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/delivery_legal_services/ls_del_links_to_lawyers_proposed_resolution.authcheckdam.pdf

Ten Tips to Help Reduce User Account Lockouts and Password Resets

For our IT administrator friends, we found a handy article from TechRepublic to help avoid one of the most frequent “pains” of keeping systems working, resetting passwords.  Some of the article’s tips include reviewing your account policies, documenting password details, using a self-service product, reducing environmental complexity, delegating the responsibilities.

For the end-users, the tips include using a password manager (a favorite of mine), applying better password techniques, maintaining good security practices, using the same passwords where feasible (they explain this “no-no”), and being proactive as a password holder for your own security.

Check it out here.

Margaret Hagan’s Drawings/Notes from the NACM/IACA Conference

Besides speaking, Ms. Hagan was busy drawing observations/summaries/cartoons of several presentations at the NACM/IACA conference held in Crystal City, Virginia earlier this week.  They include:

• How will courts be disrupted? 
• Why are courts struggling to engage (minority) communities? 
• How Can AI Improve Courts?
• Happier Court Professionals <--> Better Litigant Experience 
• Courts need empirical data about their users

There is a lot to think about here.

Center for Court Innovation Online Training

We learned in an e-mail about the Treatment Courts Online website and their “new library of training videos for treatment court practitioners, offering free lessons on the latest research and evidence-based practices. Each online course includes lessons presented by experts in the field, virtual site visits to model courts, and interviews with frontline practitioners.”

Courses are available for:

• Adult Drug Courts
• Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts
• Veterans Treatment Courts
• Healing to Wellness Courts

This great resource is available at: https://treatmentcourts.org/

IJIS Institute Announces New Executive Director

Via press release on June 23, 2017: "On behalf of the IJIS Institute Board of Directors, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Ashwini Jarral as the new Executive Director of the IJIS Institute. Mr. Jarral has served as the Institute’s Director of Operations for the past 5 years.

 We are confident that Ashwini’s experience, knowledge, and integrity will continue to enhance the vision of the IJIS organization. He will assume the duties of Executive Director, effective August 1, 2017, succeeding our current Executive Director, Mr. Steve Ambrosini.  Ashwini and Steve will work together for the next several weeks to ensure a smooth transition."

Library of Congress “Drawing Justice: The Art of Courtroom Illustration”

During the NACM/IACA conference, a highlight was the social event at the impressive Library of Congress building in Washington DC.  We were delighted to find the above-titled exhibition at the library that was described in part as:

“The exhibition’s illustrations—part of the Library’s extensive collection of more than 10,000 courtroom drawings—are the work of talented artists hired by both newspapers and broadcast outlets to capture the personal dynamics of legal trials, which for many decades were off-limits to photographers and television cameras.  The artwork brings the theater of the courtroom to life, capturing gestures, appearances, and relationships in a way that humanizes the defendants and plaintiffs, lawyers, judges and witnesses.

The 98 illustrations on display will represent court cases dating from 1964 to the present day, including trials for murder, crime and corruption, terrorism, political activism and landmark legal issues.  Among those depicted will be Jack Ruby, James Earl Ray, Charles Manson, David Berkowitz, John Gotti, the Chicago Seven and Bernie Madoff.  Artifacts from the Library’s Manuscript Division and the Law Library will supplement the drawings from a legal perspective."

But being a tech blog, we were equally as delighted to find the online version at:
https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/drawing-justice-courtroom-illustrations/online-exhibition/

Enjoy.