In this “busy holiday” edition of the CTB we share news about ODR in Yolo County, California, ideas for finding money for justice programs, yet another ransomware attack, a new institute on Speech to Text technology, Alexa voice response for juror information in Orlando, Florida, a report on court digitization in the Dallas, Texas Municipal Court, a new Oasis-Open standard for digital signatures, a “blueprint” report from England and Wales on digital justice, and the Sweden judiciary exploring interactive decisions.
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Yolo Superior Court in California Launches New Online Dispute Resolution Program
In celebration of this week’s ODR 2019 Forum here in Williamsburg, Virginia, Nicole Wilmet posted a new item on Just Court ADR.
"California’s Yolo County Superior Court has launched a new online dispute resolution (ODR) program to resolve debt and money due cases. The program utilizes Tyler Technologies’ Modria® software and guides parties step-by-step through the small claims process. Parties participating in the ODR program will be required to pay a fee of $25. The plaintiff will be responsible for payment unless the parties agree to split the cost, or the defendant agrees to reimburse the plaintiff.”
Where to Find Money for Justice
Our good friend Prof. Dr. Maurits Barendrecht – Research Director at HiiL wrote an interesting blog post that we just became aware of on the need, opportunities, benefits, and approaches for improving funding for justice solutions.
And in a related report, the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice posted a PDF document titled “Investing in Justice: A Literature Review in Support of the Case for Improved Access”.
Congratulations to both for discussing the benefits of investing in a good justice system.
The Legal Education Foundation published a "Blueprint for Digital Justice"
On October 2, 2019, a report by TLEF research director Dr Natalie Byrom set out a 29-point plan for tackling ‘digital exclusion’ and ensuring the government’s £1bn court reform program delivers access to justice for all court users. Recommendations follow Dr Byrom’s three-month secondment to HMCTS (England and Wales courts) as an expert adviser on open data.
For more see: https://www.thelegaleducationfoundation.org/articles/the-legal-education-foundation-is-today-publishing-a-blueprint-for-digital-justice
So that courts don’t feel that it seems they are the only victims of ransomware attacks, we learned that the TrialWorks provider “of legal case management software for law firms and attorneys, became the victim of ransomware. The article said:
“On October 15, two days after the ransomware hit, TrialWorks announced that the systems had been disinfected and team members were “actively decrypting and restoring data,” suggesting that the company paid the ransom.”
The Speech-to-Text Institute Unveiled
Via press release: WAKEFIELD, Mass., USA – October 22, 2019 – The court reporting business has a new industry organization it was announced today. The Speech-to-Text Institute (STTI) is a non-profit organization that will seek to help lead an industry that is experiencing fundamental, transformative change. STTI members will include businesses and practitioners from across the speech-to-text industry, including businesses and practitioners that come from stenography, voice writing, digital reporting and videography backgrounds.
Below are links to an informative video and infographic along with a white paper about the court reporting shortage and what we can do about it.
Video: https://speechtotextinstitute.org/videos/
Infographic: https://speechtotextinstitute.org/infographics/
White Paper: https://speechtotextinstitute.org/documents/
Alexa: Do I have Jury Duty?
Our friends at the Ninth Circuit Court in Orlando, Florida announced:
“Voice technology has come to the Ninth Circuit! Now in Phase 1, jurors can ask Alexa for answers to their frequently asked questions. Just open the Alexa app and enable the 9th Judicial Circuit Court - Orange County skill for your Alexa device. After you ask Alexa your first question, you can ask additional questions without having to say "Alexa, ask the Orange County Court..." Spanish language is also available. Google device integration is coming soon!”
Alexa for Jurors is now available to jurors serving in Orange County. Alexa is available to answer the most frequently asked questions concerning jury service. The new Alexa app is available in English and Spanish. Phase two of the Court's voice technology project will include adding dynamic juror reporting and status information. For greater detail and instructions, please visit the Orange County Jury Service web page.
For more see the project website https://www.ninthcircuit.org/news/alexa-jurors
The web page includes a two-minute video on the system to view.
Dallas Municipal Court Innovating through Digitalization
We received a report on The Dallas Municipal Court digitization program. They started in 2012 by updating the court case management system (CCMS) from a legacy mainframe system to a windows-based court system. By digitizing the court processes, the Dallas Court has been able to leverage 3rd party tools to improve the customer experience and automate internal processes. Three projects completed in the last year highlight the digitalization transformation. These projects are the digitizing of cash and phone payments, automating print and mail services, and implementing Live Chat communication with defendants.
The Dallas Court partnered with a third-party vendor to accept payments at their call center, which is staffed by live bilingual customer service representatives (CSRs), 24 hours a day 365 days a year. CSRs process payments with a debit or credit card over the phone, and if the person only has cash, the CSR can send the customer a text or email message that contains a bar code which can be paid at 7-Eleven, CVS Pharmacy, or Ace Cash Express retail stores nationwide. Transactions are automatically imported into the CCMS and payments are sent via ACH. Since August of 2018, when the project was launched, off-site payments have increased by 400%, and congestion in the building has decreased.
We have three types of customers, those that are comfortable resolving their case online, those that prefer to speak with a live person, and those that want to pay in cash. Until now the only option to pay cash and speak with a live person was at two downtown locations. In the City of Dallas, we have a significant demographic of underbanked residents that do not have easy access to internet service, so it was essential for us to find a phone payment solution and find a way to accept cash payments at neighborhood locations.
Another major project that has improved our automation is outsourcing print and mail functions. Prior to the improvement, the Dallas Court spent an average of $225K on printing customer correspondence. The cost has reduced by 20%. The Dallas Court used to spend on average 52 labor hours per month handling bulk mail, and today, the process is 100% automated. From the time we printed a letter to the time it was postmarked by the post office was nine days, and that time has decreased by 77% to two days. The average cost per letter has reduced by 78% to .0583, excluding postage costs.
Finally, we have improved our digital customer service presence by launching a Live Chat portal on our website. We meet our customers in cyberspace and help them navigate our website and answer questions they may have regarding their options. These three projects reflect the overall digitalization and innovation of our court. Our focus is on improving our customers’ experience but also becoming more efficient in our operation.
OASIS-Open announced that Digital Signature Service Core Protocols, Elements, and Bindings v2.0 and Digital Signature Service Metadata v1.0 are now available for public review and comment.
Because we sign things in courts, the following announcement should be of interest?
“The Digital Signature Services (DSS) Core specification defines JSON and XML based request/response protocols – a signing protocol and a verifying protocol. Through these protocols a client can send documents or other data to a server and receive back a signature on the documents; or send documents and a signature to a server and receive back an answer on whether the signature verifies the documents. The DSS Core specification provides the basic protocols and elements which are adapted to support specific use cases in the DSS profiles. It also defines a timestamp format, and a signature property for use with these protocols. Finally, it defines transport and security bindings for the protocols.
The DSS Metadata specification defines JSON and XML structures and discovery mechanisms for metadata related to digital signature services.
Some of the standard’s documents are available at:
HTML format: https://docs.oasis-open.org/dss-x/dss-core/v2.0/csprd03/dss-core-v2.0-csprd03.html
PDF format: https://docs.oasis-open.org/dss-x/dss-core/v2.0/csprd03/dss-core-v2.0-csprd03.pdf
Swedish Courts Exploring Interactive Decisions
Thanks to a LinkedIn post by our friend Dr. Jin Ho Verdonschot, we learned that the Judiciary in Sweden is exploring interactive court decisions. For non-Swedish language speakers, be sure to turn on your Google Translate to read a brief note about this effort at: https://www.legaltech.se/blogg/domstolsverket-utvecklar-interaktiva-avgoranden
We will keep an eye out for more.
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