Automating Plain Language

 

From Microsoft Stock Images

Over two decades ago our NCSC Jury Studies pioneer, Tom Munsterman, ran the WordPerfect word processor language level test against some jury instructions.  He told me it reported that the reading level needed to understand the instructions were university graduate school.  So, when an article identifying “ways that lawyers could make their written documents easier for the average person to read” was posted by MIT, I thought it was time to revisit the subject?

Text Analytics, Court Stats, and Privacy

 

A couple of weeks ago I shared some of “my problems with pending case statistics”.  Before that, I posted another note regarding an alternative for analyzing criminal justice data.  I generally try not to complain about things without having a solution in mind.  In this article, I will share the idea of using text analytics to work with a court’s largest data source, case documents, and reports.

New AI Enhanced Scanning Tech Speeds Security

 

Earlier this month I was reading the opening day story about my Chicago Cubs baseball club and stumbled on the news that they have installed new AI-enhanced person scanning devices (pictured).  The big benefit of this new technology is that one does not have to remove keys, mobile phone, or have your bag separately scanned.  Great, right?

Details below...

A List Web Conferencing Transcription Systems

 

Microsoft announced an AI-powered live transcription service (AI we can use BTW) in Microsoft Teams, answering Zoom’s new feature.  That got me thinking that they are not alone, as we share below...

 

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National Institute of Justice AI Articles Series

 

Via press release, March 16, 2021.

NIJ has released a four-part series on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Criminal Justice System.

Through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, NIJ has made available the following final technical reports (these reports are the result of NIJ-funded projects but were not published by the U.S. Department of Justice).

The third article in the series specifically discusses AI in the criminal courts.

This and That in Court Technology - February 2021

 

 

Winter 2021

There is a massive amount of court technology news this month.  We learned about, US Federal Courts response to the Covid-19 pandemic, conference news from the Innovating Justice 2021 and Legalweek 2021 events, California’s CourtStack initiative, Mark Beer’s upcoming talk on AI support for judicial decision making, Seattle and King County’s impact and response to the pandemic caseload, the NACM video podcast on Teleworking, and proposed USA federal government rules on digital format archiving.

 

eCourts 2020 Agenda Online - #eCourts2020

 As with nearly all conferences, this year eCourts 2020 is a virtual online event on December 7, 8, and 9 starting at 1:00 PM eastern standard time each day.  We have an outstanding list of presentations scheduled.  The full list is available at https://e-courts.org/conference-info/   Some highlights are…

Monday Sessions

Keynote – Motivating Strategies for a Remote World, presenter Thomas Topping who is a professional speaker and employee engagement expert with a master’s degree in Human Resources Management. He has spent his career transforming teams and training individuals for some of the largest organizations in the United States. His professional contributions have been described as innovative, unique, pioneering, daring, and out-of-the-box.

This and That in Court Technology - July 2020

Assateague Island Wild Ponies

We have news about a report on protection order repositories, a drive-up clerk’s office that protects uses and staff, comments on impediments in the application of court and legal technology, the HiiL Charging for Justice report, the NIEM 5.1 beta standard announcement, AI closed captioning systems compared, and fun Zoom and Teams web video meeting backgrounds.

May First 2020, Court Tech News and Notes

In this compilation of news items, we share several from the National Center for State Courts including the upcoming “Virtual Doctor Is In” Sessions, news about the Supreme Court ruling on Georgia’s law Copywrite assertion, a new speech to text system, and some words of wisdom.

And Now for Something Completely Different

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Now_for_Something_Completely_Different

To quote Monty Python, we have some different court tech subject matter to share in this post. 

The COSCA/NACM Joint Technology Committee has issued two new Resource Bulletins.  The first is an "Introduction to AI for Courts".  The second is "Getting Started with a Chatbot."

More below…

This and That in Court Technology – February 2020

Irish Beef Stew

Just like the winter Irish beef stew shown in the picture to the right, we have a mix of great projects/ingredients to share this month.  They include serious security warning for Microsoft Windows, new AI decision reader from ROSS Intelligence, Lex Machina AI expanding into state courts, the PACER fees federal appeals hearing, Alaska Emailing jury summons, and automation program news from England & Wales and a new automation budget commitment for Ireland.

This and That in Court Tech – January 2020

https://pixabay.com/

Court technology news this month includes the Florida court’s E-Notify system, automatic transcription news, US Federal Courts PACER, and observations on how to make access to justice (A2J) work, and digital documentation using AI.

E-Courts 2020 and an AI Warning

A pair of excellent E-Courts presenters

Just two quick notes.  First, the next E-Courts Conference will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada from December 7-9, 2020 at the MGM Grand Hotel which is a huge property.  My suggestion is to first mark your calendar and then start shopping and breaking in your walking shoes.  You will need them!

What technology will courts be using in 5 years’ time?

Hon. Judge Andrea Tsalamandris

We are pleased to share the following post from our friend, the Hon. Judge Andrea Tsalamandris from Melbourne, Australia on "how technology can be used by judges and court administration to create efficiencies in our courts, and enhance access to justice.

“AI” in Justice Systems

We heard about a new program that the San Francisco, California District Attorney is developing a program to attempt to reduce racial bias. That and another article on “AI Hype” and other AI development projects are in this week’s post.

A Barrel Full of Court Tech News

It is spring flower season and so we share an analogous bounty of court tech in the following post.  Included are news about CTC registration, more reminder systems benefits, New Mexico's new open legal online access system, China court blockchain, and AI projects, Amal and George Clooney's TrialWatch app, Kansas Supreme Court's E-Filing rules review, and paper savings in the England and Wales courts.

25 Facts About AI & Law

Earlier this week I read the article “25 facts about AI & Law you always wanted to know (but were afraid to ask) by Micha Grupp at Medium.com.   I think it is an important article; and I want to post a summary and recommend that, if you are interested, read the entire article as it applied to the courts as well.

Mr. Grupp starts the article by stating:

“In law, AI is still all the talk. Most of it is slightly or utterly incorrect. Discoveries in recent years have little impact on the automation of legal work and the legal industry. Legal reasoning is different from other fields— technology should reflect this.”

I agree and so here is the very brief summary of the sections of his article.

This and That in Court Tech – February 2019

https://goo.gl/NZgsos

This month we write about legislative support for court notification systems, BC’s new ODR system, a thought piece on AI helping to overcome judicial bias, a new Florida Bar natural language AI system, an ABA report on technology for non-lawyers, and an interesting report on understanding justice needs.

A Few eCourts 2018 Highlights

We are back from the eCourts 2018 Conference held last week in Las Vegas.  There were many great educational sessions and, I will share below some of the ones that I found interesting.  But also, please note that all the sessions were video recorded.  The NCSC team is working to put them online. I will write a note here when they are available.  So here goes…

Council of Europe adopts first European Ethical Charter on the use of artificial intelligence in judicial systems

In a press release on December 4, 2018:

The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe has adopted the first European text setting out ethical principles relating to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in judicial systems.

The Charter provides a framework of principles that can guide policymakers, legislators and justice professionals when they grapple with the rapid development of AI in national judicial processes.