It’s Happening

A meme from Arrested Development, Season 3, Episode 1

I think that many of our friends in Court Technology are astounded at the rapid changes that have been implemented in the courts in just the past five weeks?  Today’s post will list a few of the many uses of web and audio conferencing along with the rules and procedures including a terrific website by CTC 2019 keynote speaker Richard Susskind, SCOTUS instituting audio oral arguments available to the public starting in May 2020, Texas Supreme Court arguments, YouTube streaming, and technical guidance, and Michigan’s Virtual Courtroom Task Force report.

A “Fiscal New Year Eve” Purchase Suggestion

There are only a couple of days left in many of our court’s fiscal year budgets.  So, for IT departments that sometimes mean a small "spending spree" to use the allocated funds.  I would like to suggest a small purchase that will benefit your computer video/audio communications setup.

Problems and Solutions for Court Videoconferencing

A BuzzFeed News article brought to our attention a report done on the use of videoconferencing in the Courts of the United Kingdom and Wales.  We share some notes from the articles and discuss our potential technology solutions and other resources below.

Event Time

In the CCMS series we wrote about events and tasks.  In that article, we mentioned event weights that reflects the amount of work that was expended on that event.  But there is another way that we can augment the event record.  We explain.

Not Just Police Body Cams

GoPro Pet Camera Mounts

A recent Pennsylvania appellate court decision points out that the record keepers will deal with more than just law enforcement body camera evidence. Courts are having to deal with video evidence from many sources.

More From CourtHack 2.0

As promised, we have more details and now video from CourtHack 2.0.

Courtrooms - How to Get Quiet

We used to say about computers that you can never have too much RAM or too much disk space.  Similarly in courtrooms one cannot make them too quiet.  We discuss why and how on this below.

E-Courts Conference Presentations Video Available

Last weeks E-Courts Conference had an outstanding set of educational sessions.  They are now available online at:
http://www.e-courts.org/Media/Videos.aspx

I particularly enjoyed the sessions that offered solutions including::

• Using Predictive Analysis to Prevent the Financial Exploitation of Elders
• Three Real-World ODR Implementations
• Litigant Portals
• CourtHack Winners
• Building Better Court Websites - and Beyond
• New Models for Court Scheduling
• Electronic Courtrooms in Pierce County, Washington

There are great ideas in all of the conference sessions, and if you weren't able to attend, or would like to share them with your court, you can now do so.  Congratulations to all for a great conference.

Argentina's Center for Judicial Information

For many years I have been an admirer for the Argentina Judiciary’s Center for Judicial Information website.  I think that it is one of the best judicial websites in the world and it is one that should be studied and monitored by other judiciaries.  Via our good friend, Mr. Luis Maria Palma, President of E-Justicia Latinoamerica and a Vice-President of the International Association for Court Administration we were able to contact Ms. Maria Bourdin, who late last year was named as head of their Ministry of Communication and Open Government.  She was kind enough to answer our questions and share information regarding their excellent court website.

USB Flash Drive Insecurity and Video Evidence

Recently there was a discussion among CITOC members regarding the increasing use of video from a variety of sources in courtrooms (including law enforcement patrol cars and body cameras).  One solution suggested was to have this evidence delivered by USB Flash Drive for replay in the courtroom because the “Stick” could be left with the court for evidence.  This may or may not be a good solution; we discuss below…

File Hosting Services and E-Filing

Clouds over Arusha, Tanzania

Many do not know that the LegalXML Electronic Court Filing (ECF) standard allows for “links” to be submitted.  We discuss below: