Registration for eCourts 2022 Opens

 

As we have been sifting through session proposals and ideas for how to make a great conference, we realized the conference theme is obvious: We have all been living The Great Shift.

The Great Shift has so many facets:

Some Great NCSC Tiny Chat Sessions

 

My friends in the NCSC Tiny Chat Division, have been doing some terrific work lately. Here is a selection of some interesting and fun sessions.

 

Florida E-Filing Portal Celebrates 10th Anniversary

 

We learned from our friends earlier this week that the Florida courts are celebrating the 10^th Anniversary of their E-filing Portal program.  We will start with some history thanks to the summary they wrote in this year’s annual report or, if you wish, they have posted a three-minute history summary video online here.

A 50 State Court Covid-19 Operations List

  

The Justia legal information company has posted a compendium of state court Covid-19 operations in all 50 states.

They write that “State court systems across the country have significantly altered their operations in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Many courts initially limited proceedings to only the most essential and urgent matters, such as arraignments and restraining order hearings."

"While most jurisdictions are beginning to resume at least some of their normal operations, courts often are still striving to conduct as many proceedings remotely as possible. Jury trials are suspended or limited in some locations, although most states at least have planned strategies for resuming them.”

Click here to access the guide.

Congratulations to Justia for providing this useful resource. 

--

Also thank you to the US Federal Courts news for posting the picture of Chief Judge James K. Bredar wearing a plastic face shield and sit behind plexiglass when jury trials resume in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland that we show above.

https://www.uscourts.gov/news/2020/08/20/courts-restore-operations-covid-19-creates-new-normal

 

Never Waste a Good Crisis to Update your Court

The Freakonomics website has a page that discusses the quote in the title of this post.  It is obviously appropriate for the courts in this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, but I have used it in another context, when a new case, document, or e-filing systems are being introduced into a court.  I explain below…

Some Ideas for Handling the Upcoming Covid-19 Case Surge

 

Everyone can easily foresee the surge of in-person court cases that are coming later in 2021.  Many courts have put case processing on hold.  And assuming that the vaccination program will be successful in the first half of the year, what can courts do to address the case backlog and new matters that will come?  I have some ideas that I will share below.

Please also note that my colleagues and friends of the NCSC have created a tremendous resource around courts and the pandemic at  https://www.ncsc.org/newsroom/public-health-emergency  Click on the Statewide Plans to Resume Court Operations link (you may have to scroll across the red navigation bar to find it).

 

Building Ventilation – 2021 Court Tech

 

Today, I saw an excellent article on Bloomberg.com regarding building air quality and ventilation issues.  This is an important court technology concern with the Covid-19 pandemic but also a long term concern for occupant health.  Since many courthouses have challenges in this area, I thought it might be good to share some questions and quote key responses from the article below?

Please read the full article here.

 

New Jersey Remote Court Instructions

 

See attribution below

This past weekend I read an article in our local newspaper regarding problems some courts were having dealing with the backlog of housing/landlord-tenant cases due to the pandemic.  I was somewhat surprised to read that all their hearings were still being done in-person.  Why?  I do not know. But for those courts who may not be able to develop their own procedures, I suggest that you take a look at the New Jersey Courts “Instructions for Participants in RemoteCourt Events”?  Surely these would be helpful for many court and chambers hearings?

Explaining Why Court Tech Seemed to Move Slowly in 2020?

 

Recently I heard multiple legal technology writers bemoan the slowness that courts adopt and implement new online and similar services.  I explain why that is, and why it is likely not to get better soon in this post? It is going to be a cold winter.

IJIS Virtual Summit: The New Age of Court Technology

Join the IJIS Courts Advisory Committee (ICAC) on November 17, 2020 for a no-cost technology summit focused on engaging practitioners and industry, through open and frank conversations that advance the fidelity of virtual court operations. Practitioners will provide insight on needs, priorities, and experiences while the industry shares new opportunities that technology brings to the table.

Laptops as the Court’s Standard Computer

 

 

 

In recent years I have often recommended projects to acquire laptops instead of desktop computers.  This recommendation is even stronger today. I explain the reasons for this approach in this week’s post below.

 

Online Courtroom Project Issues Report

Earlier this year we shared news about the Online Courtroom Project.  The two-day online trial was held June 26 and 27, 2020.  The findings were captured in a report posted on July 15, 2020.

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.

This and That in Court Technology - Summer Solstice 2020 Edition

Since many of us are still social distancing, I thought it would be nice to enjoy the upcoming summer solstice sunrise with the following news from the court tech world?  In this edition, we share a new NCSEA webinar, a Court Leader podcast on how courts are dealing with the pandemic, news about a Trinidad and Tobago online murder trial, the US Federal Courts restarting jury trials report, news from courts in Southeast Asia, and a new handy Microsoft Windows 10 feature.

The Online Courtroom Project Announced

https://onlinecourtroom.org

Via Press Release:

Announcing the formation of THE ONLINE COURTROOM PROJECT

In an era of social distancing, how do we stay together to ensure that justice is still done? How can we protect our constitutional right to be judged by a jury of our peers if we are required to stay physically apart? How do we ensure our constitutional access to justice when some courthouse doors are locked? Is justice possible when parties, witnesses, and even triers of fact appear online? These are pressing questions for our legal system and our democracy.

This and That in Court Technology May 2020

In this month’s highlights we share information about the PASS (Public Access Software Spec), our NCSC Tiny Chat about digital signatures, e-notarization and digital notice, Tyler’s Virtual Court offering, virtual court hearings in Nigeria, an electronic hearing practice guide posted by the Trinidad and Tobago Judiciary, and special offers by Microsoft for public safety and non-profits in response to the pandemic.

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…

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.

Online Training on Court Tech Response to the Pandemic

https://www.ncsc.org/

There are multiple training events and podcasts on technology and management responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The NCSC is hosting an online seminar on Tuesday, April 7 at 3:00 PM EDT. 

Details on that and others are listed below:

US Federal Courts Announcement: Judiciary Authorizes Video/Audio Access During COVID-19 Pandemic

Press Release: Published on March 31, 2020

https://www.uscourts.gov/news/2020/03/31/judiciary-authorizes-videoaudio-access-during-covid-19-pandemic

In order to address health and safety concerns in federal courthouses and courtrooms, the Judicial Conference of the United States has temporarily approved the use of video and teleconferencing for certain criminal proceedings and access via teleconferencing for civil proceedings during the COVID-19 national emergency.