This and That in Court Tech – January 2019

In this edition, we share information about a new court use of social media report, mobile video conferencing and identity verification, Connecticut Probate Court E-Filing, digital blockchain marriage certificates, an excellent self-help center website, and an upcoming conference.

eCourts 2018 Conference Session Videos Now Available

Roosevelt Sawyer, Chief Information Officer,
Florida Office of the State Courts Administrator

The video recordings for the great eCourts 2018 conference are now available for streaming here.

We are very pleased to be able to share the following list of excellent sessions below.

A Court Robot Mashup Idea

Some of you might remember the 1970’s and 80’s USA television commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup candy where the tagline was “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!” 

I think I have a similar “mashup” idea for using robots in the courts.  I explain below.

NCSC Announces the ODR Industry Summit

The ODR Industry Summit is an opportunity for technology leaders to engage in free-flowing discussion with court leaders from across the United States from March 4-5, 2019 in Denver, Colorado

The objective of this day and a half event is to provide the industry with insights on the current and emerging ODR needs of the courts over the next several years. Working side by side, court and industry technology leaders will identify business problems, brainstorm opportunities, and chart a course for future ODR use in the courts. 

Registration for this event is complimentary.

Airfare assistance may be available for international firms interested in entering the US market.

The full conference announcement (PDF) with location and hotel details is available here.

Georgia Issues RFI for an ADR Module

The Georgia Commission on Dispute Resolution has released an RFI an alternative dispute resolution module.

The ADR Module RFI is a state and local partnership between JC/AOC and the Commission created to achieve optimal pricing for replacement technology software which does not exist or has reached its end of life.

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…

eCourts 2018 Preview Podcast

ImageSoft interviewed our own Vice President, Jesse Rutledge for their Paperless Process Podcast earlier this week.  They write:

We had the opportunity to pull Jesse away from his own podcast for a bit of our own “court talk” about all things eCourts 2018, including the hot-button “rebooting justice” discussion, the component model, the evolution of the eCourts conference, and how to join the eCourts conversations even if you can’t attend. This is a can’t-miss episode for anyone with their thumb on the pulse of our nation’s court system.

Click here to navigate to the podcast web page.

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.

This and That in Court Technology – November 2018

Microsoft Surface Hub 2

With the “sold out” eCourts 2018 conference upon us, it is time to share news about the Best Legal Apps for 2018, the LegalXML Electronic Court Filing standards, the timing for Public Access to Civil Court Filings, another Judicial analytics tool, using GitHub for law text markup and access, and as you can see in the picture, a new Microsoft Surface Hub system.

Plain Language Forms Implemented by the Abu Dhabi Courts

Abu Dhabi Courthouses

We heard late last month from our friend, Mohamed Hesham Elrafei of the Abu Dhabi Courts about their new initiative with plan language forms and documents.  He writes and credits several contributors to the ideas they used in their new applications.  He writes: