This and That in Court Technology – April/Spring 2015 Edition

From a flowering springtime in Williamsburg, Virginia we share our latest news bites from around the court tech world.  In this edition we share news about a CTC scholarship, social media process service, another electronic verification failure, new mobile phone apps for scanning and court check in, a white paper on court technology in 2020, and conference news.

JTC Resource Bulletin on Electronic Records Preservation and Disposition . . .

Our court’s case records are finally all electronic (well, almost) and storage is cheap and fast – so we won’t ever need to purge case records again, right? Well, you may want to reconsider if that’s what you’re thinking. A new Joint Technology Committee (JTC) Resource Bulletin, “Developing an Electronic Records Preservation and Disposition Plan,” explores a myriad of issues relating to electronic records retention. It builds on a 2012-2013 Policy Paper published by the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), “To Protect and Preserve: Standards for Maintaining and Managing 21st Century Court Records.”

Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) Data Exchange Working Group Reports Draft Standard

NCSC Principal Court Management Consultant, Dale Kasparek shares work that is ongoing in support of court compliance of CDL disposition reporting via data exchange and more in today’s CTB post

New “Chip” Credit Cards Will Change Usage Liability for Courts

The COSCA/NACM Joint Technology Committee has issued a new resource bulletin, “EMV and Credit Card Liability: What Courts Need to Know”.  As discussed last year in a CTB article, this mandatory change is coming in October, 2015.

Fantastical – A Natural Language Calendar App

At the beginning of 2015 we (not so boldly) predicted that this was the year that we would see applications that use a more natural interface such as speech and pen input.  Here is one cool new program that could guide our CCMS development plans.

CTC 2015 Registration Begins with a One Day Sale..Monday April 13th

The Court Technology Conference (CTC) 2015 will take place September 22–24 in Minneapolis, and its education program and exhibit hall will attract judges, court administrators, court technologists, court managers, and other justice-system professionals from across the country and across the world.  CTC 2015 online registration opens Monday, April 13 and for that one day only registration is steeply discounted to $600!  

The CTC 2015 education program will focus on six tracks: e-Bench and Judicial Tools; Electronic Court Records Management; the Management of Court IT; the Judiciary in a Virtual, Mobile and Social World; Access to Justice; and the Courthouse of the Future. Go to ctc2015.org on April 13 to get our best deal on CTC registration.  No special code is required, but this is a one-day sale, so mark your calendar!

The link again is: http://www.ctc2015.org/

A CCMS Smart Document Receipt Concept

Recently I have been working on the concept of a “smart receipt” that would be generated by a CCMS for either E-filing or “in-person” filing.  I share my ideas in the article below…

E-Filing Project Updates Noted

We learned about several electronic court filing projects this week thanks to Mark Schwartz at OneLegal, Bonnie Carver at File & Serve Express and Google News.  The projects involve courts in California, Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas.

Bankruptcy Courts Report Savings and other Benefits from Electronic Noticing

DeBN Logo Developed by the
Bankruptcy Court for the
Central District of California

Via press release on February 19, 2015, we learned about the US Bankruptcy court electronic noticing system.  They write:

"While business is increasingly conducted using smart phones, tablets and laptops, debtors who file for bankruptcy protection continue to receive paper copies of court notices and orders by regular mail — a practice that consumes both time and money. Thanks to a new program available through the Bankruptcy Noticing Center (BNC), debtors in participating courts now have the option of receiving court-generated notices and orders electronically.

New JTC paper makes case for judicial tools

Judicial Dashboard screenshot, courtesy Wisconsin Court System

The Joint Technology Committee (JTC) has released a new resource bulletin, “Making the Case for Judicial Tools.”