An early July, 2015 edition of This and That in Court Technology

A summer Iowa corn field

Lots and lots to share including news from Iowa, Texas, Arkansas,  US Federal Court’s OSCAR system, a new records management app, and tips for “mobile warriors”.

Macomb County Clerk and Uber Partner to Deliver Jurors to Courthouse

Via press release, Macomb County, MI (June 30, 2015)

"In Macomb County, a jury summons now comes with a driver, providing on-demand transportation to and from the Courthouse. Macomb County Jurors will receive an Uber code good for a $20 ride each way or $40 round trip to and from the courthouse.  In most cases, the code will cover the full cost of a ride.  The ride must start or end at the Macomb County Circuit Court Building in Mount Clemens, and the cost will depend on the distance from a juror’s home.

Professor Frederic Lederer Honored

Photo courtesy of Stephen Hansen

We were very happy to learn that NCSC/W&M Law School Courtroom 21 project co-founder, Professor Fred Lederer was honored by the Judge Advocates Foundation on May 26 with the Chief Justice John Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award, the Foundation's highest honor. Lederer received the award at a dinner in Arlington, Va., sponsored by the Foundation and the Judge Advocates Association. The Judge Advocates General of all of the armed forces and numerous other present and retired senior officers attended the event.

"We are fortunate that Fred's love of the law and interest in technology have combined to drive the development and implementation of legal technology worldwide," Dunn said.  In addition to transforming the law school's McGlothlin Courtroom into "a laboratory courtroom of the future," she said he "anticipated and helped create many of the innovations in legal technology."

Dunn shared Lederer's wide-ranging endeavors with the audience. In addition to being a "go-to speaker," he has participated in more than 300 international forums. He also has written dozens of articles on legal technology, military law, criminal procedure and evidence. He has trained "generations of law students and practitioners in the use of courtroom technology."  Judges, business executives, and courtroom professionals from around the globe seek out his expertise. "Because of him, Williamsburg is a world legal technology mecca," she said."

The full press release is available here.  Congratulations Fred!

Even More This and That in Court Tech – June, 2015

2,500 year old Babylonian clay tablet

Remember that CTC-2015 is only three months away.  See http://ctc2015.org for more.  This week's post notes the CITOC Innovation Awards nominations, IJIS, PDF, NAJIS conferences, South Africa recognizes E-signatures, Michigan state court videoconferencing, M-Disc, and a funny from Harvard Business Review.

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…

This and That in Court Technology – June, 2015

Time for another “This and That” roundup of court technology news.

Rwanda Court Pre-Filing E-Filing System

Chief Justice of Rwanda, Prof. Sam Rugege

Earlier this year I visited the courts in Kigali, Rwanda.  They showed me their E-filing system that I didn’t really understand until now.

Court Case Management Systems Part 17: Dashboards

Dashboards are a “particular means of communication” – Stephen Few

In this part of our ongoing CCMS series we will discuss dashboard functionality.  To do this we will split the discussion into two parts.  In the first part we will discuss court administration/ management dashboards.  And in the second part we will talk about dashboards that may be able to facilitate judicial caseload management.

(Information and Dashboard Design – Second Edition - http://www.perceptualedge.com/library.php )

JTC Webinar on E-Records Disposition and Preservation

The Joint Technology Committee (JTC) of COSCA and NACM will host a webinar on Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at 1:00pm EDT.  The topic will be "Developing an Electronic Court Records Disposition and Preservation Plan."

Vermont Seeks Case Management Systems Information

The Vermont Office of the Court Administrator has issued a Request for Information for a "Next Generation Case Management System".