This and That in Court Tech – May 2021

 

We have been saving a lot (and I mean “a lot) of interesting items to share in recent weeks.  We have news about court data analytics in California, an academic paper questioning the use of arrest data in policy development, a new justice index ranking report for USA courts, a report on Fines and Fees policies, the application of microeconomics for policy development, the NIEM JSON Specification, Version 5.0 release candidate 2, Ohio Court News on sealed records, England and Wales reports on the results of their divorce online system, applying the PDF A-4 standard for permanent digital records, and an excellent Tiny Chat.

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.

“Fixing” Criminal Justice Data and My Alternative Approach

 

Last month, the Arnold Ventures group released a report titled “We Need Criminal Justice Data That Doesn’t Exist.  Here’s How the Biden Administration Can FixIt.”

This is a subject near and dear to me as I have been working on much of this for a long time.  I agree with many parts of the report.  However, I was disappointed to see that the full report missed many standards and frameworks that have been previously built?  More below...

CTC 2021 First Announcements

 

For CTC 2021, we're taking a hybrid approach to the Center's premier court technology conference. You can attend online or join us in Columbus, Ohio, from September 28–29, 2021.

While we don't have all the details ironed out, we're looking forward to hosting attendees no matter how you choose to attend.

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. 

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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

 

Announcement: IJIS eXCHANGE - Virtual Summit Series: Data is the Key

 

The IJIS Institute has scheduled two virtual Zoom seminars for Tuesday, June 15, 2021.  They write:

"From incident to final resolution and beyond, every action our courts take relies on accurate, complete, and timely data to best-inform decisions about people, cases, process, and policy. Join your colleagues from practice and industry at our technology summit on Tuesday, June 15th to dive into our courts' multifaceted data discussion - what we have and what we need - and the impact across the justice system and our communities."

April 2021 Court Tech Notes

 

We share some news and notes in this week’s CTB post.  We note a speech-to-text AI demo video, text reminders, an event on transitioning your workforce back to the courthouse,  yet another article on "Zoom courts", an NCSC Tiny Chat regarding court cell phone policy, and the NCSC website on pandemic response webinars that were recorded in 2020.

 

New AI Enhanced Scanning Tech Speeds Security

 

Earlier this month I was reading the opening day story about my Chicago Cubs baseball club and stumbled on the news that they have installed new AI-enhanced person scanning devices (pictured).  The big benefit of this new technology is that one does not have to remove keys, mobile phone, or have your bag separately scanned.  Great, right?

Details below...

Three Court Tech Events of Note

 

My inbox received notices about three upcoming events that could be of interest to the court technology community.  They are by Microsoft partner, Pythagoras in the UK; the Online Courtroom Project; and the latest in the World Justice Challenge 2021 competition.  Additional details are listed below.

A List Web Conferencing Transcription Systems

 

Microsoft announced an AI-powered live transcription service (AI we can use BTW) in Microsoft Teams, answering Zoom’s new feature.  That got me thinking that they are not alone, as we share below...

 

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National Institute of Justice AI Articles Series

 

Via press release, March 16, 2021.

NIJ has released a four-part series on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Criminal Justice System.

Through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, NIJ has made available the following final technical reports (these reports are the result of NIJ-funded projects but were not published by the U.S. Department of Justice).

The third article in the series specifically discusses AI in the criminal courts.

Courts on the Go

 

Legal technology writer Molly McDonough posted an article about the Utah Outreach Court (https://twitter.com/saltlakejustice). That court takes a courtroom to the litigants, in some instances to the homeless person's campsite, using a repurposed mobile command center vehicle and tents.

Smoke Tests Protect Courtroom Air From COVID-19

Published by press release on March 4, 2021, in US Courts News

"Even as vaccines begin to protect the public from the coronavirus (COVID-19), one of the Judiciary’s biggest priorities is ensuring that the air inside courtrooms and hallways remains safe as courts schedule more in-person legal proceedings.

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…

A Court Public Data Access Proposal – Yes, but…

 

My friend Bob Ambrogi asked for comment during last Friday’s Legaltech Week Journalists’ Roundtable (an excellent discussion every week about our court customers). The discussion turned briefly to Jason Tashea's proposal via the DayOneProject.org initiative titled “Digitizing State Courts, Expanding Access to Justice”.  The following is my partial reply to the question asked.

I applaud Mr. Tashea for thinking about the problem. But I think there is a lot more to consider and there are additional options?  I explain…

This and That in Court Technology - February 2021

 

 

Winter 2021

There is a massive amount of court technology news this month.  We learned about, US Federal Courts response to the Covid-19 pandemic, conference news from the Innovating Justice 2021 and Legalweek 2021 events, California’s CourtStack initiative, Mark Beer’s upcoming talk on AI support for judicial decision making, Seattle and King County’s impact and response to the pandemic caseload, the NACM video podcast on Teleworking, and proposed USA federal government rules on digital format archiving.

 

Zoom Web Conference Filter Opportunity?

 

Most of our readers have seen the Zoom filer mishap online video known as “I’m not a cat”.  The story even made the news in Germany and late-night TV shows.  First, I want to congratulate the Judge for handling the problem, but I have a different view of how we can learn from this?

 

IJIS Institute National Symposium Announced

 

From the IJIS Institute

Join us virtually, February 17-18, 2021, for the IJIS Institute National Symposium. This event will highlight national priority initiatives benefiting all levels of government and brings together industry solution providers, government leaders, and representatives from nonprofit and academic organizations to network and collaborate in a neutral, non-sales environment. The National Symposium offers the unique opportunity to hear first-hand from state and local government officials and Federal government leaders.  

 

eCourts 2020 Session Replays Available Now

 

We’re happy to announce that all session replays from eCourts 2020 are now available at https://vimeo.com/showcase/8000351

Here are some highlights:

• HR guru Tom Topping discussed outcome-driven approaches for leaders, managers, and staff that provide resilient models for success in a remote work environment—while creating a satisfying work experience for everyone.
  
  
• Siobhan Gorman and Suzanne Spaulding shared information about what disinformation attacks could look like if they end up in your backyard and how you can prepare to respond.
  
  
• David Slayton discussed the essential next steps to continue improving the technology and strategy to balance virtual and in-person services.

If you couldn’t make the conference, missed a session, or want to share a memorable session with a colleague, they’re all ready for you to watch in our eCourts 2020 Virtual Session Showcase.

Get the latest eCourts 2020 information at e-Courts.org

Looks Like a Court Record to Me?

I read with interest announcements regarding a new MicrosoftTeams “Meeting Recap” feature (along with a couple of other interesting functions) that begins roll out soon.  The announcement says…

“Originally announced in September 2020, this new meeting experience will allow participants or people unable to attend the meeting to access meeting content after it has ended. Microsoft Teams will automatically share the meeting recording, transcript, chat, shared files, and more in the meeting’s details tab.”

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.

 

Judiciary Addresses Cybersecurity Breach: Extra Safeguards to Protect Sensitive Court Records

 

See attribution below

Via Press Release Published on January 6, 2021

“After the recent disclosure of widespread cybersecurity breaches of both private sector and government computer systems, federal courts are immediately adding new security procedures to protect highly sensitive confidential documents filed with the courts.

“The federal Judiciary’s foremost concern must be the integrity of and public trust in the operation and administration of its courts,” James C. Duff, Secretary of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Judiciary’s national policy-making body, said in a January 6, 2021, communication to the courts.

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?

Transparent Displays - The New Public 'Window'

  

image provided by LG.COM

We just learned of the new transparent OLED (flat panel) displays that are being introduced by the LG corporation at the 2021 ConsumerElectronics Show.  While this article projects that these displays would be used at restaurants or subway stations, I think they would be the perfect court clerk/registrar "window".  We explain…

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.

Dynamic Fees for Courts

 

Mural in the Ariel Rios Federal Building

We can clearly foresee that the upcoming years will be difficult for governments and courts as tax revenue will take some time to recover following the Pandemic.  Court budgets being primarily composed of personnel costs will respond by not filling empty positions, layoffs, and reducing service hours and/or days.

I have an idea that could be considered to ameliorate service reductions that were introduced in recent years, famously by ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft, known as “dynamic” or “surge” pricing.  I explain below.

Virtual eCourts 2020 Starts Today

A small reminder, Virtual eCourts conference starts today, December 7, 2020.  Held each day for about 4 hours, one can still sign up at https://e-courts.org/ for the Zoom webinar.  

eCourts 2020 Agenda Online - #eCourts2020

 As with nearly all conferences, this year eCourts 2020 is a virtual online event on December 7, 8, and 9 starting at 1:00 PM eastern standard time each day.  We have an outstanding list of presentations scheduled.  The full list is available at https://e-courts.org/conference-info/   Some highlights are…

Monday Sessions

Keynote – Motivating Strategies for a Remote World, presenter Thomas Topping who is a professional speaker and employee engagement expert with a master’s degree in Human Resources Management. He has spent his career transforming teams and training individuals for some of the largest organizations in the United States. His professional contributions have been described as innovative, unique, pioneering, daring, and out-of-the-box.

Texas Issues RFO for Statewide Uniform CMS

A Texas Armadillo

We learned on November 17, 2020, that:

“The Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA), a judicial branch agency that assists the Supreme Court of Texas with the administration of the Texas courts, invites submissions of offers for a statewide, integrated, comprehensive, cloud‐based uniform case management system and associated implementation services in compliance with the requirements and terms set forth in this RFO (UCMS).”

Of note, questions are due by December 8, 2020 with offer submissions due on January 21, 2020.

The full RFO announcement and documents are available online at http://www.txsmartbuy.com/esbddetails/view/212210180

British Island of Jersey Releases CCMS “Tender”

 

St. Helier Harbor

 

I heard from our friend, Marcus Ferbrache that his court has released an RFP/Tender for a court case management system for the British Island of Jersey.  He explains below:

 

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.

 

COVID, the Court, and the Future of the Jury Trial Summit

 

A free virtual summit is scheduled to be held on Friday, November 13 and continue the following Friday, November 20 from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST each day.

The summit is being organized by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) and the Online Courtroom Project.  The conference writes “As courts around the country have struggled to continue operations in the face of the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic, each state and the federal courts have issued their own set of guidelines to try and resume trials. However, each jurisdiction, and each judge has also implemented their own set of practices, given their resources, staffing, budget, and judgment. While most of these national, regional, and individual practices have been conducted on a trial and error basis, the goal of this conference is to provide practical recommendations on procedures, resources, and skills for both courts and attorneys who are looking to conduct jury trials in this challenging time.

This conference is free of charge. Attendees are encouraged to donate to a designated charity to assist underserved communities gain greater access to technology and the internet.

For more and to sign up go to https://www.nita.org/summit-about

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The photo above is from the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida’s Virtual Court Resources by Division/Case type web page at:

https://www.jud11.flcourts.org/Court-Announcements/ArtMID/584/ArticleID/3567/Virtual-Court-Resources-by-Division-Case-Type

 

 

Tips to Reduce Ransomware Risk and More…

 

 

In this post we share tips to protect you from malware, Harris County’s new Covid-10 juror procedure video, the new Zoom language interpretation service, and a web page showing how Covid-19 aerosol dispersion works.

This and That in Court Technology, October 2020

 

Lots of news this time on court tech.  We note news about the E-Courts Conference agenda, a scientific study of reminder systems impact on court appearances, Rocketlawyer using Utah’s Regulatory Sandbox project to test innovations, why Alexa shouldn’t be installed on your court’s internal computer network, JAVS management software suite announcement,  a company that specializes in work from home setups, ransomware at Tyler Technologies, and an amazing number of Tiny Chats produced by our NCSC colleagues. 

 

A Domestic Violence Hand Signal for Video Calls

 

Just a short note today that shows how tech can really help.  In an article on Medium.com, we learned a hand signal has been created that can be used by web/video conferencing users to signal domestic violence.

Elizabeth “Barajas-Román, who is the president and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network, a global philanthropic network dedicated to women and girls, wondered: How could survivors reach out and get the help they need in a safe way? The solution she landed on, with the help of a WFN partner group, was Signal for Help, a simple hand gesture that people experiencing abuse could silently use during video calls to tell friends or loved ones that they’re in trouble.” 

The result is the graphic shown above.  The signalforhelp.net website has more.

The great benefit of this approach is that it leaves no trail on messaging or e-mail systems that the abuser can find.

Pass this along.

Improving FTA/FTP Processes with Better Policy and Tech

 

 

FTA or Failure to Appear and FTP, or Failure to Pay is the source of a great percentage of warrants issued by courts along with giving great stress to those involved. 

I have been thinking about the civil unrest earlier this year and the place that failure to appear warrants seems to be involved.  In this post, I will share some recent thinking about these warrants and some tech that can help?

Utah ODR Usability Report

 

The Innovation for Justice Program ( www.law.arizona.edu/i4j ) at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law has issued a new and insightful report titled: The Utah Online Dispute Resolution Platform: A Usability Evaluation and Report (full report available online in PDF for download here)

Technology Innovator - Judge Emily Miskel Recognized

 

It was announced that Texas District Court Judge Emily Miskel “who in May led the nation’s first-ever remote jury trial, is the recipient of the 2020 William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, the highest honor bestowed to a state court judge by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). This prestigious award honors a state court judge who demonstrates the outstanding qualities of judicial excellence, including integrity, fairness, open-mindedness, knowledge of the law, professional ethics, creativity, sound judgment, intellectual courage, and decisiveness.”

Using Tech to Stop FTA's and Adjournments

 

With the success of web and audio hearings during the Covid-19 pandemic, courts have proven that absent/remote persons can be made available by mobile or computer.  It is time now to make this standard practice.

Comparative Statistical Model Standards

 

One “unicorn” (a mythical goal) in Court Technology has been that Case Management Systems will have the ability to create comparative case statistics between court systems. Policymakers love that idea so they can compare and punish/reward, but also perhaps better understand policy differences. The announcement that got me thinking about this is the recent NIEM 5.0 announcement that included as part of their update preparation for the future addition of GISM (Generic Statistical Information Model).

Also, understand that the ideal statistical comparison system doesn’t stop between courts, it extends to the full criminal and civil court systems. That brings us to discuss the new announcements and what they might mean for our future unicorn hunting.

Tech Tip - Scheduling E-Mail Reminders

 

We have noted the increasing adoption of text reminders to case parties by the courts before.  In this short “tech tip” post we will consider how we can add an automatic reminder via e-mail and even set up an online shared scheduling system?  

Thomson Reuters Announces Two New Judicial Tools

 

Two announcements from Thomson Reuters, Quick Check Judicial, and the acquisition of the Caselines system. 

August 19, 2020 – Thomson Reuters has introduced Quick Check Judicial, a new Westlaw Edge feature within Quick Check. 

Mobile Device Tools for Courts

 

Many courts and judicial systems have configured their websites for mobile/cell phone screen size.  But many other courts have not.  Considering that over 90% of mobile/cell phone users have Internet access from their device, maybe the focus of your online information delivery approach might shift?  We discuss two tools that might help?

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.

Are Current Courthouses Wrong for the Post Pandemic World?

The Covid-19 Pandemic has been an opportunity to re-examine how courts and legal business is done.  We have written many articles about new ideas and experiments in recent months. Now it is time to think long-term about courthouses themselves as they are the second biggest expense after the judges and staff?  Let’s begin:

The Economics of Court Technology

In June 2020 Los Angeles Superior Court announced the “LACourtConnect” program to facilitate web/video/audio appearance.  It is among many efforts to enable remote court access.  But there is more about this that is important that I will discuss below.

Courts Posting Zoom Conference ID’s and Passwords

Some news came in from several courts.  It is reported that Zoom web conferencing proceedings are being interrupted because the courts are publicly posting the time, link, and passwords on their websites.

Stop it!

We apply security in the physical courthouse. It should be the same in cyberspace.  

First, instead of openly posting the Zoom information, one can have a request system to attend the conference.  This is the security officer/body scanning approach. The request system message can then be reviewed by staff and the approved link and password then sent via e-mail or text to the person.    

I can see that a court might not want to spend the time/cost to program a request system?  The church I attend uses Eventbrite, but this G2.com article lists 20 alternatives.  

Second, if one wishes to make the entire proceeding public, then one can use Zoom’s ability to stream via YouTube? The Texas Supreme Court and others (I watched a hearing from the Guyana Supreme Court this morning) have used this approach.  

See this information page from Zoom for YouTube streaming.

This is not hard.