Reminder Systems for Courts

Reminding people to appear at court or to make payments has achieved solid results.  We will discuss the studies, some courts with systems, and a USA commercial service provider in this article.

Georgia Receives Springboard Certification from the IJIS Institute

The IJIS Institute announced the accomplishment of the Georgia Administrative Office of the
Courts in obtaining Springboard certification on an information sharing initiative aimed at the transmission of legal documents among court system participants.

Social Media and the Courts Survey - 2014

Icons from http://geekfairy.co.uk/

Via Press Release - Five years ago, the Conference of Court Public Information Officers (CCPIO) conducted the first national survey on how changes in the media are affecting the courts. Where are the courts now in 2014? This is your chance to help us find out.

This and That in Court Technology – End of May, 2014

See Riverside eFax article below.

News includes a state court E-filing projects status update, a USA Federal Court eVoucher system, UK courts select a new CCMS, eFax filing for indigents in Riverside, California, and Rhode Island court electronic services fees.

Philippines Judge Notes Court Automation Benefits

From the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative we learn about Judge Maria Filomena Singh of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court’s automation efforts.

Verified e-communication: A need and a possible role for courts

There are many concerns about electronic communications identity. Is there a role for courts to help to address this problem?

Document scanning an E-filing barrier? Grab the phone!

I was reading an excellent E-filing report from the New York State Unified Court System today and noticed that several problems identified in the comment section revolved around the cost for organizations to be able to scan documents.  Well, I thought to myself, let’s see if there is an app that can help?

Louisiana Supreme Court Issues RFP for Appellate Case Management System

The Pelican - State Bird of Louisiana

Today, the Supreme Court of Louisiana issued an invitation for proposals for an appellate court case management system.  The RFP is a "solutions-based" procurement that states a problem and the vendors are encouraged to respond without limitation to "creativeness of ingenuity".

The proposer's conference is set for Thursday, May 22, 2014 with the proposals due on Friday, June 20, 2014.

The RFP can be access in PDF format at:
http://www.lasc.org/RFP/Court_Modernization_RFP_4-30-2014.pdf

This and That in Court Tech – April, 2014

Time for our regular compilation of news we have heard about and related to court technology.

Court Repurposes Old iPhones for Inventory Control

We heard from our good friend Ms. Winnie Webber of the Lake County, Illinois courts about their innovative use of obsolete iPhones.

A Brief Note about Case Numbers

The format and requirements for court case numbers is different in automated systems.  I will explain.

CITOC Innovation Award Seminar

The Court Information Technology Officer Consortium (CITOC) Education Sub-Committee is pleased to host its first webinar for CITOC members in 2014.

Big Data for Courts – Identification (ID) Verification

This is the first of what we think will be many articles on how courts will use or be impacted by the concept of “Big Data”.

Registration Open for e-Courts 2014

Register to win a free suite at Red Rock Resort

Registration is now open and planning is underway for e-Courts 2014, December 8-10 at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas. Attending e-Courts is no gamble—register and you’re sure to gain valuable information to improve your court’s operations. But, for those of you who feel lucky, NCSC is entering everyone who registers by April 15 into a drawing for a chance to win a free suite at the Red Rock Resort for the duration of e-Courts. The strength and relevance of e-Courts’ education program and its unsurpassed exhibit show are what draws attendees to e-Courts. That hasn’t changed. But e-Courts 2014 will have a new look and a refreshed conference format—including a dynamic keynote speaker, more opportunities to network, and more time to spend with exhibitors.

Court Decisions, “Link Rot”, and Perma.cc

As defined in Wikipedia, “Link rot” is an informal term for the process by which hyperlinks (either on individual websites or the Internet in general) point to web pages, servers or other resources that have become permanently unavailable.  This has become a serious problem in legal opinions and decisions.  A consortium of law libraries is taking action by creating Perma.cc.

This and That in Court Technology – March, 2014

Yes, it’s time for another post on news and notes regarding court tech.

Court Case Management Systems Part 13 - Public Access Capability and Interface Options

Court Case Management Systems record a lot of case information for a variety of reasons. Depending on where you are, who you are, and what you are doing with the data will determine your access… maybe?

PacerPro Reviewed

The US Federal Court’s 25 year old PACER system has received an update that is called PacerPro.  Robert Ambrogi in his "Ambrogi on Tech blog" at the American Bar Association's ABAJournal describes how the system works and the benefits in his post: Service offers a better way to search federal court records than PACER.

PDF Archival Format Guidance Issued

The USA National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has released a bulletin on January 31, 2014 detailing guidance on the use of PDF for electronic archival records.

Apple's ‘iBeacon” Technology Potential for Courts

Last June at an Apple developer’s conference a new technology, "iBeacon" was quietly announced.

Watch Out for the Cryptolocker Trojan

A small law firm in North Carolina was recently locked out of their electronic files.

This and That in Court Tech – February, 2014

Time for another edition of “This and That”.  In this post we note conference and training news, an important open source software release, and a computer maintenance program to keep you and your machine working.

Signing Documents on your iPad – Update

Back in 2011 we posted a note about signing documents on your iPad.  We have an update.

The Software as a Service (SaaS) is a Trend in Court Tech

Some of you might have noticed that the CTB runs on the Google Blogger service.  Now courts are adopting SaaS too.

Court Case Management Systems Part 12: System Security

One of the primary functions of court case management systems, both manual and automated, is providing information validation and security mechanisms for court operations.  Automated CCMS can do this better and faster.  We will discuss how in this edition of our CCMS series.

US Federal Courts Issue Public Alert

Scam Emails About Phony Court Cases Carry Computer Virus

CES 2014 – Sony to the Rescue

I saw only one concept worth mentioning from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that was held in Las Vegas, Nevada this week that is applicable to court technology.

End of 2013 Court Tech News

The CTB received several interesting articles at the end of the year.

This and That in Court Tech – December, 2013

Big news on credit card fees and much more in a busy month of announcements.

25 Years Later, PACER, Electronic Filing Continue to Change Courts

In the above titled article dated December 9, 2013, the US Federal Courts celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the approval of the PACER online system.  The article begins:

Information Systems Security Primer – Final Parts

This is the fourth and fifth part of Fortune 100 Corporation Security Director Ken Lobenstein’s primer on computer security and more...

North Carolina Court Technology Said to be Outdated

In a hearing before the recently created North Carolina House Judicial Efficiency and Effective Administration of Justice committee, John W. Smith, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) noted the challenges that the courts are facing.

This and That in Court Tech – November, 2013

Time for another “This and That” post…

Computer Monitors Are Changing - Let's Use Them

With apologies for not posting an article last week due to travel, we talk about BIG screens and user interfaces below.

Information Systems Security Primer – Part III

Here is the third part of Fortune 100 Corporation Security Director Ken Lobenstein’s primer on computer security.

Making the Record: Utilizing Digital Electronic Recording Paper Released

My good friend, former Vermont State Court Administrator, Lee Suskin and I have been busy this year working with the digital electronic recording industry to write the above titled report that is now available.  Click here to download a PDF copy of the paper.

JTC Resource Bulletin: Strategic Issues to Consider before Starting an E-filing Initiative

The Joint Technology Committee (JTC) of the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) and the National Association for Court Management (NACM) recently published a resource bulletin on "Strategic Issues to Consider before Starting an E-filing Initiative."  This paper discusses some of the key policy, operational and technical issues to consider before embarking on an e-filing project.  It also includes feedback from interviews with several Court and IT managers who have graciously shared experiences and lessons learned from their own e-filing projects.

This and That in Court Technology – October, 2013

We have a few things that have come to our attention this month that we want to share.

Handwritten Signatures – Now a Punch Line, Part 2

Another example that judicial signatures cannot be reliably used to verify court orders occurred when Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida Chief Judge, Belvin Perry’s signature was forged on fraudulent court orders resulting in the freeing of two prisoners convicted of murder.

In the AP/USA Today article – “Men who escaped prison with forged papers registered as felons” the judge commented:  “One of the things we have never taken a close look at is the verification of a particular document to make sure it's the real McCoy”

We offered some potential solutions in our earlier “Punch Line” article.

SEARCH Group Announces Grant Program

The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics has announced the "Justice Information Exchange Implementation Project Competitive Award" program.

Information Systems Security Primer - Parts I & II

Our good friend, former Court information technology officer and now, Information Security Director at a Fortune 100 multinational corporation, Ken Lobenstein (and author of the popular Twelve Days of Court Tech article) has written a series of short posts on technology security.  Here is the first and second parts of the series.

QR Codes for Easy Access to Calendars

The US Federal Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California innovates with QR Codes.

LegalXML Electronic Court Filing Video and News

Following the recent CTC-2013 Conference the Oasis-OpenLegalXML Electronic Court Filing TC met.  Here are some of the highlights:

Court Case Management Systems Part 11 - The Impact of E-Filing

E-filing is an integral part of new Court Case Management Systems.  But how it is implemented to work with CCMS makes all the difference.

CTC-2013 Highlights

We share our highlights from CTC-2013 held last week in Baltimore, Maryland in this week’s post.

Thanks you and CTC Video Online

I want to thank everyone for their good wishes after my son helped the NCSC to establish the Jim McMillan scholarship fund announced at CTC-2013.  The announcement video, keynotes and other video is now online at: http://vimeo.com/statecourts  And please see the conference website for much more at: http://ctc2013.com/  

Pre-CTC 2013 This and That in Court Technology

CTC-2013 Coming Soon

Baltimore Convention Center

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at CTC-2013 next week in Baltimore, Maryland (September 17-19).  We will try to post a note or two but as any of you who have attended the conference knows, it is a busy time.  Keep an eye on the NCSC Twitter account (@StateCourts) and the conference website at: http://ctc2013.com/ for news.

For more this and that click on the read more link below …

Webinar Offered on Wednesday, September 11 on Technologies to Assist the Unrepresented

Webinar Offered on Wednesday, September 11 on Technologies to Assist the Unrepresented

The Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project (NTAP) will offer an online workshop looking at web tools that are being used to assist those that have a legal problem and don't have an attorney representing them. will quickly review the building blocks of online self-help: online forms, web chat, and statewide websites and their tools and then focus on new and innovative tools that are coming into place that will be game changers.  For more and to sign up to participate click here for the webinar web page.

CTC-2013 Mid-Note Address Session

The title of the session to be presented at 8:30 AM on Wednesday, September 18th is: Winning the battle in the court of public opinion: Why technology, efficiency and customer service are key.

All-in-one PC's Get Better

A quick roundup of our favorite solution for the judge's courtroom bench computer.