JTC Quick Response Bulletin on Virtual Hearings

Strategic Issues to Consider when Starting Virtual Hearings

Courts all over the world are adapting quickly to operational limitations imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. As courts pivot to provide essential services without bringing the public as well as court staff into the courthouse where they could be exposed to, or could expose others to a potentially deadly virus, remote hearings are suddenly essential. In this rapidly evolving situation, courts must still bear in mind key decision points, assumptions, and challenges as well as opportunities as they go forward. This JTC Quick Response Bulletin provides important reminders designed to ensure courts succeed with these efforts while continuing to play the essential role courts play in civil society.

Click here to view/download the 7 April 2020 PDF version of the report.

Online Training on Court Tech Response to the Pandemic

https://www.ncsc.org/

There are multiple training events and podcasts on technology and management responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The NCSC is hosting an online seminar on Tuesday, April 7 at 3:00 PM EDT. 

Details on that and others are listed below:

US Federal Courts Announcement: Judiciary Authorizes Video/Audio Access During COVID-19 Pandemic

Press Release: Published on March 31, 2020

https://www.uscourts.gov/news/2020/03/31/judiciary-authorizes-videoaudio-access-during-covid-19-pandemic

In order to address health and safety concerns in federal courthouses and courtrooms, the Judicial Conference of the United States has temporarily approved the use of video and teleconferencing for certain criminal proceedings and access via teleconferencing for civil proceedings during the COVID-19 national emergency.

Court Web Conferencing Tips

In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to share some tips from more than twenty years using videoconferencing and web conferencing technology for presentations, technology development and support.  We begin:

Courts and Coronavirus: Is Videoconferencing a Solution?

Video Conference Room at the Ninth Judicial Circuit, Florida

Building upon our JTC Teleservices post earlier this month, I received permission from the author (and good friend), Prof Anne Wallace of Latrobe University to re-post the following article from another friend, Norman Meyer's Court Leader blog.


The global coronavirus pandemic is having profound effects and the responses by governments, health care providers, individuals, etc., is ongoing. At this time (mid-March) we do not have all the answers and the totality of what may happen is yet to be learned. Nevertheless, there are actions we can take to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. One way this can happen is to have courts use technology to enable remote personal appearances. Today’s blog post is written by Professor Anne Wallace, whose research about the issues involved in such remote appearances provides valuable information for courts worldwide to consider as they cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Many thanks go to her for this valuable information.

JTC Resource Bulletin: Case Studies in ODR for Courts

Since the JTC first released a publication on the topic of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) in 2016, there has been a seismic shift in US courts’ practical experience as well as interest in ODR. This paper highlights ODR implementations that illustrate a sample of technologies, philosophies, and approaches to the used.

Virus Outbreak Prompts China's Courts to go Online

We learned from the South China Morning Post (via a repost from Abacus)

As a result of the COVID-19 (Corona Virus) outbreak, the courts in China have moved much of their work to online electronic services.

"The Shanghai High Court recorded a 63 percent increase in online court cases compared with the same period last year, state media reported. In addition to handling court case filings online, the court is using online platforms to handle payments, contact with judges, material submissions and other litigation services. Remote court trials are conducted over video links.

Online court technology is also being used in other parts of the country, but not everything is going smoothly. Assistant judge Ma Chengcheng of the Intermediate People’s Court in Xinyang told local media that before the trial, participants needed to be contacted by phone or WeChat and patiently walked through how to use the software."

eCourts 2020 Call for Proposals is Open

Our eCourts 2020 conference staff release the following announcement:

eCourts 2020 will provide opportunities to learn about both practical applications of technology as well as innovations that may impact the courts. We are reaching out to the court community for session ideas that will energize the teams of administrators, technologists, and judges who attend the eCourts conference.

JTC Resource Bulletin - Cybersecurity Basics

In December 2019 the Joint Technology Committee (JTC) established by the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), the National Association for Court Management (NACM) and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) issued a new Resource Bulletinon Cybersecurity Basics for Courts.

This and That in Court Technology – February 2020

Irish Beef Stew

Just like the winter Irish beef stew shown in the picture to the right, we have a mix of great projects/ingredients to share this month.  They include serious security warning for Microsoft Windows, new AI decision reader from ROSS Intelligence, Lex Machina AI expanding into state courts, the PACER fees federal appeals hearing, Alaska Emailing jury summons, and automation program news from England & Wales and a new automation budget commitment for Ireland.

JTC Resource Bulletin - Teleservices for Courts

Teleservices is the delivery of services from a distance using telephony and/or digital technologies. There are a growing number of innovative utilizations with a track record of success in both the public and private sectors. Teleservices can be more widely utilized for some court processes, saving courts and the public time and money, better meeting client needs, reducing security risks to medical and behavioral health providers and the public, and improving the public’s access to justice.

E-Courts 2020 Registration is Open

Registration for eCourts 2020 is open. The conference runs December 7–9, 2020, at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. You should register today to book at our lowest block pricing.


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Report on Court Appearances in Criminal Proceedings Through Telepresence

McGlothlin Courtroom - William and Mary Law School

Center for Legal and Court Technology

I had the pleasure of participating, along with many court and academic friends, in the focus group on using Telepresence (video conferencing)for an excellent report released this month from RAND Corporation via their Priority Criminal Justice Needs Program funded by the National Institute of Justice.

More below:

Legislatures Considering Text Notification Statutes

Our fellow NCSC blog, Gavel to Gavel, posted an interesting article today regarding legislatures in Colorado, Tennessee, and Massachusetts to require... yes, require courts to be able to send reminders to court participants. 

Three state legislatures consider programs to require courts notify defendants by text of upcoming court hearings

Bills in three states have been filed in the last month to require state courts (in particular the various administrative offices of the courts) to develop text reminder system.

This and That in Court Tech – January 2020

https://pixabay.com/

Court technology news this month includes the Florida court’s E-Notify system, automatic transcription news, US Federal Courts PACER, and observations on how to make access to justice (A2J) work, and digital documentation using AI.

Singapore Chief Justice Maps Court's Tech Future

The New Singapore Courts Tower

We follow the Judiciary of Singapore closely here at the Court Technology Bulletin.  Being a small country, they can take bold steps in their technology portfolio.  On January 6, 2020 Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon made his annual Opening of the Legal Year address which highlighted many tech programs.

Protecting Judges with Avatars

A computer-generated image of a young woman

Here is the problem.  In some countries, judges face immediate physical danger every day.  Some projects have tried to use video conferencing to physically separate the judges from the criminal defendants to increase safety.  But, the root problem is the actual identity of the judges. Even where defendants are incarcerated in prisons or jails; if they are members of criminal families, or corrupt police, or military, their compatriots can potentially attack and even kill the judge and their families.

There is now a potential technical solution to this threat by using lifelike avatars in the video conference to protect the identity of the judge.  Now we aren’t suggesting cartoon-like avatars such as you find in video games or mobile phone apps.  We are suggesting the use of lifelike avatars that track a person’s facial features, eye movement, and dilation. Not surprising, because of their ownership of Oculus, Facebook is a tech leader here.  For an example of the work they are doing in this area see: https://youtu.be/86-tHA8F-zU

Cyber Safety During the Holidays

The holiday season takes many people out of their usual safe Internet connections and on to public WiFi.  The Portland, Oregon division of the US Government FBI posted these following tips to keep you safe from data theft.

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/portland/news/press-releases/tech-tuesdayholiday-travels

E-Courts 2020 and an AI Warning

A pair of excellent E-Courts presenters

Just two quick notes.  First, the next E-Courts Conference will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada from December 7-9, 2020 at the MGM Grand Hotel which is a huge property.  My suggestion is to first mark your calendar and then start shopping and breaking in your walking shoes.  You will need them!

5G Mobile – The Hype and Reality

I have been confused by all the noise regarding the new 5G mobile (cell) communications systems that are being introduced.  There seemed to be so many different and conflicting messages (and hype) about the technology, I thought it was time to try to understand what is going on?  I share my findings below.

What technology will courts be using in 5 years’ time?

Hon. Judge Andrea Tsalamandris

We are pleased to share the following post from our friend, the Hon. Judge Andrea Tsalamandris from Melbourne, Australia on "how technology can be used by judges and court administration to create efficiencies in our courts, and enhance access to justice.

LegalXML E-Filing Standard and A2J/ODR

http://bit.ly/2NW0wPJ

Like the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercial with the tag line “you got chocolate in my peanut butter” there is a great potential synergy between A2J/ODR and court E-filing. Specifically, did you know that the Oasis-Open LegalXML Electronic Court Filing 5.0 standard could be used as an interface into the court’s data by Access to Justice (A2J) and ODR systems?  More below.

2019 ODR International Forum: ‘Online Dispute Resolution is here to stay’

Singapore presentation at ODR 2019

The woman’s last name was called a few times in Collin County Court in North Texas before she finally appeared, 15 minutes late, with a baby in her arms and tears in her eyes. As Ben White, the court’s senior IT manager, watched her rush into the courtroom, he assumed the woman couldn’t find a babysitter and her job didn’t offer paid time off. He wondered if the money she was losing by being in court that day might cause her to go into debt.

“I realized right then that ODR (online dispute resolution) was meant for her,” said White, a panelist at the recent 2019 ODR International Forum.

This and That in Court Technology – Halloween 2019

In this “busy holiday” edition of the CTB we share news about ODR in Yolo County, California, ideas for finding money for justice programs, yet another ransomware attack, a new institute on Speech to Text technology, Alexa voice response for juror information in Orlando, Florida, a report on court digitization in the Dallas, Texas Municipal Court, a new Oasis-Open standard for digital signatures, a “blueprint” report from England and Wales on digital justice, and the Sweden judiciary exploring interactive decisions.

The Purposes of Court Technology

I thought that I would share a post on the purpose of various court work processes and how technology has (or in some instances has not) changed them.  In other words, why do we do what we do in the legal/court system?

Let’s begin:

Tech Interns for Courts: Some Ideas

Over the years I have had some excellent interns that worked for me in Arizona, on international projects, and here at the NCSC.   It seems that, not surprisingly, all of them went on to good careers.  In this week's post, I will share some project ideas for your potential interns and second, some tips to make their experience a rewarding one.

CTC 2019 Session Videos Available Online

The NCSC is happy to share sixteen Court Technology Conference 2019 educational sessions.   The full list of CTC educational sessions is available here so you can see what you missed and start to build your justification to attend either E-Courts 2020 or CTC 2021.

This and That in Court Tech – September 2019

In this month’s compendium, we have a lot of news and comments about electronic documents.  The posts discuss online “phishing” scammers using fake legal documents, an audit report on the UK Court Modernization Program, a PDF standard implementation announcement by Microsoft, another court filer document redaction problem, the new public Texas court document portal, the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act and a personal note on Judge Dorothy Nelson.

Judge Rose Zamora Awarded McMillan Scholarship at CTC-2019

Jim McMillan and Judge Rose Zamora at CTC-2019

We are pleased to share that Judge Rose Zamora from the New Braunfels Texas Municipal Court was awarded the McMillan Scholarship at the CTC 2019 Conference for her innovations.  Much more below:

Some CTC 2019 Highlights

If you weren’t one of the 1,400 or so people who attended CTC 2019 on Sept. 10-12 in New Orleans, you missed a lot of great information, but here’s a summary of a handful of some well-attended sessions. 

We will have additional articles on the conference in the upcoming weeks.

OASIS Litigant Portal Draft Standard Review

OASIS and the OASIS Litigant Portal (LP) TC are pleased to announce that Litigant Portal Exchange Version 1.0 is now available for public review and comment.

The Litigant Portal Exchange 1.0 (LPX 1.0) standard consists of a set of non-proprietary message specifications and data models, along with clarifying explanations, to promote interoperability between litigant portal systems, courts, legal assistance providers and related systems. Portal modules are designed to provide assistance to self-represented litigants.

Criminal Justice System Information – A NoSQL Solution

Cards used in Bletchley Park during WWII

By James E. McMillan, Principal Court Management Consultant, National Center for State Courts

Summary: I think that I have found a solution for one of the most difficult problems in justice systems: the criminal case information data model and coinciding information accuracy.  I understand that this is a bold statement and therefore the following article explains it in some detail.

The problem with tracking criminal case information from inception (incident or indictment), through the process and subsequent consequences and compliance have always been complexity.  Criminal and juvenile case data includes charges, modifications, findings, orders, fines and restitution payment, and behavioral/remediation compliance that change and reconfigure in non-specific ways.  The graphic from a SEARCH Group Report below shows some of the data and workflows involved.

What to know before you go to CTC 2019

This week's CTB post shares all the information you need for the Court Technology Conference (CTC) 2019 next week in New Orleans, Louisiana from September 10-12, 2019.

It is going to be a terrific conference!  See you there.

Sharing and Highlighting

We learned via an article and video report from KSAT television news in San Antonio, Texas titled “Enormous justice system gap closed, allowing courts to communicate better” about a new system in Bexar County, Texas to make “firearm bans now more visible to more judges”. 

A Couple of Good Mobile Court Apps

Our friends in the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department have developed a couple of simple and easy to use court apps.  They are available in English and Arabic on the Apple App Store so you can download them to see how they work?

ODR 2019 Conference Agenda Released

The Online Dispute Resolution Forum  (https://www.ncsc.org/odr2019 ) agenda has been released and is shown below.  The conference will be held from October 28-30 with a special pre-conference event on October 28 in the home of the NCSC, Williamsburg Virginia.

The agenda includes reports and lessons from the real-world application of ODR in the courts both in the USA and internationally.  The agenda looks great!

Click here for registration.

2019 State Court E-Filing Program Status List

We compiled the following list of court E-filing program links in August 2019.  This is an update to the list we created in 2016.  We found information for every state and territory except Oklahoma and American Samoa.  Congratulations to all the courts for their
hard work.

Improving-Child-Support-Enforcement Outcomes with ODR in Michigan

https://www.miottawa.org/aboutottawa.htm

Our NCSC KIS group recently posted one of our "Trends" articles by Kevin Bowling and Jannell Challa of the Michigan 20th Circuit Court along with NCSC colleague, Di Graski on how ODR facilitated communications to improve child support outcomes for the participants and the court (PDF).  Please read more about this significant achievement below:

Punchline – Google Edition – And an Idea

This is a short note today due to travel regarding a CBS News report titled “CBS News investigation finds fraudulent court orders used to change Google search results” from July 25, 2019.  The report explained that:

“A Google search can reveal negative information about anyone or any company. Since it's difficult to change those results, many small businesses are paying thousands to so-called reputation management companies to make negative web pages disappear.”

They further explained:

“One of the only ways to get Google to permanently remove a link from its search results is with a court order from a judge. CBS News sorted through thousands of these court orders and spotted small businesses from all across America trying to clean up their reputations. But we also spotted a problem: Dozens of the court documents were fakes.”

If you get a chance to watch the video it shows that the fraudsters simply cut and pasted images of the court stamps and judges signatures.  Thus here is yet another example of how the authentication method of signatures and blue rubber stamps is outdated. 

We have posted many articles on this type of problem before. But, I want to offer another idea?  Why not set up a new “verified electronic copy” service with fees that Google and others could pay to the court to receive a verified copy … with ideally an electronic signature.  The fee would very likely be passed along by Google to the persons/companies who legitimately should have their web page/link removed.  And of course, the fee rule could allow for the court to issue a waver.

So accurate information, problems for the fraudsters, and fee to help courts pay for the service.  What’s not to like?

This and That in Court Tech - July 2019

http://bit.ly/2O0gxGA

This month’s summer basket of Court Technology news includes the CTC 2019 agenda announcement, Arizona’s new eAccess Online Portal, a note on savings created by the use of the Florida E-Filing Portal, an award for the Pennsylvania Court Guardianship technology program, a report for the England and Wales courts on legal technology, and a tutorial on how to use Microsoft Office 365’s e-discovery tools.

Virginia Public Access to Court Records Grows

Virginia State Capitol buildings

Thanks to some articles on Medium.com we learned that the Virginia courts have opened court records to online access and bulk download last week.  This follows years of litigation from news media organizations that resulted in a Virginia Supreme Court ruling in 2017 denying access.  However, in the interim political pressure resulted in first the Virginia Supreme Court announced on January 23, 2018, that they would “promulgate a court rule concerning public access to judiciary records on or before December 1, 2018, and later legislation requiring that “bulk data” be made available.

Free Security Awareness Kit

With the news of the Georgia Administrative Office of the Court's ransomware attack, I thought that it would be best to pass along Brian Krebs message about the free security awareness campaign for your staff.  You can access the Information Security Institute (InfoSec) “Marine Lowlifes Campaign Kit” (get it… dangerous phish?) here. 

There is also an introduction video to view to see what they are providing.  Be safe.

US Federal Judiciary Creates Public User Group for PACER

Via press release on June 26, 2019: The Federal Judiciary has created and is seeking members for a public user group to provide advice and feedback on ways to improve its electronic public access services. The Electronic Public Access (EPA) Public User Group membership will be selected from interested applicants who represent the legal sector, media, academia, government agencies, the public, and other entities that use the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system to access federal court records. The group will allow for the exchange of information about issues experienced by users, and it will recommend ideas for expanding and improving services.

“AI” in Justice Systems

We heard about a new program that the San Francisco, California District Attorney is developing a program to attempt to reduce racial bias. That and another article on “AI Hype” and other AI development projects are in this week’s post.

This and That in Court Tech and CTC Announcement – June 2019

We are pleased to share that renowned author Richard Susskind will be the keynote speaker at the CTC 2019 Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana on September 10, 2019.  That and news about the New Mexico OneSource system, an upcoming podcast by my colleagues on blockchain, a “Jury Bot” system, a call for judicial technical competence, and my experience with the latest Windows 10 feature update, are in this month’s compilation of tech news.

Virus attack takes down court – what can be done?

We learned that the Philadelphia courts and their E-filing system have been brought down with a computer virus attack.  And the attack has not resulted in a data breach or ransomware installation (unlike Baltimore City government). 

We wish them the best for a complete recovery and want to share some thoughts on how one might prepare and recover from this problem.

E-Filing Gets Serious in New Jersey

Photo: Andreas Praefcke [CC BY 3.0 ]

We learned from a Law.com article that the New Jersey Appellate Court had affirmed an order enforcing an arbitration award after the plaintiff’s lawyer “failed to use New Jersey’s eCourts system to electronically file its demand for a trial de novo and to pay the filing fee”.  Discussion follows below.

Courthouse Wi-Fi Access and New Tech Standards

An article last month in Government Technology magazine’s website titled “Court Calls for Wi-Fi to Comply with N.Y. Digital Evidence Rule” got me thinking that the world is probably changing in terms of courthouse Internet access.  The following post will list/discuss some of the court's policies and rules along with some new Wi-Fi standards that are being implemented.

LegalXML Electronic Court Filing 5.0 Standard Approved

OASIS is pleased to announce that Electronic Court Filing Version 5.0 (ECF) from the OASIS LegalXML Electronic Court Filing Technical Committee [1] has been approved as an OASIS Committee Specification.  (ed note: the committee has been working on this for years BTW.)

ECF defines a technical architecture and a set of components, operations and message structures for an electronic court filing system, and sets forth rules governing its implementation. Version 5.0 provides a number of enhancements including:

A Barrel Full of Court Tech News

It is spring flower season and so we share an analogous bounty of court tech in the following post.  Included are news about CTC registration, more reminder systems benefits, New Mexico's new open legal online access system, China court blockchain, and AI projects, Amal and George Clooney's TrialWatch app, Kansas Supreme Court's E-Filing rules review, and paper savings in the England and Wales courts.