Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Some News Notes

A busy couple of weeks.  But we wanted to share three notes about “The Free Law Project” Judicial Database, Microsoft’s partnership with the Legal Service Corporation and Pro Bono Net, and some recent legal action involving digital evidence.


Tuesday, April 12, 2016

A Response to Texas Criminal E-Filing Mandate Concerns


I received a link to an article in Texas Lawyer from our friend, new PhD Bill Raftery at Gavel to Gavel regarding a public hearing held on April 5, 2016 at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals regarding mandatory criminal case E-filing.  The article notes that the court has already made filing mandatory for their cases.  But they heard additional concerns that I will comment on:


Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Criminal Justice Identification in the Cloud


Courts have an unending problem with criminal defendant identification.  If one thinks about this issue for a minute, in many instances it is a benefit to the defendant to not be properly identified.  As most of you know, there have been biometric systems (fingerprint, face recognition for example) available for law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts for many years.  But there has been a significant initial cost barrier.  Last week I saw an interesting possible “cloud based” solution that may help.


Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Oregon iForms Project Simplifies Public Court Access


Earlier this year we found the following press release from the Oregon Judicial Branch on their OJD iForms project.  They wrote:


Thursday, March 24, 2016

The Digital Paper E-Ink Device from Sony Surprises


Technology surprises appear every day… even when they are over two years old.  Last week I stumbled across the Sony Digital Paper device at the American Bar Association TechShow in Chicago.  In many ways this is the device in my opinion that many judges have been looking for.


Tuesday, March 22, 2016

“Managing Digital Evidence in Courts”



The COSCA/NACM Joint Technology Committee has issued a new report: “Managing Digital Evidence in Courts”.  The report identifies potential challenges and recommends steps courts should consider when receiving, evaluating, protecting, and presenting digital evidence, including video from body-worn cameras, private citizens, and other sources.

Click here to view and download the report.






Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Monday, March 14, 2016

In the Matter of the George and Jane Jetson Family Case No. 20??-0000-DM

The Jetsons


The Michigan Bar Journal has given the CTB permission to republish an entertaining but I believe prescient article by the President of the Michigan Bar Association, President Lori A. Buiteweg.


Wednesday, March 9, 2016

CourtHack 2016 a Great Success!



This past weekend the NCSC team working with HackerNest held the first ever CourtHack event.  I can say without qualification that it was great!  More...



Friday, March 4, 2016

A List of State Court E-Filing Fees

Bill Raftery and I did some research this week that we want to share.  I have uploaded a new list for E-filing links.  But this time we have tried to include the costs/fees that are associated with the services.

Please share in the comments below if we made any mistakes or omissions so that everyone has the best information.

Click here to view/download the PDF list document - Updated, March 9, 2016.