My Favorite Browser Extensions

The CTB has been delving into a lot of serious subjects lately.  So I thought it was time for a little fun.  In this post, I share a note about my favorite Google Chrome browser extensions.

Maryland Courts Release Law Help Mobile App

Thanks to our good friend Bonnie Hough we learned that the Maryland Judiciary has a free mobile app that provides easy access to tools and resources to aid Marylanders in using the courts and getting legal help.  The Maryland Law Help app includes: self-help videos, court form finders, direct links to CALL or CHAT directly with an attorney at the Md. Courts Self-Help Center, access to the People's Law Library and court legal help pages, as well as  information on  law libraries, mediation and language access. The app is available for Apple and Android devices through the App Store and Google Play.  For more information see: http://mdcourts.gov/legalhelp/mobileapp.html

Congratulations to the Maryland Judiciary for some great work.

Lastpass now Free but not Court Documents

A couple of news items to share regarding password managers and access to court documents.

This and That in Court Technology – October, 2016

Microsoft Surface Studio

It was a busy month in court technology. In this post we share news about judicial decision prediction system, a court rejecting e-signed documents, a new online traffic ticket mediation implementation, several Microsoft related technology announcements, and last call for the Australia legal and court technology conference registration.

Law Firms as an Electronic Filing Service Provider

We are pleased to share the following article by Mr. Dallas Powell, President of Tybera, Inc., an E-filing services company.  In the article he shares their experience with law firms and government agencies connecting directly to the court's EFM (E-Filing Manager) services.

US Federal Courts PACER Fees Litigation

US Federal Courthouse Las Cruces NM

An article posted at qz.com (Quartz) discusses the court case regarding fees for the public use of the US Federal Courts PACER system.  The article notes:

“the paywall that surrounds Pacer is facing what may be its most serious test since the service emerged 28 years ago. Judge Ellen Huvelle of the US district court in Washington DC is expected to decide in the coming days whether a lawsuit accusing the government of setting Pacer fees at unlawfully high rates can proceed. 

The case, which is seeking class-action certification, is being led by three nonprofits: the National Veterans Legal Service Program, the National Consumer Law Center, and the Alliance for Justice. Each group says it has downloaded documents from Pacer and incurred charges alleged to exceed the cost of providing the records. All say the setup violates the E-Government Act of 2002, which authorizes the judiciary to “prescribe reasonable fees”—and which the plaintiffs argue should limit the government to charge users “only to the extent necessary” to make the information available.”

The full article is worth reading because it provides some explanation of fee waivers and, the total amount of revenue generated that supports court automation that is not provided by Congress in budget appropriation.  We would also point out that there are additional issues such as costs relating to data privacy, redaction, and management that are not addressed in the article.

Court Case Management Systems Part 18: Decision Support

In the previous post in our series we discussed Court Case Management Systems (CCMS) Dashboards that support case process, management information, and decisions.  In other words, information that makes our “court process factory” more efficient.  And the key purpose of case management is to organize data (and insure completeness) so that it can in turn be converted into information for cases to be adjudicated and decisions rendered.

But what’s next?  We think that one part of the answer is to integrate and extend the judicial decision support functionality into the CCMS itself. We explain below…

ROSS – Artificial Intelligent Lawyer

IBM Watson - Home of ROSS

Earlier this week I heard about ROSS for the first time from the brilliant Snorri Ogata of the Los Angeles Superior Court at the NAPCO Conference in Cleveland.  So I had to learn more…

This and That in Court Technology – September, 2016

Attendees enjoying e-Courts

We share news about the e-Courts 2016 Conference, the Federal Courts test of prisoner electronic access kiosks, news in the search for a quiet keyboard - now in portable form, questions raised about Australian use of court videoconferencing, a Blockchain notarization service, and a new court podcast in Florida.

NCSC Court Tech Positions Announced

The National Center for State Courts - Court Consulting Services Division in collaboration with Technology Services has openings for two positions:



1. Senior Court Technology Consultant, Band W316; Salary depends on qualification.
2. Principal Court Technology Consultant, Band D418; Salary depends on qualification.

Positions are open until filled; however, for first consideration, submit applications by Monday, October 3, 2016 until 5:00 pm. EDT.

To apply for any of these positions, go to our web page at: www.ncsc.org/jobs and click on NCSC domestic jobs. First time users will need to register before applying.  Positions are being advertised internally and externally at the same time.

Argentina's Center for Judicial Information

For many years I have been an admirer for the Argentina Judiciary’s Center for Judicial Information website.  I think that it is one of the best judicial websites in the world and it is one that should be studied and monitored by other judiciaries.  Via our good friend, Mr. Luis Maria Palma, President of E-Justicia Latinoamerica and a Vice-President of the International Association for Court Administration we were able to contact Ms. Maria Bourdin, who late last year was named as head of their Ministry of Communication and Open Government.  She was kind enough to answer our questions and share information regarding their excellent court website.

CSI Announces Intellidact LBX™ Machine Learning Technology

I am happy to share a press release from one of our leading court technology vendors this week.  CSI has been working with courts for more than 20 years in support and the development of automated redaction technology.  Their new system provides a powerful way for courts to bridge the gap between paper and electronic data.  Congratulations to our good friends in Orlando for this significant achievement.

The full press release follows below:

Michigan Releases Statewide E-Filing RFP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Island_Light_(Michigan)

On August 25, 2016, State Court Administrator Milton L. Mack, Jr. announced:

“I am pleased to report that the Michigan Supreme Court released a Request for Proposals (RFP) today, seeking a vendor to supply a statewide system that will allow litigants to file cases electronically from anywhere at any time.  The RFP also asks that vendors submit proposals for an electronic document management system so that courts can receive and manage e-filed documents.

Release of the RFP is a major step forward in our efforts to help trial courts across Michigan benefit from the potential improvements in efficiency that e-filing can provide, including reduced handling of paper files and reduced need for manual data entry of case information.

Law and Courts in an Online World Conference – Melbourne, Australia

I am happy to announce that I will be speaking along with good friend Judge Dory Reiling and many others at the Law and Courts in an Online World Conference that will be held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, November 8 & 9, 2016.  They have announced that an early-bird discount fee for the conference is available until August 31.

South Carolina Courts Seeks IT Director

We learned today that the job announcement for the South Carolina Judicial Department IT Director has been released. The closing date for application is September 9, 2016.  The announcement job responsibilities description starts:

"Under limited supervision, the Director of Information Technology is a member of the executive management team and is responsible for providing leadership in the development of technology solutions to support SCJD's mission, goals, and objectives."

The full job announcement with submission instructions is available online here.

This and That in Court Technology – August 2016

In this edition of "This and That" we share E-Courts conference updates, US Federal Courts updating their E-filing rules, IJIS Institute Mid-Year Update Meeting, the ABA Future of Legal Services report, information regarding the new Microsoft Two-Step Authentication app, and last a handy home improvement app I recently used.

Storage, SSD’s and the Future of Court Records

A recent article stated “SSD prices plummet again, close in on HDD”.  Translated that means that solid state “flash” storage that runs much faster than traditional hard disk drives (HDD’s) is closing in on price parity.  But what does this mean for court records?  We discuss and speculate below.

Judge John Tanzer and eJudiciary

Our good friend, Sir Henry Brooke posted an excellent post on the impact that fellow jurist John Tanzer had on the adoption of IT in the English courts.

EOIR RFI Q&A Deadline for Questions and Responses Extended

The US Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review RFI has extended the date and time for accepting question until Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.

The deadline for responses has been extended to Monday, August 15, 2016.at 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.

For more on the RFI see our earlier post at: https://courttechbulletin.blogspot.com/2016/07/rfi-issued-for-us-department-of-justice.html 

More Developments in Blockchain Technology and the Law

Blockchain technology or as it is also known as, “distributed ledger”, is the subject of a great deal of thinking and development this year.  We wrote about it earlier in the year and now we share some recent work being done at MIT Media Lab’s lawchain.org project.

Connecting the E-Filing “Pipes”

Craig VanBrussel, CTO for the First Judicial Circuit of Florida wrote after listening to the recent online Court Tech Futures webinar about how they are closing the loop with their E-filing pipes.

RFI Issued for US Department of Justice EOIR

ZYGOS Consulting (ZYGOS) in conjunction with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) in support of the ECAS Program has issued a Request for Information for the US Department of Justice Executive Office of Immigration Review. (https://www.justice.gov/eoir )   

US Federal Judiciary Cites Technology for Efficiency

US Federal Courthouse in Denver

In a press release on July 6, 2016 the US Federal Courts cited multiple court technology initiatives as part of their overall efficiency and cost reduction strategy.

Webinar and Other News – July, 2016

News about a free court tech webinar, more on CMS events and decisions, Margaret Hagan on Legal Services Bots, and a couple of security warnings.

Court Case Management Events and Decision Mapping

Earlier this week I participated in the BPM and Case Management Global Summit conference with my good friend and colleague, John Matthias of the NCSC Court Services Division.  He shared some of his recent work on court case management systems including decision mapping.

JTC Webinar: Using Technology to Improve Pretrial Release Decision-Making

The Joint Technology Committee (JTC) will host a webinar next Tuesday, June 28 on technology and risk-assessment tools to support pretrial release decision-making.

e-Courts 2016 News

We share the latest news about the e-Courts 2016 Conference that will be held December 12-14, 2016 at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Court Contingency Planning

As they say, stuff happens.  So it is very important that courts develop a contingency plan to keep operating as much as possible.

Our guest blogger, Steve Smith, Technology Services Supervisor of the 13th Circuit Court for Boone and Callaway counties in Missouri, shares what they have developed.