Technology Leadership Resource Guide

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Resource Guide

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e-Courts West Conference.

ICM course - Fundamental Issues of Caseflow Management.

In this course, participants will assess the effectiveness of their court's caseflow management system.

As the world of technology matures, court technology is once again taking on new dimensions. The case management system that operates only within one institution is slowly following the old docket books of yesterday into obscurity. It is no longer practical for courts to contain their data within their own operations. Modern courts receive and disseminate information electronically. This information does (or will) extend well beyond their own walls. Electronic information exchange not only brings with it the responsibility of creating standards of communication among entities, but also a strong need for collaboration and cooperation as well. Post-9/11 court technology leaders are answering this call, and this responsibility is extending to national and international levels, through the development of national standards and models for information sharing.

Several organizations, including the National Center for State Courts, have taken on leadership roles in these endeavors. The Joint Technology Committee of the Conference of State Court Administrators and the National Association for Court Management has the authority to approve the developing standards, while the Conference of Chief Justices provides the leadership to have states adopt them. Functional standards for court case management systems were developed by the National Consortium for State Court Automation Standards and currently encompass the civil, domestic-relations, criminal, and juvenile case management arenas. Standards for the electronic court record include file processing, XML, and the justice XML data dictionary.

Other activities include SEARCH organization’s model policy for developing a request for proposal (RFP) and the National Center for State Courts’ recent report, “Developing CCJ/COSCA Guidelines for Public Access to Court Records: A National Project to Assist Courts.”

The National Center for State Courts has long been a principal player in the court technology field. In 1991 the NCSC joined forces with the William and Mary School of Law to create the Courtroom 21 Project, an important center for courtroom and related technology information and experimentation. Since 1984 NCSC has sponsored national court technology conferences, which attract court leaders from all over the world, to discuss leading-edge technologies for the courts.

In this post 9/11 era, leaders in the court community are charged with communicating, cooperating, and collaborating with participating agencies to build a national Integrated Justice Information System network. Standards will play an integral role in this undertaking, as will concepts like enterprise and service-oriented architectures.

Links to related online resources are listed below. Non-digitized publications may be borrowed from the NCSC Library; call numbers are provided.

Featured Links

Court Technology Vendor List The Court Technology Vendor List is a resource provided by NCSC to the court community to help court managers find appropriate vendors for their technology needs.

Court Technology Bulletin This online version of the Court Technology Bulletin features cutting edge information about technology and the court community. (Note: Digitized copies of the printed version of the Bulletins from 1989 to 2003 are available in the Digital Archive.)

Issue: Information Services/Technology Government Relations describes the impact, position, and summary on the issue of Information Services/Technology in Congress.

The Court Technology Framework: Leveraging Technology and Standards to Deliver Business Value Presentation from the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the National Court Technology Conference. Reviews the Joint Technology Committee's (JTC) efforts to provide guidance in the development of standards.

How IT Supports Judicial Reform Presentation from the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the National Court Technology Conference .Explores how IT can support judicial reform and accountability from an international perspective.

Court Technology Conference Presentations

Presentations from earlier National Court Technology Conferences regarding Technology Leadership in the courts.

Justice System Journal Articles

NACM Justice Achievement Awards

A compilation of the National Association for Court Management's Justice Achievement Awards from 2000-2011.

Trends Articles

General

Core Competencies - Information Technology Management. The National Association for Court Management Curriculum Guidelines to define Core Competencies for presiding and supervising judges, court managers and court administrative staff. The ten core competencies include information technology management.

Court Technology Framework (CTF). (September 2009). NCSC and Joint Technology Committee.

The CTF is being developed as a tool to provide context for existing, and identification of possible new, technology standards initiatives for the courts community.

Court Technology Model Request for Proposal. (2000). Joint Technology Committee of the Conference of State Court Administrators and the National Association for Court Management This model RFP document has been prepared to assist court administrators and court technologists with technology acquisition.

Olson, Travis, Esq. et al. Model Rules for Electronic Filing and Services. (August 2003). LexisNexis File & Serve The purpose of this white paper is two-fold: (1) To provide a practical guide for judges, attorneys, court administrators, rules committee members and legislators to develop rules of procedure for electronic filing and service projects; and (2)To provide a basis for standardization of uniform electronic filing and service rules for state courts to adopt.

Carlson, Alan and Martha Wade Steketee. Public Access to Court Records: Implementing the CCJ/COSCA Guidelines. (October 2005). Justice Management Institute and National Center for State Courts This report continues the work initiated under SJI project SJI-01-N-054 and SJI-02-N-007, which produced the CCJ/COSCA Guidelines to facilitate policy development by state courts in the area of public access to court records that were endorsed by CCJ and COSCA on August 1, 2002 and finalized in October 2002.

Robust IT Program Benefits Courts and Public: An Interview with Judge Thomas Vanaskie. (November 2006). The Third Branch As a U.S. District Court Judge in Pennsylvania, the Honorable Vanaskie discusses his role as chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on Information Technology and the goals of the committee.

Technology and the Courts 2008 Survey. (October 2008). Division of Information Technology, Ohio Supreme Court This biennial survey provides a snapshot of the status of court technology in Ohio.

Technology Standards. COSCA/NACM Joint Technology Committee of the Consortium for National Case Management Automation Functional Standards Project Standards will define the standard functionality needed by all courts in their case management applications and should spur the development of sophisticated software applications supplying the defined functionality. Courts may use the functionality standards in procuring new or enhanced automated applications, supplementing them as necessary to define unique local needs.

The Center for Legal and Court Technology and the Courtroom 21 Project. William and Mary School of Law and The National Center for State Courts. Williamsburg, VA. Courtroom 21, unveiled in August, 1993, is the most technologically advanced courtroom in the world. The courtroom is a joint project of the William and Mary School of Law and The National Center for State Courts.