Nebraska Electronic Courts: Participatory Change

1. Nebraska Electronic Courts: Participatory Change Justice of the Supreme Court of Nebraska, William B. Cassel Deputy State Court Administrator for IT, Jennifer Rasmussen JUSTICE Business Analyst Supervisor, Sherri Dennis

2. Nebraska Court Structure and Staffing SUPREME COURT: mostly discretionary appellate COURT OF APPEALS: mandatory appellate DISTRICT COURT: general jurisdiction trial and appellate SEPARATE JUVENILE COURT: 3 counties COUNTY COURT: limited jurisdiction trial, including juvenile jurisdiction for other 90 counties All judges are state employees All court staff are state employees under administrative control of Supreme Court EXCEPT district court clerks and staff are county employees

3. Tech Policy Advice to Supreme Court TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE Appointed by Supreme Court Includes judges, court clerks, lawyers, AOC staff, technology staff 3 subcommittees: Strategic Planning E-filing Courtroom Enhancements

4. Operational Technology Advice and Directions Appellate Courts Automation Committee Trial Court Automation Committees: District Court Automation Committee Juvenile Court Automation Committee County Court Automation Committee Respective committees include level-appropriate judges, court clerks, tech staff

5. Not One System, But Multiple Interactive Computer Systems JUSTICE: trial court clerks’ docketing & financial system SCCALES: appellate court clerk’s docketing & financial system NEBRASKA.GOV: Internet portal for remote public access to case info & copies and for attorney e-filing USER INTERFACES: automated distribution to agencies (e.g. DMV) and bulk e-filing for high volume users

6. Key: JUSTICE Becomes a Truly Statewide System Piloted in 1994 in 2 small- and 1 medium-sized counties Douglas (Omaha) and Lancaster (Lincoln) county courts criminal/traffic added in 1995 and 1996 All county courts using JUSTICE for all case types by early 2001 All district courts (except Douglas) using JUSTICE for all case types by end of 2000 Douglas district court converted in March 2011 and juvenile court conversion completed in November 2011

7. Important Milestones in Trial Court E-filing 2006 - Strategic plan adopted 2006 - Interim e-filing rules 2007 - First e-filing launched 2008 - Redaction rule adopted 2008 - Document images online 2008 - Nebraska.gov e-filing launched 2011 – Douglas district conversion 2012 – NE.gov e-service launched

8. Necessary Rule Amendments §§ 1-301 to 1-308 – digital signatures by court personnel §§ 1-801 to 1-810 – public access §§ 6-401 to 6-419 – trial court e-filing and e-service, inc’g e-signature formats § 6-1521 civil filings redaction (DC ver.) § 6-1524 criminal filings redaction (DC ver.) Proposed appellate e-filing rules at http://www.supremecourt.ne.gov/sites/supremecourt.ne.gov/files/rules/proposed/Proposed2-200%2BForComment.pdf

9. Initial Developments in Appellate Court E-filing Late 1980’s – electronic records in parallel with paper records 2004 – electronic-only docket records 2009 – converted system to same language as JUSTICE 2011 – began scanning and imaging of paper filings 2011 – began electronic docketing of appeals from district courts

10. What’s Next in Appellate E-filing Appellate e-filing rules published for comments Electronic transfer of copies of lower court filings built and awaiting adoption of appellate e-filing rules Electronic filing of verbatim transcripts of hearings and trials to follow within 12-18 months Attorney e-filing of briefs and motions through Nebraska.gov

11. E-filing Demonstration Requires login issued only to members in good standing of the Nebraska Bar Association – No Pro Se filing at this time

12. Attorney Dashboard Recent Activity Shows for the filer Start a new case / File on existing

13. 3 part process to file

14. Filing documents are uploaded as PDF’s.

15. Final Review Submit

16. Filing on an existing case Enter case number and lookup in JUSTICE system in real time.

17. Select filing party Select filing action Browse for PDF file

18. Review Filing Motion to be filed with the court. Proposed Order will go to judge for review. Reviewing/selecting service for attorneys or unrepresented parties is the final step.

19. Review of Service Attorney logged into filing system is recognized as representing parties on the case – no service required System recognizes attorneys representing parties on the case who are registered E-filers – electronic service will be performed For any parties not represented by counsel, or any parties represented by attorneys not registered to E-file – system requires selection of traditional service method type.

20. Clerk Review Action buttons for review of filings Clerk will view document and data entry and accept filings for instant entry on case Register of Actions – Document images become available for public view

21. Judge Review Take action on proposed orders File a new order.

22. Information About Nebraska Trial Courts All 93 counties have a county and district court Three counties have a separate juvenile court Total of 189 courts 58 County Court Judges 55 District Court Judges 11 Juvenile Court Judges The 93 counties are divided into 12 districts All courts use the Nebraska unified court system JUSTICE (Judicial Users System To Improve Court Efficiency.

23. Information About Nebraska 16th largest state with a total of 77,358 square miles Contains 93 counties State of Connecticut can fit into Cherry County Two thirds of the population is in the eastern third of the state 50% of the population is located in Lincoln and Omaha Contains 11 of the top 25 least populated counties in the country

24. Nebraska’s Information Technology System was designed in-house by contract programmers Six programmers Two Business Analyst Supervisors and six Business Analysts Business Analyst responsibilities include: Designing and testing new applications Training court staff and judges Maintaining a Help Desk

25. Current Technology E-Filing Automated Journal Entry and Orders from the Courtroom-DOCKET Automated Orders from chambers-SIGNDESK Emailing and texting time payment reminders Interface between Trial and Appellate/Supreme Courts

26. Courtroom Application DOCKET Available in County and Juvenile Courts Used in criminal/traffic, civil/small claims and juvenile cases Generates journal entries and orders, multiple notices and probation orders Automatically creates a PDF of the document and emails to the attorneys on the case Automatically updates the court system Probate is currently in test

30. Courtroom Application Statistics Since 2004, over 1,266,000 criminal/traffic proceedings have been processed Since 2005, over 111,465 juvenile proceedings have been processed Since 2010 over 51,500 civil/small claims proceedings have been processed

31. Chambers Application SIGNDESK Available in County and District Courts Allows judges to electronically sign orders Automatically creates a PDF of the document and emails to the attorneys on the case Automatically updates the court system

36. Chamber Application Statistics Over 568,000 orders have been processed since late 2009 75,000+ e-mails are sent to attorneys monthly

37. Texting and E-Mailing Time Payment Reminders Pilot project started in April 2012 with the assistance of the National Center for State Courts Allows court staff to send text and/or e-mail messages regarding time payment agreements Automatically creates a PDF of the message sent Plans are to expand to other areas in the future

41. Trial Court Interface with Supreme/Appellate CourtSCCALES Allows trial courts to transmit the initial notice of appeal electronically Screens follow the paper certificate System automatically generates a Certificate of Appeal as a PDF The certificate and documents are electronically transmitted When the appeal is accepted or declined the trial court system and filing attorney are notified electronically Saves all courts time

44. Thank You! Presentation available at: http://www.supremecourt.ne.gov/ElectronicCourts