1.

Introduction to the Public Trust Newsletter

2.

Alaska Offers Judicial Decisions, Slip Opinions, and Calendar Information on the Internet

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Colorado's Internet Source for Court Records

4.

New Mexico Implements a Statewide Automation Program

5.

Electronic Filing in the U.S. District Court, District of New Mexico

6.

Washington, D.C.'s Electronic Filing Project

This newsletter is a result of the 1999 National Conference on Public Trust and Confidence in the Justice System. (Visit http://aja.ncsc.dni.us/courtrv/cr36-3/CR%2036-3.pdf for a summary of the Conference.) One of the goals of the Conference was to identify actions national organizations could take to enhance and support state court strategies to address public trust and confidence. Conference participants ranked “develop and/or disseminate models or best practices” as the most important role for national organizations. The Public Trust News contributes to this national role by identifying and sharing innovative and effective court programs to address public trust and confidence in the justice system.

This issue offers examples of court programs that use the Internet to address two critical problems affecting the public’s trust in the justice system:

• high cost of access to the justice system, and
• lack of public understanding.

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Internet Access to the Courts 

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Most states post the opinions of their supreme court on the Internet.  Almost as many offer the opinions of their appellate courts. The state of Alaska offers Internet access to trial court opinions as well.  The trial court Name Index database allows court customers to search for trial court cases that have been filed with the Alaska Court System since 1990, using a person’s name.

The Alaska Appellate Clerk’s Office offers an appellate slip opinion notification service.  Each week, subscribers to the free listserv receive a list of the slip opinions and memorandum opinions issued by the supreme court and the court of appeals during that week.  The notification includes the case type and a link to the PDF version of the document posted on the court’s Web site.

In addition, Alaska offers Internet access to trial and appellate court calendars, court rules, court forms, and civil and criminal jury instructions, as well as juror information and an online court directory.  Through each of these services, the operation and reasoning of the Alaskan trial courts are made more transparent and accessible to attorneys and the public.

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CoCourts.com was created as an initiative of the Colorado Judicial Branch and developed, under contract, by a private company, e-InfoData.com of Boulder.  For a fee of five dollars, an individual can search both open and closed Colorado court cases through the Internet. The database includes domestic relations, civil, water, and criminal cases from district courts and traffic, traffic infraction, civil (up to $10,000), small claims, and misdemeanors from county courts.  Sealed cases, probate, mental health, and juvenile cases are not available on CoCourts.com, and certain information within each case, such as Social Security numbers and street addresses is not disclosed for privacy reasons. 

Another advance in facilitating access to the justice system is Colorado’s e-filing system. The system allows electronic filing of legal documents for civil, domestic relations, probate, and water court cases in all Colorado district courts.  The interface enables attorneys to file documents with Colorado courts and electronically serve other attorneys in the case from any Internet-connected personal computer for ten cents per page.  Court-filing fees are also paid through this process.  Once a document has been filed, a court can review, accept or reject, and store the document online.  Notifications are instantaneous.  Court personnel and attorneys have immediate access to these records through www.courts.state.co.us by clicking on the “LexisNexis Courtlink” link. The system recently reached a milestone – the filing of the 100,000th document. 

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New Mexico also offers court record information over the Internet.  The New Mexico State Judiciary implemented a statewide automation program that was the first in the nation to provide free public access to all court case management data through the Internet.  Because all district and magistrate courts use the same hardware and case management information system software, all data can be aggregated into a statewide data repository.  District and magistrate case information is updated every 48 hours.  Public access is provided on a case-by-case basis through the Internet. As in other states, reviewing a court case in New Mexico does not necessarily require a trip to the courthouse.

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Electronic Filing in the U.S. District Court, District of New Mexico

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The federal courts in New Mexico have implemented an advanced court engineering (ACE) project to provide instantaneous access to up-to-date information via the Internet and to allow the electronic submission, and subsequent viewing, of cases and pleadings by computer.  The ACE program provides attorneys and the public with a user interface that is standard for both the district and bankruptcy courts.  Civil, criminal, adversary, and bankruptcy case docket information may be accessed via the Internet at www.nmcourt.fed.us.  Information is available as soon as a pleading is docketed or a case is opened in the court's database. Access to the database is currently free of charge for all users.  Through the ACE project, case information is more accessible to the public, and litigant expenses are reduced by minimizing the time involved in document delivery in the filing process.

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