TUCSON (CN) - Two weeks into testing a new "eBench" project that has installed touch-screen case-management monitors in a few Tucson courtrooms, judges have discovered that the state-of-the-art technology is having at least one desired effect: It's making them look smarter.
Three judges in Pima County Superior Court are currently using the monitors or "dashboards" during hearings and trials, with long-term plans to spread the technology to all of Pima Superior's 52 judges and, eventually, on to other courthouses throughout the state.
Developed by Florida-based Mentis Technologies, the eBench interface, a large screen attached to the bench in a courtroom and angled so that litigants can still face their judge, allows judges to complete full-text searches of documents and statutes with just a few finger flicks. Integrated with the court's case-management system, eBench also allows judges to view and change their calendars quickly, and links their electronic comments with case files so they can be viewed by judicial assistants and clerks.
"My goal is, hopefully, [that] it's seamless for those that are appearing in front of me ... and that I appear smarter," Judge Jeffrey Bergin, presiding judge of the family law bench, told Courthouse News during a recent demonstration of the new system.
"I am able to quickly go to parts of the file that I think are important, or they mention during the hearing, and I can bring it up while we are talking and I can look at it and I can reference it," Bergin said. "So even if I hadn't totally digested it prior to walking into the courtroom, I am able to do it while we are there and talk intelligently."
While sliding through different screens, still a bit hesitantly, and bringing up a calendar of hearings to show how to change it with a few taps of his finger, Bergin explained that, just two weeks ago, instead of gliding through digital files, he'd be sifting through impossible stacks of paper files and flipping through law books, all while attempting to listen to a litigant or attorney.
Read more here
Three judges in Pima County Superior Court are currently using the monitors or "dashboards" during hearings and trials, with long-term plans to spread the technology to all of Pima Superior's 52 judges and, eventually, on to other courthouses throughout the state.
Developed by Florida-based Mentis Technologies, the eBench interface, a large screen attached to the bench in a courtroom and angled so that litigants can still face their judge, allows judges to complete full-text searches of documents and statutes with just a few finger flicks. Integrated with the court's case-management system, eBench also allows judges to view and change their calendars quickly, and links their electronic comments with case files so they can be viewed by judicial assistants and clerks.
"My goal is, hopefully, [that] it's seamless for those that are appearing in front of me ... and that I appear smarter," Judge Jeffrey Bergin, presiding judge of the family law bench, told Courthouse News during a recent demonstration of the new system.
"I am able to quickly go to parts of the file that I think are important, or they mention during the hearing, and I can bring it up while we are talking and I can look at it and I can reference it," Bergin said. "So even if I hadn't totally digested it prior to walking into the courtroom, I am able to do it while we are there and talk intelligently."
While sliding through different screens, still a bit hesitantly, and bringing up a calendar of hearings to show how to change it with a few taps of his finger, Bergin explained that, just two weeks ago, instead of gliding through digital files, he'd be sifting through impossible stacks of paper files and flipping through law books, all while attempting to listen to a litigant or attorney.
Read more here
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter