Conference Rates Indiana Court's Web Site No. 1

You get up in the morning, go to your computer, do a blog search and up pops this posting from the Hoosier Lawyer".   Great news for Indiana, and a challenge for the Commonwealth.  I was unable to determine if Kentucky's site was even submitted in the competition, but no matter.  It's the 'cognition' and not the 'recognition' that matters.  And, for what it is worth Kentuck's emphasis on building it's site from the foundation up is going very well.

Indiana Judicial Website Rated Best in Nation

Remember the old joke -- "You are now entering Indiana.  Please set your watches back 10 years."  Well, no more!  Hoosier lawyers are now at the forefront of legal technology.

The Indiana Judicial System website has been rated the best in the nation, stem at the ninth biennial Court Technology Conference in Seattle, Washington. California placed second, and Florida was rated as third.

This is the second major award for the website in recent weeks.  In August, the Indiana Courts Website was ranked third in the world by Justice Served, a California-based court consulting firm that has been reviewing court websites and producing a top ten list for the past seven years.

Indiana’s website is located at www.IN.gov/judiciary. It is operated by the staff of the Supreme Court’s Judicial Technology and Automation Committee (JTAC). The website contains information for the public, attorneys and judges, including common legal forms, court opinions, answers to frequently asked questions about the law, virtual tours of several courthouses, and webcasts of appellate court arguments. 

If you have not looked at this website, take the time to do so.  You will find it is a remarkable resource.

eLegal Com.mentary:  And to think, lil ol' me had the audacity to compare Kentucky and Indiana's court system web site within the last week.  See my posting by CLICKING HERE.

• The Indiana Court's site does have its bonuses - clean and crisp lines; ease of navigation; searchable cases, statutes, rules (albeit Google plays a prominent role in this feature); press releases in the forefront; web casting.  Here is the "Justice Served" short description:

This site has a good organizational structure, with features for the public, judges, attorneys, law students and K-12 educators. They offer online child support calculation, online access to opinions, and their citizens guide has several informative streaming videos.

• Kentucky Court's web site also has searchable decisions (better search engine), but does not have that cohesive integrated feel that Indiana has, nor that visual cleanliness (not enough white space I suppose). 
• Kentucky definitely has the content but not under one roof -
  
  • court dockets with motion hours;
  • local rules of court;
  • searchable data base of cases and statutes and administrative regulations;
  • local court schedules with clerks and judges addresses;
  • specific case info from district and circuit court cases to check status of filings, etc.;
  • minutes of appellate proceedings with hot links to the actual cases;
  • appellate case information  and  arguement calendar. 
  • Plus add the
    • LRC for it's statutes and admin regs;
    • KBA with its lawyer locator and better organization of the rules (Supreme Court, Advertising, evidence, civil, criminal, etc.);
    • LBA with its local information on Jefferson County courts;
    • Fayette county's web site; etc.
• I submit to you that when all the sites in Kentucky are considered, the information kicks but is just a tad hard to find. 
• Kentucky is a veritable "Field of Dreams" in some respects, but due to the incremental steps of its development with the absolute emphasis on content (GREAT) the mother lode of information has not always been found.  Although they have built a "Field of Dreams", not all have come to it.  (Try www.LouisvilleLaw.com for a good link set that ties up in one bundle many of these useful sites.)
• I honestly believe Kentucky's web site has come a long way baby, and I have watched it make it's incremental steps building upon one layer at a time. Admittedly, the incremental transition is not without it's confusion and problems. But it is progressing.  Simple moves as a useful domain name (KyCourts.net) and the steady addition of features and services is noted and appreciated. The Court Dockets is an excellent example which now has a sophisticated and polished data base search engine (and with the renumbering of the divisions numbers in Jefferson County and others to match up the the 'room' numbers, it has become invaluable to the practitioner.)
• For my Wish Lists I and II. then click on them.

For the actual rating posted at the Conference web site.  CAVEAT noted - only 30 web sites were entered into the competition.  My efforts to see if Kentucky was among the sites submitted was to no avail. 

With over 30 courts entering the CTC Website Competition we are please to announce the Top Ten.  The results are:

1.      Indiana Supreme Court www.in.gov/judiciary
2.      Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento www.saccourt.com
3.      Supreme Court of Florida www.floridasupremecourt.org
4.      19th Judicial Circuit, Illinois http://19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us
5.        Superior Court of California, County of Napa www.napa.courts.ca.gov 
6.      New Jersey Judiciary http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us
7.        Courts Service of Ireland www.courts.ie
There was a three way tie for 8th place -
8.      Dakota County District Court www.co.dakota.mn.us/courts
8.      Nova Scotia Judiciary www.courts.ns.ca 
8.      Maryland Bankruptcy Court www.mdb.uscourts.gov
9.      Alberta Courts www.albertacourts.ab.ca
10.  Connecticut Judicial Branch www.jud.state.ct.us