Announcing the 2006 Top Ten Court Website Awards
The JUSTICE SERVED® 2006 Top 10 Court Website Awards are here. In this our eighth year of judging, we reviewed over 3,500 court websites to recognize the best court online offerings in the world. There were only three repeat winners this year, and each has shown impressive improvements in their services. The new winners are a diverse selection of large and small courts handling a wide variety of case types, and our first law library makes the list. Support of multiple languages separated many of these sites from their competition, which is substantial and growing. All of these winners deserve high praise for excellent customer service and exceptional access to justice. Drop by our website to see a complete listing of current and past winners, our evaluation criteria and bonuses such as our free newsletter and "Ask an Expert" forum. President
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Evaluation Criteria

THE SUPREME COURT SINGAPORE www.supremecourt.gov.sg The Singapore Ministry of Law and Subordinate Courts were past winners, but this appearance of their Supreme Court, which consists of the Court of Appeal and the More important, this website deserves highest honor for the number and sophistication online court services. It has online e-filing, access to judgments, Law-Net litigation booking of the high tech courtroom and booking of the "Mobile Info-Tech Trolley." Information Service even text-messages a variety of information to cell phone subscription users via an easy menu of codes. The toggle switch to translate the site into Chinese added bonus. This is a great example of migrating court services to the Web.

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org In 1999, the Los Angeles Municipal Court won in our first competition. Now with court consolidation well underway in California, the LA Superior Court has earned an award for its all-round e-service excellence. It has online case summaries, court calendars, small claims e-filing, civil documents, criminal index, divorce records, and even video court appearances using a private contractor. The array of e-traffic offerings, alone, is worth a visit, and the experiment with Spanish language offerings is commendable. To top things off, it has an online calculator to count the number of court days and translate into a date.

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA www.fedcourt.gov.au/ This three-time winner also grabbed honors in 2002 and 2004, yet it keeps improving with age. Services include e-filing, online calendars, enhanced e-search of records, audio & video of judgment summaries and a court calendar email subscription. An innovative feature that is unmatched in other court websites is the "E-court Forum" that allows interactive access to court orders and directives. The choice of language offerings is particularly impressive.

NEBRASKA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT http://www.wcc.ne.gov Workers' compensation courts are a growing specialty field in administrative law, and this website demonstrates how to use the Web effectively to help litigants and practitioners. It has an RSS feed to inform subscribers of court news, a good online records search feature, decision & order database, online calculators and even electronic data interchange.

IOWA JUDICIAL BRANCH www.judicial.state.ia.us Several state court portals have won in the past, but this is Iowa's first appearance on our list. They earned this distinction with a clean, well organized site that boasts video appellate arguments, appellate opinions, trial court records, payment of traffic & minor criminal offenses, email notification subscription, and professional regulations. Records search and retrieval are free, with fee-based enhancements.

US DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF NEVADA http://www.nvd.uscourts.gov While most US District Court websites offer similar online records access (through PACER) and e-filing (through ECF), the District of Nevada does a good job organizing the content and providing aesthetic, functional navigation. The link to the federal court OSCAR feature is worth a visit ... this allows online application and review for clerkship positions.

NORTH CAROLINA BUSINESS COURT www.ncbusinesscourt.net This specialized court is a commendable concept in which complex civil litigation throughout the state may be ordered to Business Court, or requested by the parties to be assigned here. The court has three different locations and offers an array of in-court technology support, as well as e-filing, e-service of process and videoconferencing.

CONNECTICUT JUDICIAL BRANCH LAW LIBRARIES www.jud.state.ct.us/lawlib/ The state court portal itself is a past winner, but this law library site is worthy of separate honor as best in its class. It offers the usual access to statutes and regulations, but also allows "ask a librarian," search of the catalogue and a link to court cases through the court portal.

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF NAPA www.napa.courts.ca.gov This California superior court proves you don't have to be big to be among the best. For their first listing in the Top 10, Napa has traffic citation payments, EZLegal Forms (statewide), online calendars, tentative rulings, case indexing, interactive jury services and even the ability to fill out a questionnaire to serve on the grand jury.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURTS http://www.dccourts.gov In their debut on the Top 10 list, the DC Courts offer good choices for online services including private contractor e-filing for civil, juror services and a child support calculator. The ability to accommodate multiple languages to better serve a culturally diverse jurisdiction sets this site apart from the competition.

BREVARD COUNTY CLERK OF THE COURT, FLORIDA www.brevardclerk.us A repeat winner from 2001, Brevard has above-average interactive choices that continue to grow. Jury services have improved, traffic citation payments are added, and the criminal and civil case records have impressive cross-reference search criteria. A link to foreign language translation support is recognition of diverse customer needs.

Check out the JUSTICE SERVED Top-10 Court Website Awards for 2009. Drop by to see 11 years of current, and past winners, including examples of excellent court Web applications and our evaluation criteria. Join Chris Crawford at the Court Technology Conference 2009 where he will co-present two education sessions: (1) on paper-on-demand, and (2) on court websites. He will also have a booth at space 409, so drop by and say hello in Denver, September 22-24. Justice Served is now collaborating with Humboldt Merchant Services to offer an exciting new service... Credit Card Processing for courts at well below market rates. Inquire for a free, no obligation quote. Chris Crawford was a featured guest for an online interview with Tampa Digital Studios about the Top 10 Court Website Awards in 2007. The interview can be found on YouTube. Remember, our free Newsletter and our new Serving Justice blog are only two of the improved e-services we offer. Please bookmark this site, explore and return often to see what's new in court management and technology for courts, justice agencies and their partners in technology!!