18 | The Summation
The First Judicial Circuit Implements Virtual Court by Craig Van Brussel, Court Technology Officer
On March 11th, 2020 Chief Justice Canady entered AOSC20-12 directing chief judges to take all necessary measures to lessen the effects of the pandemics on the courts and court participants while keeping the courts open to the fullest extent consistent with public safety. In AOSC2013 the court ordered the suspension of all jury selection proceedings, criminal and civil jury trials and grand jury proceedings. The Chief Justice also required circuit and county courts to conduct essential proceedings, while suspending other proceedings as necessary to mitigate the potential effects of COVID-19 unless the chief judge determined that other proceedings could be conducted remotely without the necessity of inperson court appearance. Following those orders, the First Judicial Circuit moved into the world of virtual court technology and had to quickly explore how to continue to provide court services while keeping judges, court staff and the public safe by not having them appear in person. Because the judges already had a judicial viewer program to electronically view their cases from any location, the courts were able to quickly move work
processes to the cloud, roll out video conferencing software (ZOOM), create and send out instructions and coordinate with partner agencies. All of which gave Chief Judge John Miller early options for meeting the Florida Supreme Court’s administrative order requirements. Since technical staff had already been through a large-scale digital transformation with the implementation of the judicial viewer, they had the court experience, digital skills and innovative mindset to create new virtual court processes rapidly. During our Phase 1 response, Escambia’s remote County Arraignments was a good example of the court’s swift adjustment to the new social distancing measures. The Clerk, State Attorney and Public Defender quickly agreed to create a ZOOM courtroom model that would maintain social distancing requirements and alleviate the technical challenges for litigants. This model involved creating a physical ZOOM room in the courthouse for the public to appear in person. A large monitor was placed at the front of the courtroom, and all partner agencies dialed into the judge’s ZOOM call. Litigants were properly separated and
stood at the courtroom podium as normal, while the judge, clerk, state attorney and public defender appeared on the courtroom monitor from their respective offices. During those initial hearings, the judges had access to the electronic court files via their judicial viewer, clerks had access to their case maintenance system, and the state attorneys and public defenders had access to their file systems. This early model proved virtual court was possible. A couple of weeks later, the Office of State Courts selected ZOOM as the preferred virtual courtroom platform for all Florida courts and purchased licenses for every judge in each of the twenty judicial circuits (although circuits are still allowed to use MS Teams and other video products at their discretion). In a short time, judges and staff across the state who were accustomed to in-person court
proceedings transitioned to the virtual courtroom and did so with committed effort while learning new technical skills. In the First Judicial Circuit ZOOM licenses, laptops and webcams were dispersed to judges and court staff. Training material was created and ZOOM seminars were given to make everyone proficient. In the four months since the ZOOM transition began, judges and court staff have successfully adapted to the new remote environment and have been able to keep the court system operational during these challenging times. Many court employees are working remotely to keep court operations going. Court staff are scheduling cases, e-filing orders, handling attorney and pro se litigant calls and e-mails, handling budget matters, paying invoices and ordering pandemic supplies while working from home. At the outset of the
