Working from his office in the Belknap County Superior Court is a source of constant frustration to Associate Justice Larry Smukler, who heads the Judicial Branch Technology Committee and is the foremost techie among the state’s judges.

Yes, he does have e-mail from his desktop computer, but his messages and those he receives crawl on a very slow but very secure (56k bits per second speed) transmission line (part of the federal Criminal Justice Information System). Smukler, as well as staff and judges at all other trial court sites, lacks Internet access from the courthouse. And Smukler bristles at the thought of the inefficiencies of the court’s current paperbound means of communicating. Everything Smukler produces with his computer must be printed out on paper and then mailed.

But the beginning of the beginning of a more modern approach to case processing is in sight for the judicial branch. On Jan. 23, the Concord District Court is scheduled to “go live” with the first installation of Odyssey, the browser-based case management system that will be implemented throughout the court system within the next two years.

Attorneys and other users of the courts won’t notice an immediate impact, acknowledges Smukler, but the “go live” date is an important milestone nonetheless. “Ultimately, we are going to be seeing a lot of improvements in the way we operate – this case management software lays the foundation for electronic noticing and e-filing, access to system wide information, and improvements in scheduling,” Smukler said.

“The hard-working technology team at the Administrative Office of the Courts – headed by Tom Edwards – has devoted countless hours to this and has been doing a great job.” said Smukler. The judicial branch contracted with Tyler Technologies, of Dallas, Texas, on the system-wide installation of Odyssey that also included the incorporating of existing data in the court system’s “Sustain.” As the new system rolls out, its information will be maintained centrally at the AOC, and the courthouses will obtain Internet access through faster telephone (T-1) lines that will have enhanced security.  Once the Concord District Court’s installation is up and running smoothly, the implementation team will concentrate on an initial installation at a Family Division site, and then roll out the system to other superior, family division and probate courts. The Supreme Court already has its own computerized system to meet the differing needs of an appellate court. 

Smukler said that the first significant enhancement attorneys will see will be outbound messages from the courts, including notices and orders. The next function to be developed will be the capability for electronic filing, and ultimately, Smukler envisions, the ability for attorneys to “self-schedule” within specific time windows set by court officials.

The system uses a command interface that is similar to that of common Internet browsers, making it easier to train most users and more compatible with modern computer systems. “It plays well with others,” Smukler explained.

When the $1.9 million contract with the technology vendor was announced last year, Chief Justice John T. Broderick, Jr., hailed it as “an essential tool for the effective administration of justice. It paves the way for enhanced public access to information and electronic filing and it will give us the management information we need to better evaluate our own work and allocation of scarce resources.” 

The long-awaited update of the judicial branch computer systems was made possible by a $3.5 million appropriation in 2001 from the New Hampshire legislature. That appropriation allowed the courts to begin conversion to a Windows-based operating system from DOS, which was completed in 2003. It also provided funds for installation of the updated hardware needed to provide the court staff with the computer speed and memory needed to support Windows, and ultimately the modern case management system.

The new case management system in the trial courts will also allow the court system to obtain management data that will enable court managers to better assess workloads and allocation of resources. The upgrade also means that the courts will be able to provide more complete information to policy-making legislative committees.

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