Ep 073: How One Tech-Savvy Judge Jury-Rigged an Online Court

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As chair of the</span> <a href= "https://www.24jdc.us/intensive-probation-drug-court/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Specialty Treatment Courts</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">in Jefferson Parish, La.,</span> <a href="https://www.24jdc.us/judges/division-d/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Judge Scott U. Schlegel</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">manages what may be one of the most advanced courts in the country for delivering justice online, and he does it almost entirely with off-the-shelf software he cobbled together himself. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Even before the coronavirus crisis caused courts to shut down, Judge Schlegel was</span> <a href="https://www.courtonline.us/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">conducting hearings</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">via Zoom, scheduling sessions via Calendly, and communicating with staff and counsel via Slack. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But when courthouses in Jefferson Parish closed last month, it presented an even-greater challenge for the programs Judge Schlegel oversees, which focus on treatment and rehabilitation of drug and alcohol offenders. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With help from legal technology companies, he rallied to further innovate, working with</span> <a href="https://lawdroid.com/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">LawDroid</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">to</span> <a href= "https://www.lawsitesblog.com/2020/04/guest-post-how-we-rapidly-iterated-a-chatbot-to-track-probationers-during-the-pandemic.html"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">create a text-based chatbot</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">to check in on probationers and with</span> <a href= "https://www.documate.org/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Documate</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">to develop an online system for defendants to</span> <a href= "https://www.courtonline.us/orders/court"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">enter