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Attorneys seek easy access in courthouses across the state

By: Eric Heisig//September 9, 2014//

Attorneys seek easy access in courthouses across the state

By: Eric Heisig//September 9, 2014//

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Notes on our first statewide courthouse technology survey 

Wisconsin Law Journal reporter Eric Heisig called every courthouse in the state to survey each on its technological capabilities.

Court staff members were asked about the number of courtrooms, as well as how many, if any, of those have video conferencing and/or computer-viewing capabilities, and whether the courthouse has publicly accessible Wi-Fi.

The aim was to show what counties, in general, are ahead of the game in terms of courtroom capabilities and which ones lag.

The chart below presents the resulting data in the most straightforward way possible. But just like a lawsuit or a criminal charge, simplicity is difficult to capture. Some courthouses, for example, have video conferencing available in every courtroom because the supplies are on a cart. The same goes for a projector or document cameras.

So while these numbers show what every courthouse has, there were some judgment calls. For example, if a respondent said a courthouse had a wireless Internet connection, but it didn’t work well, they still received credit on the chart. If a county was working on installing certain equipment it didn’t have before, it had to be installed by September for inclusion on this chart.

The resulting snapshot is meant to help attorneys practicing in unfamiliar areas know what tools are available.

Courthouse_survey_size_Of the 71 county courthouses in Wisconsin, 60 have Wi-Fi.

Accessible Wi-Fi is an invaluable tool, so attorneys practicing at the 11 courthouses without it can be at a disadvantage, said Sarah Zylstra, Dane County Bar Association president. It allows immediate access to motions, case law and even evidence.

In Dane County, Zylstra said, the courthouse’s two Wi-Fi-accessible floors ensure defense attorneys get the same access to case law and records as prosecutors do. Prosecutors often can plug in to the network through a cable at their table.

“It sort of keeps people honest, if you will, in real time,” said Zylstra, who is an attorney with Boardman & Clark LLP, Madison.

Without Wi-Fi, Zylstra said, attorneys have to try to get the right information from a co-worker during break or look it up on a cellphone.

“Moments are often fast-paced at trial or at hearings,” she said. “To the extent that you have the ability to do it in real time, it can help your case.”

The reasons vary for why those 11 courthouses (see chart) do not have it. Often it boils down to money and whether a county wants to invest in providing Wi-Fi.

The lack of access to Wi-Fi — or the lack of other amenities, such as computer-viewing capabilities — at certain courthouses means attorneys need to be vigilant about finding out what technology is available before they enter unfamiliar territory, said Jeff Kippa, a solo practitioner in Appleton.

“I constantly have to stay abreast of it prior to going to a trial,” he said.

Some attorneys, such as members of the Walworth County Bar Association, are pushing to improve the situation in their area. Sheila Raff, Walworth County clerk of court, said the local bar’s requests to bring Wi-Fi to the courthouse have prompted her office and county officials to look into the possibility.

Brian Schuk, president of Walworth’s bar and an attorney at Wassel, Harvey & Schuk LLP, said those requests and discussions stretch back a few years, and the bar previously has been told wiring the courthouse for Wi-Fi would be too expensive.

Though some of the bar’s older members don’t mind, Shuck said, he has to “look at who our potential members are in the next five to 10 years.”

The Dane County Bar also pushed for Wi-Fi at its local courthouse, which was built in 2006. But the county ran out of money during construction, limiting Wi-Fi to just the two floors. But even limited access helps, said Carlo Esqueda, Dane County clerk of court.

“They have the capability … to have access to documents and things that can be very, very useful to members of the defense bar,” he said.

The rest of the Dane County courthouse is expected to have access by the end of November, said Gail Richardson, administrator for the Fifth Judicial District, which includes Dane County.

“If we wanted lawyers to be able to check their calendars or get back in touch with their office to get answers immediately, they might need that connection,” Richardson said. “That’s why we did it.”

Those who have full Wi-Fi capabilities acknowledge there still can be barriers, however. Some county clerks acknowledged their connections can be spotty. Others said the network is password-protected, so lawyers have to ask for access.

And though not all of Wisconsin’s courthouses are Wi-Fi enabled, the state is far ahead of others, such as Nebraska, which still has courthouses that operate without a high-speed Internet connection, said Bill Raftery, a knowledge and information services analyst with the National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg, Va.

Wisconsin’s technological capabilities have let Kippa, for the most part, replace his briefcase of files with an iPad, which he said often is the only thing he will take to a hearing.

But trials, particularly those in unfamiliar courthouses that might not have Wi-Fi, still require backup, he said.

“I’ve never tried a case just with technology,” Kippa said. “I need to have the paper in front of me. I feel the stakes are too high.”

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