Will County Chief Judge Schoenstedt and Circuit Clerk Pamela McGuire

Unveil the e-Courtroom of the Future

Electronic courtroom offers paperless advantage

Will County Chief Judge Richard Schoenstedt and Circuit Clerk Pamela J. McGuire introduced today a new “paperless courtroom of the future”, Courtroom 402.

     “The offices of the Chief Judge and the Circuit Clerk have been working on implementing this paperless courtroom of the future,” said Schoenstedt. “This new technology will help expedite cases and ensure proper records are kept for all court proceedings.” 

     Courtroom 402 has been electronically enhanced through the implementation of three computer workstations where forms can be completed and printed Three printers and three flat screen monitors for viewing evidence have been installed that will be controlled by the judge from the bench. Forms that can be completed online are now available on the Circuit Clerk’s website for both Civil and Criminal case types that replace multi-page copies.

      “We were given approval for electronic filing back in June of this year,” McGuire said. “We have been working with Chief Judge Schoenstedt and Circuit Judge Dave Carlson to get this project up and running.”

     Schoenstedt said many offices were involved in implementing this new software.

     “Many thanks for this advancement belong to Circuit Clerk McGuire and her staff as well as the County Board, the County Executive and his staff, Mike Miglorini, Jim Ellis, Mike Shay, and all those who made this effort such a success,” Schoenstedt said. “We will continue to implement technology to achieve the full promise of an efficient, accessible and transparent court system.”

     McGuire also said the witness monitor will have the ability to incorporate annotations by the 

witness. These documents will be saved, printed for the court file and imaged in our Case Management System. The new lectern computer will allow for many types of evidence to be displayed in both visual and auditory formats.

      “We hope the attorneys will find this new equipment to be a more efficient way to complete necessary forms and move cases through the Courts more quickly,” McGuire said.

     Future developments for this courtroom include the ability to access specific cases through iAttorney® and create pre-populated forms based on the information specific to that case. 

     “We are also working on the option for electronic signature by the Judge and for that document to be secured and automatically sent to our Case Management System that the attorneys can access through iAttorney®, or be printed in the courtroom for the defendant,” said McGuire.