Innovating through Crisis: Customer Spotlights
Looking for ways to use your equivant tools to reach people during a crisis? Check out how some of our customers are making the most of their equivant solution.
Geauga County, Ohio, Domestic Relations Court Goes Remote & Paperless
In Geauga County, Ohio, the dream of going paperless began about five years ago and was finally realized—in very short order—when the court needed to start functioning remotely during the pandemic.
Over a single weekend, their IT department used their existing CourtView infrastructure plus WebEx and a lot of ingenuity, and they managed to get online hearings up and running, efiling available for filings that had previously been on paper, and over 50% of their court staff working remotely.
“The vision we had 5 years ago really saved us a lot of pain today,” said Debbie Urankar, IT officer, Geauga County Court of Common Pleas. “We’re following the guidelines the Supreme Court set out as far as not hosting any hearings that aren’t considered mandatory reported hearings, but everything we can do legally, we’re absolutely doing. We’re fully operational.”
Check out Geauga County’s checklist for moving court operations online during a crisis.
Municipal Court in Girard, Ohio, Uses Texting to Improve Access to Justice
As part of an 8-year investment in technology and modernizing court records and operations, the Girard Municipal Court launched their text message program at just the right time to improve access to justice during a pandemic.
Girard Municipal Court’s text message program sends reminders about hearing dates, and in the first six weeks, it was already increasing court attendance.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started drastically changing the way courts around the country are functioning, courts like Girard’s that already have texting in place are better equipped to manage a deluge of rescheduled hearings. Courts even have the ability to customize the result code, or the reason for the delay, which allows them to be explicit with court participants that their hearing is continued due to court closure.
Using your equivant tools to reach people during a crisis? Here are three capabilities you may find helpful.
Mahoning County, Ohio, Domestic Relations Court Reaches the Public Via Text
Courts rarely have the opportunity to proactively ease the burden of a crisis, but that’s exactly what Mahoning County, Ohio, is doing for their community during this pandemic by communicating via text.
“Judge [Beth] Smith was looking for a way to streamline the process for constituents,” Mahoning County Director of Information Technology Jacob A. Williams told the Akron Legal News. “Recognizing that people do not check their mail as regularly as they used to, she wanted to find a new widely distributed channel in which to communicate.”
For a small investment based on the number of text messages sent, Mahoning County is proactively reaching constituents who sign up for the service so they can stay on top of court appearances, many of which are now being rescheduled due to restricted operations during the pandemic. The interactive text response (ITR) system integrates seamlessly with CourtView so Mahoning County also reported having no start-up costs.
Using your equivant tools to reach people during a crisis? Here are three capabilities you may find helpful.
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