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Lake County, IL Going Online
April 01, 2013 posted by Steve Brownstein
Court information will no longer be accessible just during business hours Monday through Friday.
The Circuit Court will launch remote public access to court information within the next 30 to 60 days, Clerk of the Circuit Court Keith Brin announced Tuesday, March 27.
“We’re very, very excited about it. We worked with judges, attorneys ... this is a circuit-wide and county-wide victory,” Brin said.
Anyone with access tothe Internet, including a personal computer or library computer, will be able to look up basic information about a case online instead of driving down to the Clerk of Circuit Court’s office in Waukegan to obtain the information for free.
People will be able to find out what a person has been charged with, future court dates and sentencing if the case has concluded, Brin said. This basic information accounts for about 90 percent of all the phone calls the clerk’s office receives, Brin said.
“(Public access) will give you a pretty good screen shot of the case,” Brin said.
Once his office completes testing to ensure all the bugs are worked out, the intiative will go online, Brin said.
“It’s going to be a great opportunity for the public to get information quickly,” said Chief Judge Fred Foreman.
Information that will not be available online include defendant’s addresses and dates of birth. To get that information or read documents filed in criminal or traffic cases, people will need to come to the clerk’s office.
“We wanted to make sure it’s appropriate. Once (information) is out there, you can’t un-ring that bell,” Brin said.
Brin’s announcement came two weeks after Lake County Board voted unanimously in favor of the public access and electronic filing (e-filing) initiatives. Starting in about six months, people will be able to electronically file court documents in civil cases.
Funding for the $3.3 million project came from court document storage fees accrued by the clerk’s office. Public taxpayer dollars had nothing to do with funding this project, Brin said. He credited his predecessor, now-retired clerk of courts Sally Coffelt, with getting the financial infrastructure in place.
E-filing will only be available in civil cases because Illinois Supreme Court has approved it. The state supreme court has not approved any rules allowing attorneys to e-file documents in criminal or traffic cases, Brin said.
Like remote Public Access, attorneys or people representing themselves in civil cases will be able to e-file documents in their cases online at any time without having to go to the circuit clerk’s office during business hours.
Lake County Board member Michael Rummel, district 12, nominated the public access and e-filing projects through the county board’s finance committee.
“It makes the system simpler. Also for the consumer, they’re able to get information they need on a simplified basis ... that’s the essential part: how can we make life simpler?” Rummel said.
