By Mary L. DePrez, Executive Director | Indiana Office of Court Technology
The Indiana Courts Information Technology Extranet is a platform for secure data-sharing applications hosted by the Supreme Court. The newest INcite application—the Senior Judge Portal—was released in early June of this year. One of the goals of this application is to connect senior judges with trial court judges to facilitate the use of senior judges throughout the state.
Several features of the program were originally proposed by Senior Judge Stephen Heimann, who was Bartholomew Circuit Judge for 25 years and is now a member of the Senior Judges Committee. Heimann’s idea was to maximize the utilization of senior judges by creating an application that would provide a directory of certified senior judges and match the needs of trial courts with the skills and experience of those judges.
This state has an investment in education and training for senior judges,” he commented. “The use of seasoned former judges to substitute for the trial judges is simply intelligent use of valuable resources.”
The Indiana Office of Court Technology partnered with the Senior Judges Committee and staff from the Office of Judicial Administration to design and create the Senior Judge Portal. A primary function of the application allows trial judges and designated staff to identify and contact senior judges who are available to serve in their counties; a filter may be applied to narrow searches for senior judges who would prefer or are willing to hear specific types of cases, such as civil jury trials, probate, guardianships, or small claims.
The application lists all senior judges who wish to provide service involving remote/virtual hearings through web applications like Zoom, as well as remote motion practice for civil or criminal cases. Senior judges willing to provide remote services will be particularly useful to help trial courts catch up on backlogged cases from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each senior judge completes a profile that has the following sections:
- Contact information: email and phone
- Prior experience: court(s) served and various case types
- Service preference: types of cases and courthouse locations
Senior judges will use the Senior Judge Portal to submit their service claims to OJA. This will replace attaching their claim information to email messages or mailing physical copies of the claim form with attached hard copy receipts. The application will accumulate the total number of service days for each senior judge and automatically apply the correct per diem compensation rate for claims.
The Senior Judge Portal has a “Help” tab with:
- Emails and phone numbers for application support from OJA subject-matter experts
- Links to important documents, such as the Senior Judge Handbook, forms for use by both senior judges and trial court judges, and the schedule of payroll periods
- Links to the Indiana Courts Portal and Odyssey Cheat Sheets
Early feedback from the judges has been enthusiastic and positive. Senior Judge William Boklund was among the group who tested the application before its full release. His initial observation: “I just entered my first claim on the new [Senior Judge] Portal. I like it. It is easy to use and does not let the user submit a claim with insufficient information.”
Senior Judge John Pera shared, “I wanted you to know how impressed I am with the Portal. It is very easy to use and navigate. Everyone did a great job on it, and I thank you for it!”
Trial court judges can contact the Court Technology Help Desk to request access to the application for their staff. Amy Pratt, the Court Administrator for Marshall County Superior Court #2, is responsible for finding senior judges to stand in for Judge Dean Colvin. Within a minute of opening the application, she said, “I love the Senior Judge Portal. I can see how this will be really helpful.”
More features and enhancements are planned for the Senior Judge Portal. Former Justice Brent Dickson, who chairs the Senior Judges Committee, has been involved with the project from its inception and provided valuable suggestions toward improving the application. A future version of the application will include Justice Dickson’s vision of an interactive map allowing trial court judges to click on any county and display a list of senior judges who either live in or would like to serve in that particular county.