Announcing the 2004 Top Ten Court Website Awards
JUSTICE SERVED™ is proud to announce the winners of the 2004 Top 10 Court Website Awards. The bar keeps getting higher, and the proliferation of websites reached a staggering 2,400 under consideration. Offering one interactive court service online is no longer sufficient to get on the short list. Courts must offer multiple e-services or do something exceptionally well to receive the nod when so many websites are considered. Despite the stiff competition, we see five two-time winners and a precedent-setting three-time winner among the top 10 this year. It must be that these early adapters keep improving their e-services and learn from their experience. Cheers to the winners this year, and we offer our thanks for serving as excellent examples of customer service and accessibility. While you're here at our website, check out the complete listing of six years of current and past winners and our evaluation criteria (links are at the bottom of this page). We encourage you to also visit our newsletter and "Ask an Expert" forum. Chris Crawford President
Grab our Annual Top Ten Awards postcard. PDF format - allow time for page to load.
Evaluation Criteria

Pima County (AZ) Justice Courts jp.co.pima.az.us Limited jurisdictions are where most people interact with courts, and this website allows customers to pay traffic tickets, file small claims cases, track calendars, and obtain self-help assistance. As added human interest, they provide a live webcam of El Presidio Plaza from Tucson's City Hall, with time and current temperature. The first in a series of repeat winners this year, and this 2000 winner exemplifies court services on the Web.

The Court Service of England and Wales http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/ This site has received several deserving awards for innovation in online court services (including ours in 2002), offering online filing of civil claims and the ability to exchange case information through the Internet. Users can track the status of each courtroom that is refreshed every 10 minutes, and court information is available in several languages.

California Courts www.courtinfo.ca.gov/ We've watched this site evolve into a highly useful resource for the public, trial courts, attorneys and government agencies. Among their many services are online forms, calendars, opin-ions, minutes, rules, links to superior courts, links to e-filing locations and a top notch self-help tool in English and Spanish. They're a welcome addition to the "best of" club.

Chatham County (GA) Courts http://www.chathamcourts.org/ They've done it again - a repeat winner from 2000, these courts have banded together to offer a one-stop web presence with e-filing, fine payment, jury postponement, docket index and forms.

Federal Court of Australia www.fedcourt.gov.au/ Another repeat winner from 2002, the Aussie Federal Courts offer e-filing and online calendars. What puts them over the top is "eCourt," a virtual courtroom where evidence, submissions and orders may be made online.

Superior Court of CA - County of Riverside http://www.courts.co.riverside.ca.us/ This mixed general/limited jurisdiction court offers web fine payments, calendars, files, self-help, interactive forms, interactive jury support and even the ability to order court reporters' transcripts online. This is good e-government.

US Bankruptcy Court, Eastern Division of Virginia www.vaeb.uscourts.gov/ Bankruptcy courts have appeared on the Top 10 list in previous years because they are pioneers in web court services. This site has a good array of e-filing, PACER case access, email case notification and even an online help desk.

New York State Unified Court System - E.Courts http://e.courts.state.ny.us/ There is a reason that this site is a repeat winner from 2002 ... they offer excellent e-government serv-ices that includes credit card fine/fee payment, statewide case index, next appearance query, email noti-fication case notification, and fee-based case tracking.

Superior Court of CA - County of Sacramento www.saccourt.com/ It was bound to happen, and this site is highly deserving of its status as a "three-peat" winner. Its features include a super small claims e-filing, online juror excuse/postponement, case indexing, tentative rulings and a virtual tour of the various courthouses in the jurisdiction.

Self Help Support http://www.selfhelpsupport.org/ OK, so technically they're not a court website. Nevertheless, what this site offers is worth recognition. They are an online national clearinghouse of information relating to self-repre-sentation geared to attorneys, courts, legal clinics and even the public. They offer libraries, best practices, topical listservs and a wealth of information that supports the work of courts.

Check out the JUSTICE SERVED Top-10 Court Website Awards for 2009. Drop by to see 11 years of current, and past winners, including examples of excellent court Web applications and our evaluation criteria. Join Chris Crawford at the Court Technology Conference 2009 where he will co-present two education sessions: (1) on paper-on-demand, and (2) on court websites. He will also have a booth at space 409, so drop by and say hello in Denver, September 22-24. Justice Served is now collaborating with Humboldt Merchant Services to offer an exciting new service... Credit Card Processing for courts at well below market rates. Inquire for a free, no obligation quote. Chris Crawford was a featured guest for an online interview with Tampa Digital Studios about the Top 10 Court Website Awards in 2007. The interview can be found on YouTube. Remember, our free Newsletter and our new Serving Justice blog are only two of the improved e-services we offer. Please bookmark this site, explore and return often to see what's new in court management and technology for courts, justice agencies and their partners in technology!!