Vol. 29, No. 4 #9 (August 2006). The Court Meets the Challenge of Change.

• Author: By Mary Angell

Wyoming Bar Journal

2006.

Vol. 29, No. 4 #9 (August 2006).

The Court Meets the Challenge of Change

WYOMING LAWYERAugust 2006/Vol. 29, No. 4The Court Meets the Challenge of ChangeBy Mary Angell

As the Hon. Barton R. Voigt takes the helm of the Wyoming Supreme Court, the high court itself is embarking on a voyage toward modernization and technological advancement. The new chief justice finds himself a rather ironic captain for such a voyage.

"I don't know anything about technology, and I'm the least likely person to be leading the charge into technology," Voigt told the Wyoming Lawyer in an interview earlier this summer.

The historic Supreme Court building will soon undergo an $8 million renovation, which will include improvements in the building's heating, air conditioning, safety and security systems. At the same time, the court is launching its first automated case filing system and examining the possibility of creating an Internet-based electronic case filing system for all of the state's courts.

As the court prepares to move to its temporary quarters in the Hathaway Building, Voigt believes his primary task as chief justice will be to help the court simply weather the storm.

"The challenge of holding the court together as an institution when we're trying to hold court in the lobby of the Hathaway Building, and the administration is in the other end of the building, and offices in the hallway..." he said, "is going to be harder than people expect."

The staff won't have the office space it needs in the Hathaway Building, Voigt said.

Further complicating matters is the shift of the Supreme Court to an automated case management system. The state's circuit courts were first to become automated, followed, with greater difficulty, by the district courts. The systems are not the same, nor are they networked, but they are compatible.

The recent adoption by the Supreme Court of a case management system makes life a lot easier for the court and its staff, Voigt said.

"Now when Judy (Pacheco, Supreme Court clerk) dockets a case, it exists for everybody. When Debbie (Hehr, Voigt's judicial assistant) inputs an opinion, it's circulated to everybody," he said.

The next step in automation for the state's judiciary may be the establishment of a web-based electronic case filing system, which would enable members of the judiciary and Bar to file...