After two decades under embattled Clerk Dorothy Brown, the office that handles the records and documents of Cook County’s courts will come under new leadership in December.
And that transition marks an ideal time for an incoming Cook County Circuit Clerk to institute a series of long sought and long needed reforms, to not only improve operations in one of the largest court systems in the U.S., but also make Cook County’s justice system more transparent and more accessible to the public the courts claim to serve.
“We hope to see the new Clerk embrace the office’s role in the Circuit Court—not just as a record repository, but as a true partner in advancing access to justice and better serving the public and users of the court system,” said Chicago Appleseed and Chicago Council of Lawyers Executive Director Malcolm Rich, in a prepared statement in a press release accompanying the release of the report.
Since 2000, the Circuit Clerk’s office has been led by Dorothy Brown. In that time, Brown’s tenure, since 2006, has been shadowed by federal investigations into practices at the office, and constant calls for reform and for technological upgrades to make the courts’ records more accessible to the public, particularly online.
However, the Cook County courts have lagged behind advancements made in other courts. The courts, for instance, still rely heavily on handwritten notes and orders, using carbon paper.
Members of the public, including those needing to use the courts, are required to visit courthouses to access documents and records related to criminal and civil cases, even if it is their own. Despite a $36 million contract with Tyler Technologies to create a new electronic case management system, the public still lacks the ability to access public court documents online. That privilege now belongs only to lawyers working on specific cases.
In November, voters will select a new Circuit Clerk, when Democrat State Sen. Iris Martinez, of Chicago, faces Republican attorney and physician Barbara Bellar, of Burr Ridge.
Brown opted not to seek reelection in 2020.
In their report, the three organizations outlined a series of reforms they believe could be implemented within at least the first year to improve the performance at the Circuit Clerk’s office.
The recommendations center largely on improving the court system’s technology and opening up the court’s documents to the public.
Recommendations include:
- Improving the system’s e-file system to allow “kiosk mode” filings; end the use of carbon paper orders and allow judges to enter their orders electronically;
- Making judges’ daily court calls accessible online;
- Allowing the public to access public court filings online, as the federal courts and some state court systems do;
- Installing a court recording system in every courtroom; and
- Bringing the office into compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, allowing the public access to information about the office, which is funded from taxes and court fees.
The report noted the Cook County Circuit Clerk, under orders from the Illinois Supreme Court,hired Tyler Technologies to help create a new e-filing and electronic case management system.
“… This has been an extremely slow work in process,” the report said. “Currently the Cook County Circuit Clerk does not have a functional case management system that is publicly accessible…
“Even then, both the case management system and the publicly-available docket information on the Clerk’s Office website provide extremely limited information in vague categories, such as ‘motion filed.’ Copies of case filings and orders are not available on the web. A member of the public would not be able to understand the course of a matter, nor re-create the case file, from the meager information on the site.”
The weaknesses of the Circuit Clerk’s operations were exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the report said, as the courthouses were largely shut down and operations forced to go remote.
“For the past two decades, the office has lagged in technology, customer service, efficiency, and transparency, among other shortcomings,” the report said. “There has not always been sufficient cooperation or coordination between the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office and the judges whom it supports.
“The COVID-19 pandemic, which has shown the Clerk’s Office to be unprepared for responding to the need for rapid retooling for remote court hearings and service to the public, also has highlighted the need for significant changes and improvements.”
Among other recommendations, the groups also call on the Circuit Clerk’s office to agree to end patronage hiring and reform the ways it manages the approximately $80 million it collects in court fees, fines and costs each year.
The report calls on the Circuit Clerk’s office to create a “21st Century system of both accounting and accountability.”
“For the first time in 20 years, Cook County voters will elect a new head of this obscure but essential government agency,” said Civic Federation President Laurence Msall in the press release. “We strongly encourage the County’s electorate to use this opportunity to call on the candidates to present their ideas for reform of an office long plagued by inefficiency, patronage, and delays in digitizing court records.”