Artificial Intelligence Is Already Here: Is Your Staffing Using It? Do You Know? Do You Care?

October 15th Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode

Brought to You in Cooperation with the National Association for Court Management

Forbes Magazine recently published an article titled “10 Biggest Business Trends Everyone Must Be Ready For Now.” The list?

Generative Artificial Intelligence Will Be Everywhere.
Demand for Interpersonal Skills
The Move to Sustainable Business
Business Resilience
Personalization of the Customer Experience at Scale
A Customer Experience Revolution
The Data Economy
The Search for Skills Solutions
Employees Demand Remote Work Opportunities
The Shift to Diversity and Inclusivity

Many court administrators appear to see artificial intelligence as an IT issue. However, it is definitely a consumer-based concept now. A short time ago, the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced its top 100 consumer AI apps. The most popular one by far? ChatGPT, trailed by other tools including Microsoft CoPilot, Google’s Gemini and Bing, Character AI, Perplexity, Claude, and even Grammarly. These tools can create compelling text in seconds. It can significantly shorten the job of developing reports, briefs, presentations, and emails.

There has also been considerable discussion about the problems with these tools.

Hallucinations

Lack of Transparency

Appropriating Personal & Confidential Information

Bias

This month we’re looking at the court’s position on using consumer AI tools. Is it occurring? Are courts aware of these tools? Do we think that staff might be using them with or without the knowledge of upper management? Are courts even concerned about them?

Listen to the October 15, 2024, CLA Podcast Episode on your way to or from work. 36 Minutes 38 Seconds

Watch the October 15, 2024, CLA Podcast Episode on YouTube. 39 Minutes 50 Seconds

Today’s Panel

Lori M. Tyack was born in Central Ohio and has lived in Franklin County her entire life. The daughter of an airline technician and a homemaker, Lori attended Whitehall City Schools. Lori is a proud graduate of the Columbus State Community College paralegal program and later earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Dominican University.

As part of her continuing education, Lori attended classes offered by The Ohio Supreme Court and The National Center for State Courts. Through these efforts, she has achieved recognition as a Certified Court Manager, Certified Court Executive, and Institute for Court Management Fellow.

Lori was elected as the Franklin County Municipal Court Clerk in 2005 and reelected in 2011 and 2017. She has worked to modernize the Franklin County Municipal Court by implementing an E-Filing program and introducing electronic workflows to work towards a paperless court environment.

Lori has met with various community groups to educate them about the Clerk’s Office. She has led several public service projects, including Safe Surrender, Driver’s License Reinstatement Workshop, and the Office has participated in Record Sealing and Expungement Clinics.

Roger Rand is the IT Manager for the Multnomah Circuit Court, in Portland, Oregon. The Multnomah Circuit Court is the largest of the 36 judicial districts that make up the Oregon Judicial Department (OJD). The OJD is a statewide general jurisdiction court system. The Multnomah Circuit Court spans 5 court locations and has 56 Judicial officers and over 330 staff that manage all types of case types including municipal parking and traffic cases, civil, criminal, family law, juvenile, and probate.

Roger has a BA in English from the University of Notre Dame. Roger interned with the Oregon Attorney General’s office and started his career in the Multnomah Circuit Court in 1993. He moved into court technology around the year 2000. He worked as an IT Trainer, Help Desk Lead, Help Desk Supervisor and became IT Manager in 2015. Roger’s responsibilities include managing departments that provide technical hardware and software support, software development, training, data analysis, and project management. He is a member of a court management team that oversees all local court operations. He works closely with the OJD’s Enterprise Technology office that oversees the statewide Tyler Odyssey system, the information technology data network and security systems. Roger is also the chair of the Multnomah Circuit Court Diversity Equity and Inclusion committee.

Tracy “T.J.” BeMent is the District Court Administrator for the 10th Judicial Administrative District of Georgia. The 10th JAD covers the general jurisdiction superior courts in six circuits in 21 counties. He was previously the Court Administrator for the Athens-Clarke County Courts in Athens, Georgia, where he worked with all six levels of trial courts in the county. He acts as the primary liaison to the state and county governments and serves as a resource for the judges and judicial staff on many issues.

T.J. administers nearly $2 million in state and federal grants and is a federal grant peer reviewer. He has been working in the courts for more than 15 years. Prior to coming to Georgia, he was the Assistant Court Administrator for the Las Vegas Justice Court and previously the Clerk of Court and Chief Administrative Officer of the District of Columbia’s Office of Administrative Hearings. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and completed his ICM Fellowship in spring 2015.

Dana Bartocci is the Human Resources and Development Director for the Minnesota Judicial Branch. Dana uses her background and passion in training, leadership, coaching, change management and communications to lead all aspects of human resources and development in the Judicial Branch. Prior to serving in this role she was the Strategy and Development Manager at the Fourth Judicial District in the State of Minnesota focusing on training, race equity, communications and change management. She has also served in various capacities in law firm and law school professional development, career coaching, training and pro bono.

Dana is active in NACM, National Association of Judicial Educators and Minnesota Women Lawyers and serves as a volunteer for YMCA Minnesota Youth in Government. She received her J.D. and M.S. in educational administration from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her B.A. in political science and cultural studies from the University of Minnesota.