JEDDI for Beginners : A Conversation

by Jim McMillan
Director, Court Technology Laboratory
National Center for State Courts
jmcmillan@ncsc.dni.us

Please note that this document was written in 1994... before XML and really at the beginning of wide implementation of the Internet.

In the spirit of the popular "dummy" series of computer training books, this is an attempt to explain the new JEDDI technology concepts. I hope that everyone who reads this takes it in the good natured spirit that it is offered.

What is JEDDI?
It stands for Judicial Electronic Document and Data Interchange.
Why such a complicated name?
Because techies thought it up.
What does JEDDI do?
It is simply standardized electronic mail which sends documents and forms between computers.
Then why don’t courts just use electronic mail?
Because all electronic mail messages and computer documents that you send through e-mail use different formats. With different electronic mail and word processing software commercially available there is no one standard. A cc:Mail message or a WordPerfect document is not the same under the covers as a Microsoft Word document. Ask your assistant about how much work it is to re-format a WordPerfect document into Microsoft Word.
Why is that?
Competition between companies to add features to increase sales of their software. It is easy for a company to make programming decisions, but hard for competing companies to make cooperative decisions since they have to agree on a single standard. When they do it, it takes time. As you know, in business, time is money.
So why do we need JEDDI?
Because we in courts and legal practice spend too much time dealing with the recording and retrieving information on paper. Computer systems offer us a better alternative.

There are many of us that believe a document standard called SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) that is going to be available with new versions of WordPerfect and Microsoft Word will let us send and receive documents in a common form like paper does for us now. Since the majority of legal documents are now created with word processing software, we can take advantage of this standardization. If you receive a document in SGML, chances are in the future your word processor will be able to read it and display it on your screen.

So that solves our problems, right?
Not entirely.
What else is left to do?
Well, what do you do with a document when you receive it. If you are a law firm or a court you record it in your computer case management system so you can find and work on it later. It takes time and money to pay a data entry clerk to do this. If that process was either partially or fully automated, the document could record itself in your court or litigation tracking system.
But how would the JEDDI document automatically docket itself?
SGML is a set of standards that tells the document what it looks like but also, it can tell a computer where data is in the electronic document. For example, an SGML "tag" would identify the kind of document being received, the case number and, the attorney that sent the document.
Big deal, I can do that by reading the document.
Yes, but you are a human and therefore are not as efficient and more prone to error than an automated system (we all have our limitations). Remember the amount of time it takes to balance your checkbook?
You have a point there. But why don’t we just let the commercial software companies work these standards out?
Commercial software companies like Microsoft and WordPerfect mainly deal with big manufacturing and sales companies...the Fortune 1000. They don’t really understand the legal process. Fortunately there are small companies specializing in courts and law practice who do. They need help to define the identification tags or markers that are placed in the legal document so the data can be put into their databases. Please see the attached drawing.
Yea, so is that all JEDDI does?
As the advertisers say... wait, there’s more! If you receive electronic documents formatted in SGML, your computer can do a lot more work for you. With SGML, the computer can also automatically link case and statute citations to CD-ROM or on-line databases. Later, you won’t have to look those references up by hand, they will only be a keystroke away. Also, if you have an electronic filing cabinet, you don’t have to worry about finding a document, it will be in the computer. Even if it there is misfiling, the computer can search through the text of all the documents to find the missing document. And of course, you can always print out the document when you want to work with it. When you are done you can toss it in the recycling knowing the original is in the computer system.
So why should the Courts and Bar get involved?
For several reasons. First to keep costs low for the legal system to take advantage of this technology. If there are standards, the same software can be used in all courts with only minor customization. Without standards, courts and law offices will spend millions.
So what is happening to help JEDDI progress?
Three groups have been working toward the development of JEDDI:
  1. The National Center for State Courts has been providing assistance and information through its TIES/CTL electronic bulletin board system. This system can be reached at 804-253-2526. Also, some of this information is posted on their Internet home page which can be reached at:

    http://www.ncsc.dni.us/ (now http://www.ncsconline.org )

  2. Second, a non-profit corporation named the JEDDI Corporation has been formed from numerous members from the bar, courts, and private industry. You can join by contacting:

    Clyde Christofferson, Esq.
    Secretary, JEDDI Corporation
    2915 Hunter Mill Road, Suite 18
    Oakton, Virginia 22124

  3. Third, Mr. Christofferson is also the chairman of the American Bar Association Science and Technology Section Jedi Committee. He can also be contacted about this groups activities in support of JEDDI concepts.