Approach the Videophone

Hoping to even out the workload, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California are installing a $150,000 videoconferencing system that links judges in Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Riverside, Santa Barbara and the San Fernando Valley.

The goal is to make the legal process easier and more efficient for both the litigants and the judges hearing their cases, said Jon D. Ceretto, executive officer and clerk of the court for Los Angeles.

“We’ve got 21 judges spread out over five courthouses. And we have an average of 120,000 filings per year--the most in the country,” Ceretto said. “We could move ZIP Codes around and transfer the cases to where we have more judges. Or we could use the technology to bring the judges to the caseload.”

From a videoconference room, a judge can listen to arguments from attorneys or witnesses in as many as three other locations. The Sony digital system connects the remote sites through dedicated high-speed data lines.

Eventually, court staff envision bankruptcy lawyers housing compatible videoconferencing systems in their own offices.

“Someday, the attorneys won’t have to even show up to court,” said Sony spokeswoman Laura Hardin, who was showing the system last week at the Tele-Conference trade show at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Courts in Tampa, Orlando and Fort Myers, Fla., are already using these virtual systems of law.