Florida’s courts have made great advances in the use of technology to improve and enhance the efficiency, effectiveness and timeliness of those processes which are critical to the management of information technologies. Opportunities created by emerging technologies have provided the impetus for the judiciary to meet the multitude of challenges faced by our court system. Through the integration of state-of-the-art technologies, Florida’s court system is recognized as one of the leaders in the country. The judicial branch is committed to improving the administration of justice, enhancing public access and service, and building public trust and confidence. More information on these issues is available on the court technology pages available on this website.

We have made available on this website a new application allowing users to quickly access statistics for the Florida trial courts. The application can be accessed at http://trialstats.flcourts.org/. Using this application, users can currently access trial court statistics from January 1986 through June 2003. Additional statistical information regarding the Florida State Courts is also available.

Have you participated in the jury system and believe there is room for improvement? A public hearing on January 19, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Miami will provide you the chance to share your ideas with those who have the will and desire to improve the system. The public hearing is part of the efforts being undertaken by the Work Group on Standards for Jury Panel Sizes and Justice R. Fred Lewis. A public hearing notice is available with more information, and if you have additional questions or would like to be included on a speakers list, please contact Greg Cowan, staff to the Work Group on Standards for Jury Panel Sizes at cowang@flcourts.org.

In our continuing effort to make our site more user friendly, we have added a capability for you to search our site. You can access this search feature directly from our home page using the "Search" button near the top of the page just above the court photos. The direct link to the search page is http://www.flcourts.org/search.shtml.

The Work Group on Standards for Jury Panel Sizes held its initial meeting on Nov 30 in Tallahassee. The Work Group received a staff report, engaged in an active discussion of issues pending before them, and provided extensive direction to staff for follow-up. Presentations and materials from the meeting are available.

The Work Group will take public comment at their next meeting scheduled for Jan 19 in Miami in association with the 2005 Midyear Meeting of The Florida Bar. A meeting schedule and hotel information for the full Midyear Meeting is available on The Bar's website. More information regarding the specific Jan 19 meeting of the Work Group will be forthcoming and will be available on our website.

On November 19, 2004, under the leadership of Chief Justice Barbara J. Pariente, the Florida State Courts lauched their new website at www.flcourts.org. On this same date, the Florida Supreme Court launched their new website at www.floridasupremecourt.org. These new sites replace the former combined Florida State Courts/Florida Supreme Court website. The separation of the sites will allow for a more consistent presentation of information via the two new sites. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the new sites, please let us know at osca@flcourts.org.

Separately, the Committee on Privacy and Court Records completed two days of meetings in Tallahassee on November 18, 2004. You can access materials and information from the meetings on the Privacy and Court Records pages.