On a mission to become one of the most modern courts in the nation, the Alabama Appellate Courts System (AACS) needed to digitize justice systems to accelerate secure and transparent proceedings. AACS is in the process of migrating many of its on-premises operations to a more secure cloud environment on Microsoft Azure. With this unified solution, justices, employees, and 6,000 outside attorneys benefit from remote access, more efficient operations, and improved security.
Modernizing technology to maintain a legacy of integrity
The Alabama Appellate Courts System (AACS) includes three courts: the Supreme Court of Alabama, the Court of Civil Appeals, and the Court of Criminal Appeals, and has been in operation for more than 200 years. The three courts adjudicate hundreds of cases per year, resulting in thousands of dockets and case files that need to be stored, accessed, and shared with the right people at the right courts: justices, 150 internal staff, and 6,000-plus external attorneys. The court system’s operations span several offices around the state. Blake T. Lunsford, Director of Information Technology at AACS, explains, “The AACS prioritizes the fair and accurate administration of justice, ensuring the correct application and interpretation of the law.”
AACS’s small IT team focuses on enhancing the efficiency and timeliness of case processing, ensuring the transparency and accessibility of the appellate process, adapting to legal and technological advancements, and maintaining the security and confidentiality of court data and records. To uphold integrity at the highest level, the team recognized the Courts needed to modernize its IT infrastructure by moving to the cloud and fortifying its security. “Our technology infrastructure was functional but lagging behind modern standards,” says Lunsford, who joined the court system almost two years ago. “We faced limitations in terms of system integration, scalability, and security capabilities.”
When its custom-made case management system became outdated and unsupported, the team began its modernization by adopting a new case management system while also upgrading to Windows 11 Enterprise and Microsoft 365 Government. AACS needed a hybrid cloud solution to gradually move its on-premises servers to the cloud, a move it knew could more securely support its needs, along with the needs of legal professionals and the public it serves. It also wanted to explore what was possible using AI to improve document search and filing.
“While Microsoft’s tools have been essential, it’s the exceptional support and guidance we’ve received from their team that has been particularly instrumental in our progress.”
Blake T. Lunsford, Director of Information Technology, Alabama Appellate Courts System
Strategy today for solutions tomorrow
With security, data privacy, and compliance essential in legal proceedings, the Courts chose to modernize on Microsoft technologies. Microsoft offered an integrated, comprehensive suite of products and much-needed support, not only for moving to the cloud but long-term strategic planning. “The solutions that we’re working with through Microsoft are definitely forward-thinking,” Lunsford says. “I am fully committed to transitioning to cloud-based solutions, as this strategic move aligns with our resource capabilities. Our current staff is focused on managing a wide array of technological implementations, and shifting to cloud services offers a scalable and efficient solution to optimize our infrastructure management.”
Adds Lunsford, “Microsoft’s reputation for reliability, scalability, and security played a significant role in our decision. Its commitment to cybersecurity and compliance with legal industry standards reassured us that we were making a strategic choice for our long-term digital transformation.” In addition to embracing a hybrid cloud future, Lunsford knew he could rely on Microsoft to augment his small staff, so he could shift maintenance, updates, and security to the infrastructure Azure offers. This trusted relationship frees up his staff to concentrate on higher-value initiatives.
Aware of recent cyberattacks and leaks that have plagued other court systems around the country, Lunsford also wanted to strengthen protection of the Courts’ data. “I don’t want to end up on the news because something got released or our systems get shut down,” Lunsford says. “That’s what used to keep me up at night. The Microsoft suite of security tools have helped us identify problems and helped protect us.”
Lunsford is confident that Azure can help the Courts recover data and restore services quickly if it encounters a problem. The IT team knew that Azure could handle large amounts of data and documents and it could rely on the platform’s advanced layers of security. Some of the security layers strengthening AACS include:
- Implementing multifactor authentication with Microsoft Entra ID for court employees and external attorneys so they can remotely access the system and search files.
- Deploying Microsoft Sentinel to monitor remote access of all files.
- Adding Microsoft Defender, which provides advanced threat protection, along with tools to educate employees on how to detect and avoid phishing scams.
“With Microsoft’s integration of services, we can track security, access control, and integrity across the board,” says Ramon West, Chief information Officer at AACS. “We feel very secure with multifactor authentication, access controls, and sensitivity labels for our business practices and process, which are of the utmost importance.”
Next on the agenda was improving the efficiency and accuracy of the justice system by making it easier and faster for employees to access and share relevant data for various reports. AACS is using Power BI to build and publish dynamic reports that can be used by all three courts, but the data is segmented so it is available only to users with the correct level of privileged access. This means the IT team only has to create one report rather than three separate ones, saving time.
From a developer standpoint, with Azure DevOps, the Courts’ developers can build in the same environment, rather than having code siloed on specific machines. Azure DevOps offers resilience, testing, and collaboration as the IT team builds new solutions and websites to serve the court system and public.
Remote access, highly secure operations, and AI
Perhaps the most day-to-day noticeable impact on users like justices and clerks, in addition to 6,000 Alabama licensed lawyers, is they can access information and file motions with no need to physically travel to any of the three courts. That’s possible because AACS runs its court case management system on Azure. “Justices have appreciated the enhanced accessibility,” says Lunsford, “and outside attorneys have commended the streamlined processes for submissions and the improved transparency in case tracking.”
IT project manager Chad Carr expands on this: “You’re able to access documents electronically versus having to lug around an eight-volume paper record and brief. And using optical character recognition (OCR) to search files has helped tremendously, too.”
Looking forward, AACS is exploring a number of opportunities with its trusted advisors at Microsoft:
- AACS plans to use Azure OpenAI Service so justices can search case files using natural language in chat, speeding search through the Courts’ massive documents library, saving countless hours of manual work.
- The IT team is exploring moving workstations to Azure Virtual Desktop. Once adopted, Lunsford will be able to tailor each desktop environment based on the compute needs of each user and would be able to benefit from paying only while the virtual desktop is in use.
- The Courts have plans to implement telephony through Microsoft Teams.
Ultimately, because the court system’s technology is integrated, AACS has better visibility into its data, has significantly strengthened its cybersecurity landscape, and has gained disaster recovery with redundant information stored in the cloud and on-premises.
“While Microsoft’s tools have been essential, it’s the exceptional support and guidance we’ve received from their team that has been particularly instrumental in our progress,” Lunsford says. “Microsoft really puts it all together for us.”
Find out more about the Alabama Appellate Courts System at https://judicial.alabama.gov.
“[Microsoft’s] commitment to cybersecurity and compliance with legal industry standards reassured us that we were making a strategic choice for our long-term digital transformation.”
Blake T. Lunsford, Director of Information Technology, Alabama Appellate Courts System
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