Court Records Blog

In this day and age, there are any number of circumstances that may force one to be involved with the legal system. The involvement may range from a simple traffic ticket to felony charges and, obviously, the more serious the situation, the more likely that an attorney will be necessary. Navigating the court system, and even finding an attorney, can be a daunting process. Where to go? What to do?

Luckily, there is a great deal of information available online and a number of good self-help resources. These resources range from how to pay traffic tickets to attorney referral services, finding court forms, and basic “how to” information.  Some resources are geared to those who need free legal aid services due to their income, where as others are geared more to those who may be able to afford an attorney but not need one given the circumstances.

CourtReference has a number of these legal resources linked on their site.  To find these links, select a state, then pick the category most suitable. The categories include searching court records, finding court opinions,  viewing court calendars and dockets, self-help and legal resources,  legal aid and lawyer referral, court forms and online payment information. One can also navigate the site by selecting the state, then the county, then the particular court of interest.

Public access to electronic information seems like a good thing, especially in the area of courts and court records. With more and more courts allowing public users online access to court records, court opinions, forms, legal research and other such information, the push for more electronic access seems the logical and correct way to go.

It seems however, that there is such a thing as too much electronic access in the court arena. Recent news articles highlight the issue of jurors using twitter to send instant reports during jury proceedings as well as jurors using facebook to not only communicate during trial but to “friend” each other and other parties to the court proceedings.

Unfortunate instances such as these could well bring a ban on electronic devices during court sessions, especially when jurors are involved.  It seems like such a ban is inevitable given the flagrant nature of some jurors’ involvement with outside sources during trial deliberations, including doing outside research despite specific prohibitions on such behavior.

One can only hope that this doesn’t lead to  further tightening of other public access to court information.

Virginia provides good access for the public to search circuit court cases online.  Case information that is normally available includes the case number, party names, and filing date. Civil cases show the type of case and criminal cases show the offense date, charge, disposition and defendant’s date of birth. The date of birth is standardly abbreviated for privacy concerns.

Buckingham County had removed itself from the online court case information system as the court clerk had been concerned that potential jurors might use the system to research cases. However, at the request of the public, Buckingham County is now participating again in the online information system.

Seven circuit courts still don’t make their court case information available online: Alexandria, City of Charlottesville, Chesterfield, Fairfax, Greene, Henrico and King and Queen counties.

There is a great deal more information about Virginia courts, including the District Courts, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts, court opinions and orders, self-help and legal research, court forms and online fine payments available at Court Reference’s Guide to Virginia Courts. Information about trial courts nationwide is also available on the Court Reference site.