McHenry County courts to use video, phone service for some lawsuits

After a one-year trial, McHenry County court officials will expand the use of CourtCall, a system that allows attorneys in lawsuits to make routine appearances by phone.

The system is in use in other court circuits, but McHenry will be the first in the state to allow attorney appearances, as well as expert witness testimonies, via video, said Dan Wallis, trial court administrator for the 22nd judicial circuit in Woodstock.

"Having (attorneys) drive an hour and a half, two hours, for something that takes five minutes, using CourtCall, you're streamlining the process," Wallis said.

By Sept. 1, all five courtrooms in the civil division will have audio capability through CourtCall and three will have video capability as well, Wallis said.

During the trial period, two courtrooms were equipped.

CourtCall cannot be used to make arguments in front of a judge; any significant hearing in front of a judge must be attended in person by lawyers from both sides.

The system helps in several ways, Wallis said.

While eliminating travel time for attorneys for routine court appearances, it helps reduce legal costs because clients are paying a $60 fee per appearance to CourtCall instead of an hourly rate to their attorneys to drive to and from court, Wallis said.

For example, if a lawsuit requires 10 routine, one-hour appearances for an attorney, that could result in a $3,000 fee if the attorney charges $300 an hour. But if the attorney only charges a $60 fee for each date via phone through CourtCall, that reduces the cost to the client and allows the lawyer to work on other cases, too.

The system can help cut down on traffic at the courthouse, making it easier for others to go through court security or find parking.

Wallis said numerous other circuits have used the service, including circuits in Kane and DuPage counties.

Kane County has used this system at its courthouse on Third Street since 2011, but has not yet considered video, said Kathryn Seifrid, special projects coordinator for the 16th Judicial Circuit.

"It's a great service," she said. "It's worked really well. (Use of video) has never really come up. The audio portion is working quite effectively."

Robin Partin, deputy court administrator for the 18th Judicial Circuit in DuPage County, said CourtCall is in a pilot stage at the judicial center in Wheaton.

"We may expand it into other courtrooms," she said. "Depending on how everything goes, we may consider the video component."