1 Records are stored in several rooms on different levels making it enormously difficult to retrieve files. 2 Computer literate lawyers doubtless are shocked to learn of these conditions. They still have paper files, but in the time it takes a secretary to find them, an attorney can retrieve and print dozens of documents with a few clicks of the mouse. In fact, each day computers allow more lawyers to flood more courts with more paper before a judge can even set a briefing schedule. If Wisconsin courts retain antediluvian information management systems, it is not because the judicial branch fears technology.
Judges realize that computers can help stem the tide of paper in Wisconsin's courthouses.
Thus, in 1989 Wisconsin's judicial branch approached the Legislature about funding a system that would help courts manage information efficiently, economically and safely. The quest for computers At the judicial branch's request, the 1989 Executive Budget Act included a continuing appropriation from court filing fees to finance automated information systems for Wisconsin courts. It will create a network among the state's circuit courts and allow them to process their cases consistently. The Wisconsin Statutes require litigants to pay filing fees in civil actions. These fees are collected and deposited into the state's general fund, where the appropriate portion is allocated to a special account used to finance court automation.