NEW DIRECTIONS FOR THE OFFICE OF THE CLERK OF THE

First Year in Oce

Progress Report

NEW

DIRECTIONS

FOR THE

OFFICE OF THE

CLERK OF THE

COOK COUNTY

CIRCUIT COURT

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation

February 2022

For more information,

please visit

civicfed.org/Circuit-

CourtClerkYearOne

ChicagoAppleseed.

org/Clerk-One-Year-

Progress-Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 1-2

PROCESS OF CREATING THIS REPORT 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4-8

FINDINGS 9

OVERALL MANAGEMENT 9

1. Conduct a Complete Oce Audit to Identify Areas for Savings,

Eciency Improvements and Resource Repurposing 9

2. Establish a Clear Mission Statement 9

3. Establish an Emergency Remote Operation Plan 10

TECHNOLOGY 11

4. Work with Judges to Improve Remote Hearing Capability 11

5. Create a Functional Case Management System 11

6. Improve Integration of Data Between the Circuit Court and

Other Criminal Justice Stakeholders 12

7. Improve E-Filing System 13

8. Make Judges’ Daily Court Calls Available Online 13

9. Install a Court Recording System in Every Courtroom 14

10. Implement Court Hearing Reminders for All Litigants 15

PUBLIC ACCESS TO DATA 16

11. Create a New Oce of Data Management to Improve Internal

Data Management and Oversee External Data Requests 16

12. Work with the Illinois General Assembly to Amend State Statute

to Make Information in the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Possession

Subject to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act 17

13. In the Absence of a Change to FOIA, Voluntarily Release Data

and Operations Information 17

ACCESSIBILITY AND USER SERVICES 18

14. Appoint a Chief Accessibility Ocer 18

15. Appoint a Chief Public Service Ocer 19

16. Improve Partnerships with Other Agencies 20

ETHICS AND OVERSIGHT 20

17. Continue to Comply with Shakman Consent Decree Requirements 20

18. Eliminate Patronage Hiring in the Oce of the Circuit Court Clerk 21

19. Ensure Stronger Inspector General Oversight 21

20. Execute a New Collective Bargaining Agreement 22

BUDGET TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY 22

21. Reassess Stang Levels to Ensure the Best Use of Resources 22

22. Conduct a Comprehensive Review of Special Purpose Funds 23

23. Revise Annual Performance Metrics 24

24. Produce an Annual Report with Budget, Performance and Statistical Information 25

CONCLUSION 26

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 1

The change in administration within the Oce of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County in

December 2020 represented an opportunity for meaningful reform of an oce that has been no-

torious for corruption, delays and substandard constituent service. Prior to the November 2020

General Election, Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts, the Chicago Council of Lawyers

and the Civic Federation oered joint recommendations for the next Clerk to improve manage-

ment, technology, transparency and public access issues in the Oce of the Circuit Court Clerk

through a report, New Directions for the Oce of the Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court:

Recommendations for Planning and Transitioning to New Leadership (New Directions), in Sep-

tember 2020.

This progress report examines Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez’s rst full

year in oce—December 1, 2020 through November 30, 2021. We nd that the Clerk’s

Oce has made meaningful progress in several areas, particularly compliance with consent

decree hiring requirements, creating a centralized call center and rolling out certain aspects of

a new electronic case management system. However, much remains to be done to bring the

Clerk’s Oce up to the standards of technological competence and customer service that are

needed in a twenty-rst-century public agency.

To be sure, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for the Clerk’s

Oce and its employees and leaders. For an oce that, prior to Clerk Martinez’s tenure, oper-

ated on carbon paper and outdated mainframe computers,

the transition to Zoom (videoconfer-

ence) hearings, e-mail court orders, and remote trials (as well as some in-person court pro-

ceedings) has proved rocky. A security breach in August 2021 on the Clerk of the Circuit Court

website

was another blow, and today the website remains only partially operational.

We conclude, nonetheless, that the Clerk’s Oce needs to pivot some of its attention away from

crisis response and toward strategic planning. The Civic Federation, Chicago Appleseed and

the Chicago Council of Lawyers previously recommended in New Directions that the Clerk’s

Oce undertake an oce-wide audit and a mission planning process, and those steps are now

signicantly overdue. We also suggest below further steps toward completing the other items

1 See e.g., “Handwritten documents, Manila folders, carbon paper – welcome to the Cook County criminal court,”

by Megan Crepeau, Chicago Tribune (February 12, 2018), accessible at https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-

met-outdated-clerk-system-criminal-court-20180208-story.html and “Glitches, confusion over Cook County’s e-ling

system are ‘just one more barrier’ for litigants, experts say,” by Elyssa Cherney, Chicago Tribune (August 13, 2018),

accessible at https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-cook-county-eling-20180806-story.html.

2 Jackie Kostek, “Website For Clerk Of The Circuit Court Of Cook County Was Reported As Being Down For ‘Mainte-

nance;’ It Turned Out Servers Were Breached,” CBS Chicago, August 27, 2021, available at https://chicago.cbslocal.

com/2021/08/27/website-down-clerk-circuit-court-cook-county/.

INTRODUCTION

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 2

originally recommended in our September 2020 New Directions report.

The New Directions report provided a comprehensive set of recommendations for the next

Circuit Court Clerk, covering a variety of areas including management, technology, transparen-

cy, ethics and public access. The report included an ambitious timeline of recommendations to

be completed within the new oceholder’s rst 30 days, rst six months, and rst year in oce.

The rst update, released in April 2021, examined progress made on our recommendations

within the Clerk’s rst 100 days in oce. This is the second update on the implementation of

recommendations issued in the New Directions report.

3 New Directions for the Oce of the Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court from Chicago Appleseed Center for

Fair Courts, the Civic Federation, and the Chicago Council of Lawyers is available at http://www.chicagoappleseed.

org/2020-clerk-transition-report or https://www.civicfed.org/CircuitCourtClerk2020.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 3

This report serves as the second major follow-up report to the initial recommendations made in

New Directions for the Oce of the Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court: Recommendations

for Planning and Transitioning to New Leadership and the rst progress report, detailing the

Clerk’s rst 100 days in oce, New Directions for the Oce of the Clerk of the Cook County

Circuit Court: First 100 Days Progress Report, which was released in April 2021.

Since the 100 Days Progress Report was released, communication between our coalition and

the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Oce has improved. The Civic Federation and Chicago Apple-

seed met with Clerk Martinez in November 2021, and the Clerk’s executive sta has committed

to ongoing follow-up communications and has agreed to consider our organizations’ input on

several issues—including our recommendations for information to include on the new Clerk of

the Circuit Court website. The Clerk’s executive sta suggested holding regular bimonthly meet-

ings, though these have been delayed due to the exigencies of the ongoing pandemic.

Clerk Martinez also released her own rst-of-its-kind report, the State of the Clerk’s Oce, de-

tailing progress within her rst year in oce on December 1, 2021, on the one-year anniversary

of Martinez being sworn in as Clerk of the Court.

The ndings of the one-year New Directions progress report are based on the following:

• Meetings and communications with the Clerk and the Clerk’s executive sta;

• Publicly-available information on the Clerk’s website and the Cook County website,

including the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s State of the Clerk’s Oce Report;

• Updates provided by Clerk’s Oce sta at public Cook County Board and committee

meetings and budget hearings; and

• Publicly-available information in Shakman compliance monitor reports.

PROCESS OF CREATING

THIS REPORT

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 4

While we recognize that the Clerk inherited an oce with many structural and operational

challenges and despite the known problems in the oce, it does not appear that Clerk Martinez

formed an eective transition committee or developed a comprehensive transition plan prior to

taking oce in December 2020. The rst several months of the new administration were con-

sumed by understanding the problems inherited by the former Circuit Court Clerk, rather than

setting priorities and goals for improvement. After a full year in oce, we have seen Clerk Marti-

nez take some steps toward the goals upon which she campaigned but there is still much more

work to be done.

New Directions called for a major shift in the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk’s Oce, from a

culture that prioritizes political and judicial interests to one that eciently and fairly serves court

users (litigants and attorneys) and the general public.

The rst progress report released by Chicago Appleseed, Chicago Council of Lawyers and the

Civic Federation in April 2021 examined the initial transition within the Clerk’s rst 100 days in

oce. The 100 Days Progress Report found that Clerk’s Oce had failed to adopt many of the

recommendations included in the New Directions report as priorities. Of four short-term recom-

mendations examined, two had been partially completed (developing a mission statement and

establishing an emergency remote operations plan) and two had not been initiated (conducting

an oce-wide audit and planning for the creation of new positions to oversee accessibility, pub-

lic service and external information requests).

This update on the Clerk’s rst full year in oce examines progress on all 24 recommendations

made in New Directions. As shown in the progress summary chart below, the majority of the

recommendations made in the New Directions report have not been initiated or fully implement-

ed. This update is meant to recognize progress that has been made and highlight our sugges-

tions for the Clerk to complete these initiatives moving forward.

The following is a summary of the progress made on each of the 24 recommendations made in

the New Directions report. Of those recommendations, eight have not been initiated, nine have

been initiated but not completed, four are in progress, and three have been completed.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 5

Status of New Directions for the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk

Initiatives within the Clerk’s First Year in Oce

Recommendation Status Progress

Overall Management

1. Oce-wide audit to review

stang levels, technology and

oce functions, and identify

eciencies.

Not Initiated

The Clerk’s Oce did not to pursue

an oce-wide audit within the rst

year. The oce initially focused on

understanding the management is-

sues inherited from the prior admin-

istration and on hiring to address

understang. We believe a compre-

hensive audit is still necessary.

2. Establish a Clear Mission

Statement

Initiated but

Incomplete

The Clerk’s Oce updated its

mission statement, although did

not engage in a mission planning

process.

3. Establish an Emergency

Remote Operation Plan

Complete

The Circuit Court Clerk worked with

the Shakman Compliance Adminis-

trator to nalize a telework policy for

employees to work remotely during

the COVID-19 pandemic.

Technology

4. Work with Judges to Im-

prove Remote Hearing Capa-

bility

Complete

The Cook County Circuit Court en-

abled remote capabilities for court

hearings in direct response to the

COVID-19 pandemic.

5. Create a Functional Case

Management System

In Progress

The Clerk’s Oce has migrated

several divisions from the legacy

mainframe system to a new Odys-

sey Case Management System.

The Chancery, Civil and Law Divi-

sions went live in the new system in

December 2021.The nal remain-

ing division, the Trac Division, is

planned for implementation in early

2022. The public and self-repre-

sented litigants are not yet able to

access case data in the new sys-

tem.

6. Improve Integration of Data

Between the Circuit Court and

Other Criminal Justice Stake-

holders

In Progress

The Clerk’s Oce has been making

progress on data sharing with other

criminal justice agencies through a

“data bus” that facilitates exchanges

of information from the Circuit Court

Clerk’s case management system.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 6

Recommendation Status Progress

7. Improve E-Filing System Not Initiated

The Clerk’s Oce has not focused

on updating or improving the ex-

isting E-Filing System. We have

recommended surveying users and

working with the vendor, Tyler Tech-

nologies, to signicantly streamline

and simplify the E-Filing process.

8. Make Judges’ Daily Court

Calls Available Online

Not Initiated

This recommendation has not been

initiated, and the Clerk’s website

has not been fully functional since a

security breach in August 2021.

9. Install a Court Recording

System in Every Courtroom

Not Initiated

This recommendation has not been

initiated by the Circuit Court. With

recording capacity provided through

Zoom videoconferencing and au-

thorization already provided by the

Illinois Supreme Court, the Court

should record court proceedings on

Zoom and use those recordings to

create the ocial court record.

10. Implement Court Hearing

Reminders for All Litigants

Initiated but

Incomplete

The Circuit Court has a system in

place for automated text and call

reminders for criminal court hear-

ings, which took eect December

1, 2021. This system only applies

to criminal cases, however, and

not other divisions of the Court.

Automatic court date reminders are

needed in all other Divisions of the

Court.

Public Access to Data

11. Create a New Oce of

Data Management to Improve

Internal Data Management and

Oversee External Data Re-

quests

Not Initiated

The Clerk’s Oce has not created a

unit or designated a specic posi-

tion to oversee data or information

requests.

12. Work with the Illinois Gen-

eral Assembly to amend state

statute to make information in

the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s

possession subject to the

Illinois Freedom of Information

Act

Initiated but

Incomplete

The Clerk initially supported a legis-

lative amendment to make the Clerk

of the Circuit Court of Cook County

subject to the Illinois Freedom of

Information Act, but the bill was

subsequently weakened to make

the Clerk’s nancial records subject

to the Local Records Act.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 7

Recommendation Status Progess

13. In the Absence of a

Change to FOIA, Voluntarily

Release Data and Operations

Information

Initiated but

Incomplete

The Clerk has indicated willingness

to improve the availability of infor-

mation on the Clerk of the Circuit

Court website. However, the web-

site is still under construction with

no clear timetable for completion.

Accessibility and User Services

14. Appoint a Chief Accessibili-

ty Ocer

• Improve ADA and Lan-

guage Access

Initiated but

Incomplete

The Clerk’s Oce has expressed

support for making its services

more accessible but has not ap-

pointed a Chief Accessibility Ocer

or announced concrete steps to

making Clerk’s Oce facilities and

services more accessible for people

with disabilities or people whose

rst language is not English.

15. Appoint a Chief Public Ser-

vice Ocer

• Improve Access to Justice

Initiated but

Incomplete

The Clerk’s Oce has announced

several initiatives aimed at improv-

ing customer service including

establishing a call center, establish-

ing a customer service center in the

Domestic Relations Division and

increasing sta cross-training. The

Clerk’s Oce has not centralized

these access-to-justice initiatives

under one division or ocial.

16. Improve Partnerships with

Other Agencies

Not Initiated

It does not appear that the Circuit

Court Clerk has initiated suggested

partnerships with other government

agencies.

Ethics and Oversight

17. Continue to comply with

Shakman Consent Decree

Requirements

In Progress

The Clerk’s Oce has complied

with several requirements of the

Shakman Consent Decree including

nalization of an Employment Plan,

policies, a list of employee posi-

tions exempt from Shakman hiring

requirements and training for sta

on the Employment Plan.

18. Eliminate Patronage Hiring

in the Oce of the Circuit Court

Clerk

In Progress

The Clerk’s Oce has been working

closely with the Shakman Com-

pliance Administrator to bring the

hiring process in line with Consent

Decree requirements. The Clerk’s

human resources sta worked with

the Compliance Administrator to

update job descriptions, establish

employment policies and train sta.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 8

Recommedation Status Progress

19. Ensure stronger Inspector

General oversight

Initiated but

Incomplete

The Clerk expanded the Inspector

General’s sta to handle investiga-

tions into waste, fraud, abuse and

mismanagement, which had not

been in place under the previous

administration. However, the Clerk’s

Inspector General still serves in a

security capacity that is not central

to IG functions, and the Clerk’s IG

needs to put policies and processes

in place to ensure independence.

20. Executive a New Collective

Bargaining Agreement

Complete

A collective bargaining agreement

with the Teamsters Local 700 union

representing Clerk of the Circuit

Court employees was approved by

the Cook County Board of Commis-

sioners on November 4, 2021.

Budget Transparency and Accountability

21. Reassess Stang

Levels to Ensure the Best Use

of Resources

Initiated but

Incomplete

The Clerk’s Oce has not complet-

ed an oce audit or desk audit to

review and assess current stang

levels. The State of the Clerk’s Of-

ce Report, however, says the oce

has created a stang database and

analyzed functions across various

operations in order to maximize

operational capacity.

22. Conduct a Comprehensive

Review of Special Purpose

Funds

Not Initiated

The Clerk’s Oce has not made

any commitment to reviewing spe-

cial purpose funds.

23. Revise Annual Perfor-

mance Metrics

Initiated but

Incomplete

The Clerk’s Oce has indicated

an intention to revise performance

metrics.

24. Produce an Annual Report

with Budget, Performance and

Statistical Information

Not Initiated

The Clerk’s Oce has not made

any commitment to producing an

annual report with budget, opera-

tional or statistical information.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 9

The following narrative describes, in detail, the progress the Clerk of the Circuit Court has made

on each of the 24 recommendations provided by Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts,

the Civic Federation and the Chicago Council of Lawyers in New Directions for the Oce of the

Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court: Recommendations for Planning and Transitioning to

New Leadership.

Overall Management

1. Conduct a complete oce audit to identify areas for savings, eciency

improvements, and resource repurposing.

A central recommendation of the New Directions report was for the Clerk to conduct an of-

ce-wide audit. The audit would ideally review current operations and stang levels in order to

re-evaluate job descriptions and workloads, and nd ineciencies. The audit would also involve

evaluating technology and training needs. Clerk Martinez pledged to implement an oce-wide

audit if elected.

One year into oce, an operational audit has not been initiated by the Clerk. Based on

communications with the Clerk’s Oce, the reason it did not initiate an audit was to focus on

understanding the management issues inherited from the prior Circuit Court Clerk. The Clerk’s

Oce instead prioritized lling vacant positions to address understang and building up human

resources to focus on the hiring process.

2. Establish a clear mission statement.

The New Directions report suggested that the Clerk produce a revised mission statement that

goes beyond a description of the Circuit Court Clerk’s required responsibilities to establish guid-

ing principles by which the oce will serve the court’s numerous stakeholder groups including

litigants, judges, attorneys, researchers, journalists and the general public.

The Clerk’s administration changed the wording of the previous mission statement

slightly. According to the Clerk’s sta, this is intended to reect the need for the oce to move

forward on technology, as well as a culture change. It does not address how the Clerk’s oce

will serve participants in the judicial system or what principles guide the oce in carrying out its

mission.

4 See “Two Angling to Replace Dorothy Brown Pledge to Reform Court Clerk’s Oce – from Nepotism, to ‘Cloud of

Deception’ to ‘Landmines’” by David Struett for Chicago Sun-Times (October 22, 2020), accessible at https://chicago.

suntimes.com/politics/2020/10/22/21527097/dorothy-brown-reform-cook-county-circuit-court-clerk-iris-martinez-bar-

bara-bellar.

FINDINGS

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 10

The Clerk’s Oce provided the following revised mission statement:

The mission of the Oce of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County is to provide

the citizens of Cook County and the participants in the judicial system an ecient,

technological and transparent court system. The Oce of the Clerk of the Circuit Court

of Cook County will provide all services, information and court records with exceptional

service and a workforce that represents the communities of Cook County.

The previous mission statement was:

The mission of the Oce of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County is to serve the

citizens of Cook County and the participants in the judicial system in an ecient, eec-

tive and ethical manner. All services, information and court records will be provided with

courtesy and cost eciency.

We had been optimistic the Clerk would initiate a mission planning process to identify the

principles that would guide the oce’s priorities and policies with input from stakeholders and

members of the public (who are court users). However, such a process has not occurred, and

the mission statement did not appear to be posted on the Clerk’s website when the website was

still functioning in early 2021. Once the Clerk’s website is restored, the mission statement and

accompanying principles should be posted prominently on the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook

County’s website.

3. Establish an emergency remote operations plan.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the need for the Clerk of the Circuit Court to create an emer-

gency remote operations plan for the Clerk’s employees and operations. A July 2020 report of

the Clerk’s Shakman Consent Decree Compliance Administrator raised several concerns about

the Clerk’s remote working procedures during the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020. The Clerk re-

portedly worked with the Compliance Administrator to address this issue.

The Shakman Compliance Administrator reported in June 2021 that a Telework policy

had been nalized and supervisory training occurred.

The Telework Policy is one of sev-

eral policies that were required as part of an Employment Plan required by Shakman oversight.

However, the Clerk’s Oce does not have an Employee Handbook. The Compliance Adminis-

trator notes in the June 2021 report that the Clerk has discussed with the Compliance Adminis-

trator the need for a full-edged Employee Handbook, both to satisfy the Employment Plan and

the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s operational need. The Compliance Administrator recommends

that the Court require the Clerk to create an Employee Handbook as soon as practicable.

The

Clerk should make it an immediate priority to nalize an Employee Handbook, including a re-

mote work policy, and post it on the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s website.

5 Seventh Report of Susan G. Feibus as Compliance Administrator for the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook

County, led June 21, 2021, available at https://28deeac3-bfc7-4d05-9f05-d099a915d3.lesusr.com/ugd/11c424_

a0e4f540936243919f2eda8c90072ae9.pdf.

6 Seventh Report of Susan G. Feibus as Compliance Administrator for the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County,

led June 21, 2021.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 11

Technology

4. Work with judges to improve remote hearing capability.

At the direction of the Cook County Chief Judge, in direct response to the COVID-19

pandemic, the Circuit Court has been at full capacity for remote hearings since late 2020.

The Court secured 400 Zoom licenses for judges and created additional “Zoom rooms” located

at most courthouses to assist litigants without access to a phone or computer to attend remote

court sessions.

While the remote hearing capacity is an initiative directed by the Oce of the Chief Judge of the

Circuit Court of Cook County, the Clerk’s Oce provides administrative support in these remote

hearings and operating Zoom rooms. We are pleased the Court is functioning at full remote

capacity.

5. Create a functional case management system.

In New Directions, we emphasized the need for a well-functioning electronic case management

system. A case management system contains all case record information. It is central to the

daily operations of the court and necessary for tracking data that helps evaluate how eciently

and eectively the courts are operating.

The Circuit Court Clerk’s Oce has been working for several years to transition away from the

legacy mainframe system that was used for decades to a new Odyssey case management sys-

tem to store all of the court’s case les. A $36.4 million contract with Tyler Technologies for the

Odyssey case management system was approved by the Cook County Board of Commission-

ers in 2017.

The rollouts of the rst two divisions (the County Division in February 2018 and the

Criminal Division in November 2019), which occurred prior to Clerk’s Martinez’s administration,

were riddled with errors and delays. The rollout of the Criminal Division in 2019 initially drew

wide criticism from attorneys and judges for incomplete case information and delays in obtain-

ing documentation.

Since taking oce, the new Clerk successfully migrated the Probate, Domestic Relations and

Domestic Violence Divisions to the new system in July 2021 without any issues. The remaining

Civil divisions—the Chancery, Civil and Law Divisions—were transitioned to the new system

in early December 2021. The Trac Division, the nal remaining division, is expected to be

completed in February 2022. The Trac Division is the most complicated to migrate to the new

system due to the many fees that must be integrated with the systems of the Illinois Secretary

of State and other state agency portals.

The Clerk’s Oce expects to end use of the legacy

7 Cook County Chief Judge, “Zoom Rooms available at most courthouses to help litigants without phone, computer

access,” Press Release, December 18, 2020, at https://www.cookcountycourt.org/MEDIA/View-Press-Release/Arti-

cleId/2806/-Zoom-Rooms-available-at-most-courthouses-to-help-litigants-without-phone-computer-access.

8 See e.g., meeting of the Cook County Technology and Innovation Committee, March 22, 2017, le # 17-1491 at

https://cook-county.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=538655&GUID=72F4E70C-C7FA-4783-8579-CA09A1AA-

51FA&Options=info|&Search.

9 See “Dorothy Brown’s Oce Debuts Upgrade to Criminal Court Computers to Wide Ridicule” by Megan Crepeau

for Chicago Tribune (November 28, 2019), accessible at https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-justice/ct-dor-

othy-brown-computer-rollout-debacle-20191126-3sblqlrw65cgxi2zm43jiem7hq-story.html.

10 Information provided at the Cook County Technology and Innovation Committee Meeting, Janu-

ary 12, 2022, available at https://cook-county.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=921268&GUID=C-

29CD589-1B9B-4F72-A9F7-161D5941F61B&Options=info|&Search.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 12

mainframe system by the end of 2022.

We are pleased that the Clerk has moved forward with successfully migrating the Court’s

case records to the new case management system. The Clerk also reports that the oce

has trained 250 judges and the majority of courtroom clerks on the new system.

The new system was expected to improve data transfers between the Clerk’s Oce and other

oces, enhance public access to the court docket and case les, improve operations and busi-

ness processes and reduce reliance on paper processes. Moving forward, we encourage the

Clerk to establish a process for obtaining formal and informal feedback on the system from a

variety of court users (including Clerk’s employees, attorneys and litigants). We recommend that

the Clerk track all complaints and suggestions so that recurring issues can be addressed. We

also encourage the Clerk to establish a clear line of communication to ensure that complaints

and suggestions are submitted not only to the system vendor, Tyler Technologies, but also

directly to designated sta in the Clerk’s Oce. At present, it is often unclear to users wheth-

er responsibility for answering questions or addressing technological glitches resides with the

Clerk’s Oce or with Tyler Technologies.

6. Improve integration of data between the Circuit Court and other criminal justice

stakeholders.

Cook County criminal legal system agencies, in coordination with the Cook County Bureau of

Technology, have been in the process of implementing a Criminal Justice Enterprise Services

Bus (ESB), also known as the “Data Bus,” since 2016.

As the record holder for the Circuit

Court, the Clerk’s Oce and its new Odyssey case management system play a central role in

the exchanges within the ESB.

Based on recent updates from the Cook County Bureau of Technology,

the Enterprise

Service Bus project is going well and several phases of exchanges have been success-

fully implemented. The rst phase, implemented in 2018 and 2019, involved sending infor-

mation about criminal cases from the Circuit Court Clerk to the Cook County Sheri and an

automated court reminder system to remind criminal defendants of their court hearing dates.

The Clerk’s State of the Clerk’s Oce report states that current initiatives include improving the

process for receiving summons information from the Sheri and receiving arrest packet images

in order to more quickly initiate a case.

While representatives from the Cook County Bureau of

Technology report ongoing progress on the Enterprise Service Bus,

we were unable to receive

more detailed updates about the status of these projects and the Clerk’s role in them.

11 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, State of the Clerk’s Oce, December 1, 2021, p. 19.

12 Cook County contracted with Applications Software Technology Corporation in January 2016 for the Enterprise

Service Bus, and to date has spent $6.6 million on the ESB.

13 Cook County Bureau of Technology, Semi-Annual Major Project Report, June 1, 2021, accessible at https://

cook-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4989771&GUID=B6786618-24E1-4CB0-95CF-81F768DBE-

98F&Options=&Search=.

14 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, State of the Clerk’s Oce, December 1, 2021, p. 20.

15 See e.g., Cook County Technology and Innovation Committee meeting held October 6, 2021, accessible at https://

cook-county.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=896289&GUID=91A6C1D1-EC6A-492A-92D6-D2AD5C32EE-

6B&Options=info|&Search=.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 13

7. Improve the “e-ling” system.

The New Directions report made several recommendations for the Clerk of the Circuit Court to

improve the e-ling system by doing the following:

a. Simplify user interface and streamline the user experience across divisions;

b. Allow “kiosk mode” ling and alternatives to e-mail for self-represented litigants;

c. Implement electronic order entry and end the use of carbon paper;

d. Preapprove lings by most law rms; and

e. Conduct a user survey.

The Clerk reports some improvements with regard to electronic ling, although the

initiatives recommended in New Directions have not been implemented. The State of

the Clerk’s Oce report notes that orders of protection in domestic violence cases can now

be e-led, expungement petitions can be led electronically, and the Clerk’s Oce is working

with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Oce to develop and implement new processes and

policies for the electronic submission of summons, certied mailings, certied copies of court

dispositions and publication orders.

While these steps indicate that the Clerk’s Oce has lled in some gaps in the electronic ling

system, they do not indicate that the Clerk’s Oce has undertaken a comprehensive review to

streamline electronic ling generally. As recommended in New Directions, the Clerk’s Oce,

together with Tyler Technologies, should conduct a user survey and take steps to signicantly

simplify the electronic ling process. The current process is overly complicated, cumbersome,

and inconsistent across divisions of the Court.

The Clerk’s Oce also has not begun developing a system for electronic order entry. Other

judicial districts employ easy-to-use interfaces where attorneys (or registered self-represent-

ed litigants) can electronically submit orders, judges sign them the same day, and the signed

orders are automatically made available to all registered parties for download. Although the

COVID-19 pandemic has, at least in the civil divisions, nally eliminated carbon paper orders in

Cook County, the current system essentially replicates the carbon paper system but via ine-

cient (and sometimes overlooked) e-mails with attachments. The Clerk’s Oce should work with

the Oce of the Chief Judge to create a truly electronic and automatic order entry system.

8. Make judges’ daily court calls available online.

The information available on the Clerk’s website has been limited and often confusing. The

Clerk’s Oce has expressed interest in improving the website to make it easier to locate infor-

mation, and has committed to considering feedback from external organizations including the

Civic Federation, Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers.

However, the Clerk of the Circuit Court website has been down since a data breach oc-

curred in August 2021 Since that time, a temporary landing page with limited information

has been put in place. The Oce is working with the Cook County Bureau of Technology on

implementation of a new secure website, which it has contracted with Clarity Partners to design.

The process is currently in information-gathering stage. We are pleased that the Clerk’s Oce

is open to including our suggestions and look forward to working with the Oce on this initiative.

When the new website is up and running, one of the key pieces of information that should be

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 14

posted on the Clerk’s website is daily court call information so that litigants and attorneys can

nd their court dates and hearing times online. Currently, daily call sheet information is available

only on paper schedules posted outside each courtroom when court is held in person and is

not available at all for Zoom hearings. The Circuit Court’s website lists only each judge’s tem-

plate schedule (for example, times available for motions or trials) and not the cases on the daily

schedule.

Each judge’s schedule for the day (cases to be called, times, and line numbers on

the docket) should be posted on the Circuit Clerk’s website and regularly updated.

Overall, we hope to see the Clerk’s Oce improve access to information for court users and the

public on the Clerk of the Circuit Court website. In addition to daily court dockets and schedules,

the following are several examples of information we hope to see the Clerk of the Circuit Court

website make available:

• Operational policies;

• Vendor contracts;

• Annual audit reports;

• Budget information, stang information and organizational charts;

• Caseload statistics including cases led, cases disposed, case clearance rates and

length of time to case conclusion by case type within each area of law;

• Press releases or other means of communicating announcements on new policies, prac-

tices or procedures;

• Contact information for each of the Clerk’s Oce divisions; and

• Instructions for submitting requests for information and appropriate sta to contact.

9. Install a court recording system in every courtroom.

The New Directions report recommended that the Clerk of Circuit Court work with the Oce of

the Chief Judge to install an electronic court recording system in every Cook County courtroom

to enable creation of and access to ocial transcripts of every proceeding to all litigants. Typ-

ically, only criminal courtrooms are staed routinely with ocial court reporters. Civil litigants

have generally needed to request and pay for private court reporters to attend a given hearing

to enable preparation of an ocial record of their proceedings.

The COVID-19 pandemic has expedited the use of technology and proved that technology can

16 See e.g., https://www.cookcountycourt.org/HOME/Zoom-Links.

17 A successful pilot program resulted in Cook County’s ve non-jury eviction courtrooms at the Daley Center being

equipped with recording technology. However, this has not been expanded to other court divisions. See e.g., “For

the First Time in 16 Years, Chicago Eviction Court is On Tape” (October 30, 2019) and “Eviction Court Judge Slams

Moratorium as ‘Utter Idiocy.’ It’s Not on the Record.” (January 14, 2021) by Maya Dukmasova for Chicago Reader,

accessible at https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/for-the-rst-time-in-16-years-chicago-eviction-court-is-on-tape/

and https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/eviction-court-judge-slams-moratorium-as-utter-idiocy-its-not-on-the-re-

cord/, respectively.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 15

help improve the administration of justice, access to the courts, and eciency.

The Illinois

Supreme Court amended Rule 46 in May 2020 to allow court proceedings to be recorded by

stenographic means or by an electronic recording system, including video conferencing ser-

vices.

This rule change has, for the rst time, allowed for the recording from videoconference

hearings to be used by the court reporter to complete the transcript that becomes the ocial

record of the proceeding.

Despite the fact that a signicant portion of hearings in Cook County remain teleconfer-

enced, and authority has been provided by the Illinois Supreme Court, most hearings,

outside of criminal court, are not transcribed into an ocial court record. Given that all

court proceedings have been taking place via Zoom throughout the pandemic, and given the

authority granted by the Illinois Supreme Court, all Cook County Circuit Court proceedings that

are not already recorded by a stenographer should be recorded via Zoom and made available

to an ocial court reporter for transcription upon order. While this initiative would require direc-

tion by the Oce of the Chief Judge, we recommend that the Clerk of the Circuit Court work

with the Chief Judge to create a policy and process for recording Zoom court calls and hear-

ings, and transcribing the recordings to become ocial court transcripts.

10. Implement court hearing reminders for all litigants.

The Circuit Court established an automated court date reminder system for criminal felony and

misdemeanor cases, which sends phone call and text message court hearing reminders to

those who register for them.

The call reminders went into eect in December 2017 and text

reminders went live in March 2018.

These reminders were halted in March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic—reportedly to avoid confusion between assigned courtrooms and emer-

gency courtrooms, and in order to ensure the system included Zoom information. The Circuit

Court resumed automated reminders on December 1, 2021.

While the County has established an automated court reminder system for criminal

cases, automatic court reminders are not provided for hearings in the other divisions of

the Circuit Court. The Cook County Circuit Court website provides instructions to receive court

date information by text or email, but these require the litigant or attorney to request the infor-

mation. Automated court reminders are still needed in many other divisions of the Court, espe-

cially those where the majority of litigants are not represented by legal counsel such as Trac

cases.

18 Illinois Supreme Court, “Illinois Supreme Court Amends Rules to Support Use of Remote Hearings In Court

Proceedings,” Press Release, May 26, 2020, available at https://www.illinoiscourts.gov/News/390/Illinois-Supreme-

Court-Amends-Rules-to-Support-use-of-Remote-Hearings-in-Court-Proceedings/news-detail/.

19 Illinois Supreme Court Remote Court Proceedings Guidance Document, available at https://ilcourtsaudio.blob.

core.windows.net/antilles-resources/resources/0b0fe9a5-8a69-4596-b3be-d56ccec8b8e7/081020-SC_RHG.pdf.pdf.

20 Criminal defendants can sign up for court reminders at https://courtreminder.cookcountyil.gov/Public/.

21 Cook County Bureau of Technology, Enterprise Service Bus Program: Integrated Justice “Bus” Initiatives,

Quarterly Report: Second Quarter 2018. Accessible at https://cook-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx-

?ID=3537310&GUID=1E2B58CD-275D-445F-B6FA-33F532094461&Options=Advanced&Search=.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 16

Public Access to Data

11. Create an Oce of Data Management to improve internal data management

and oversee external requests.

The New Directions report recommended that the Clerk’s Oce establish an oce with a ded-

icated sta position to oversee requests for data and information, both to assist with internal

analysis and respond to questions from researchers, journalists and the public.

The Clerk’s Oce has not created a data management oce. The Clerk arms that data

requests pertaining to court case records must be directed to the Oce of the Chief Judge

because the Circuit Court holds jurisdiction over the records, while the Clerk of the Circuit Court

simply maintains the records. Acknowledging there is a dierentiation between information the

Clerk’s Oce can currently release on its own authority versus information that requires approv-

al from the Chief Judge, we hope to see the Clerk do the following:

a. Appoint a designated sta person to handle information and data requests for the

Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Oce.

b. Create a policy regarding disclosure from the Clerk of the Circuit Court that identies

what types of information the Clerk may release, the process through which the pub-

lic should submit requests and the length of time within which the requester should

expect a response. The policy should be posted on the Clerk’s website and include

contact information for the designated sta person to whom the information requests

should be directed.

c. For information requests pertaining to case records or aggregated data based on

case records that must rst be submitted to the Oce of the Chief Judge, provide

clear instructions for requesters including contact information for the appropriate Chief

Judge’s Oce sta to contact.

d. Work with the Cook County Chief Judge to revise county-level policies to allow for the

release of case-level court data. The Chief Judge’s bulk data policy says the Clerk

maintains the records and should maintain its own policies and procedures for pro-

viding bulk electronic data.

The Clerk and Chief Judge should reach an agreement

about a streamlined process for the Clerk to release court data and establish clear

policies for how data requests will be handled within a certain timeframe.

12. Work with the Illinois General Assembly to amend state statute to make

information in the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s possession subject to the Illinois

Freedom of Information Act.

A commitment to transparency was one of the key principles on which Clerk Martinez cam-

paigned. After initially committing to making the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County

subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Clerk Martinez worked with State Senator

Michael Hastings to introduce Senate Bill 583 in the 102nd General Assembly.

The original bill

22 Cook County Chief Judge, General Administrative Order No. 02-03, as amended eective January 1, 2020, avail-

able at https://www.cookcountycourt.org/Manage/Division-Orders/View-Division-Order/ArticleId/321/GENERAL-AD-

MINISTRATIVE-ORDER-NO-02-03-BULK-ELECTRONIC-DATA-DISSEMINATION-POLICY.

23 Senate Bill 583, 102nd Illinois General Assembly.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 17

language would have added the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County to the denition of

“public body” and Section 2.5 of the FOIA statute

related to records of public funds. However,

due to opposition from the Illinois Clerks of Courts Association, the bill was amended through

Senate Committee Amendment 1, which removed all references to FOIA and instead added the

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County to Section 3a of the Local Records Act. This change

made reports and records of the obligation, receipt and use of public funds of the Clerk of the

Circuit Court of Cook County open to public inspection on court premises. The amended bill

was passed by both houses of the General Assembly and signed into law on August 13, 2021.

The bill as passed does not meet the goals put forward in the New Directions report, nor

does it meet Clerk Martinez’s stated campaign goals. Our coalition was disappointed in the

weakened bill because it failed to achieve any meaningful change in public access to informa-

tion in the Clerk’s Oce.

The amended bill also precludes requestors from obtaining copies of

records in electronic form and appealing a denial of a records request, which would be provided

in FOIA. As a result, our organizations were not able to support SB 583 as amended by Amend-

ment 1. We continue to advocate for an amendment to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act

that would make Clerks of Courts and other administrative functions of the judicial branch sub-

ject to FOIA.

13. In the absence of a change to FOIA, voluntarily release data and operations

information.

Even without a change in state law to the Freedom of Information Act, the Clerk’s Oce can

and should voluntarily release certain information about court operations and provide informa-

tion on the oce’s website. The oce can also release data requests pertaining to information

about court cases with approval from the Chief Judge.

Through our communications with the Circuit Court Clerk’s Oce, the Clerk has indicated

willingness to improve the availability of information on the Clerk of the Circuit Court website.

However, the website is still under construction with no clear timetable for completion.

We recommend that the Clerk’s Oce initiate the following:

• Website Information Improvements. The Clerk’s Oce should make the following

types of information readily available on its website:

a. Oce policies;

b. Financial audits and budget reports;

c. An organizational chart;

d. Navigational court system information, including information about facilities,

locations, the types of court cases handled at each location and what time

court calls are scheduled;

e. Daily court docket information and schedules;

24 5 ILCS 140, Freedom of Information Act.

25 See “Circuit Court Clerk Touts Transparency with New Bill. Critics Say It’s Not What She Promised.” by Josh Mc-

Ghee for Injustice Watch (April 7, 2021), accessible at https://www.injusticewatch.org/news/courts/2021/cook-county-

clerk-of-court-foia-transparency/.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 18

f. Fines and fee schedules and information about changes to fees eective

through the Criminal and Trac Assessment Act;

and

g. Media releases announcing changes in process, policy, court initiatives, and

other updates.

• Data and Information Request Process and Policy. The Clerk should create a

policy for how the process of requests from journalists and researchers will be han-

dled and the information the Clerk of the Circuit Court can provide. The policy should

be posted on the Clerk’s website, along with instructions and contact information for

the appropriate sta person to whom the public should direct data and information

requests. For data requests that must be directed to the Oce of the Chief Judge,

the policy should also provide contact information for the appropriate sta person to

contact.

• Statement on Disclosure. Clerk Martinez issue a statement committing that the Cir-

cuit Court Clerk will work to ensure the oce is as open and transparent as possible,

and that the oce will provide all information requested so long as it is not prohibited

from being released. The statement should identify the information that is prohibited

from the Clerk’s release and should be posted on the same page of the Clerk’s web-

site where data request policy and instructions are posted.

Accessibility and User Services

New Directions recommended creating two high-level positions to oversee functions that have

historically been left unfullled. The Chief Accessibility Ocer and the Chief Public Service O-

cer would help with Circuit Court navigation and training of front-line sta.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Oce has expressed interest in making its services more

accessible but has yet to appoint sta to either suggested position. The oce has not

announced concrete steps to make its facilities and services more accessible for people with

disabilities or whose rst or primary language is not English, nor has it centralized these ac-

cess-to-justice initiatives under one division or ocial.

14. Appoint a Chief Accessibility Ocer and improve access for people with

language barriers or in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act

(ADA).

The New Directions report recommended the Clerk establish a new position for a Chief Acces-

sibility Ocer to handle coordinating initiatives to improve physical accommodations and ac-

cessibility for litigants with disabilities and language and translation services for court users with

translation or interpretation needs. The specic improvements recommended in New Directions

include:

• Developing a comprehensive ADA Accessibility Plan to be implemented in each court-

house;

• Installing adjustable (height and volume) ADA kiosks in the Daley Center;

26 See the Illinois General Assembly’s website at https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ChapterID=50&Ac-

tID=3898 for the compiled statutes, (705 ILCS 135/) Criminal and Trac Assessment Act.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 19

• Training sta members on how to handle customer service for individuals with disabili-

ties, including helping them access disability accommodations oered by the courts;

• Placing uniform signage and communications about available accommodations and

services throughout every courthouse and division; and

• Improving language and translation services.

The Clerk’s Oce has expressed a commitment to ensure language and sign language inter-

preters are available. Specically, the Circuit Court Clerk is planning to establish a new call

center that will oer language translation in 200 languages and TTY capability for those with

hearing impairments. We fully support the Clerk’s call center initiative and hope that it leads to

increased accessibility and access to justice, although he remaining accessibility recommen-

dations should be addressed, particularly as courts resume jury trials and in-person court calls

after the COVID-19 pandemic.

15. Appoint a Chief Public Service Ocer and improve access to justice.

The New Directions report recommended the Clerk establish a new position for a Chief Public

Service Ocer to oversee access to justice and information for underserved and self-represent-

ed litigants. This position would ensure that all Clerk’s Oce personnel are adequately trained

on e-ling and case management systems to address questions and assist self-represented

litigants in navigating typical scenarios they face in court. The Chief Public Service Ocer would

additionally ensure uniformity and clarity of signage and court forms and conduct surveys to

receive feedback from court users including judges, attorneys, jurors, and litigants.

The State of the Clerk’s Oce report released by Clerk Martinez on December 1, 2021, an-

nounced several customer service improvements the oce has made such as establishing:

• A call center, staed with 30 Clerks, to answer people’s questions without requiring

them to come to a court facility. The call center plans to oer translation in 200 dier-

ent languages.

• A self-represented litigants customer service center in the Domestic Relations Division

to assist litigants with paperwork, legal questions, and ling of forms.

• A system for incoming calls in suburban courthouses to direct callers to the appropri-

ate department.

• Increased sta training on the Odyssey case management system and cross-training

to improve customer service.

While these are positive steps toward improving customer service, it is unclear whether these

eorts are coordinated and what sta positions are overseeing these initiatives. We continue to

recommend that the Clerk hire a Chief Public Service Ocer to ensure coordination and unifor-

mity of customer service initiatives across divisions and courthouses.

The Clerk’s executive sta have also indicated the intention to improve information provided

on the new Clerk of the Circuit Court website. The Clerk’s previous website was very dicult to

navigate and has been down since a security breach occurred in August 2021. While the Clerk

works with the County Bureau of Technology to build a new secure website, a temporary land-

ing page has been put in place to provide links and contact information to dierent court divi-

sions. When the new website is nalized, we are optimistic that it will include each judge’s daily

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 20

court schedule, accessible Zoom links for each courtroom, readily accessible court forms for

self-represented litigants, information for non-English speakers and disabled court users, and

other information that will assist members of the public with their court needs.

16. Improve partnerships with other agencies.

The New Directions report recommended that the Clerk create partnerships with other agencies

to better serve the public, such as the following, for example:

• Partnering with the Chicago Public Library and other library systems in Cook County to

provide e-ling kiosks and train volunteers to assist self-represented litigants.

• Partnering with transportation agencies such as the Chicago Transit Authority, Pace, Me-

tra, and the Regional Transportation Authority to coordinate better public transportation

options to suburban courthouses and provide farecards for low-income litigants.

• Partnering with the Cook County Sheri’s Oce to (a) coordinate service of documents

(such as complaints and orders of protection) without needing to upload them to two

separate systems and (b) coordinate better options for cell phone storage in courthous-

es so that individuals attending court hearings can access online resources, call for

rides home, and otherwise conduct necessary business that requires e-mail and phone

service.

These recommendations for interagency partnerships do not appear to have been initiat-

ed. We continue to recommend that the Clerk identify opportunities to provide better service to

court users through creative, strategic partnerships like the ideas listed above.

Ethics and Oversight

17. Continue to comply with Shakman Consent Decree requirements.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County has been under federal court monitoring through

the Shakman Consent Decree since 1972.

The Consent Decree prohibits the Clerk’s Oce

from making employment decisions based on political factors or coercing political contributions

or activity from government employees in connection with their employment. In 2018, the Court

appointed a Compliance Administrator to oversee the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s hiring and em-

ployment practices and investigate unlawful political discrimination. The Clerk must reach sub-

stantial compliance with the Compliance Administrator’s requirements in order to be released

from court monitoring.

Based on the Shakman Compliance Administrator’s most recent reports, the Clerk of the

Circuit Court is making steady progress toward substantial compliance. The most recent

report led on September 3, 2021 recommended that the Clerk’s Oce nalize amendments to

the Employment Plan, provide Employment Plan training to all sta and nalize an Employee

Handbook.

27 See e.g., https://www.shakmanclerkofcircuitcourtcookcounty.com/_les/ugd/11c424_ae1c848cda7340598935fdd-

b90e4a80b.pdf.

28 Eight Report of Susan G. Feibus as Compliance Administrator for the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County,

led September 3, 2021, available at https://28deeac3-bfc7-4d05-9f05-d099a915d3.lesusr.com/ugd/11c424_

ca597c4bdd6d4f1c8bfcfc9f8f4e4aa7.pdf.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 21

18. Eliminate patronage hiring in the oce of the Circuit Court Clerk.

The Shakman Compliance Administrator’s recent reports indicate the Clerk’s Oce

is making substantial progress toward eliminating political factors in the hiring.

The

Clerk’s Human Resources sta have worked with the Compliance Administrator to nalize an

Employment plan that governs hiring decisions at all levels and transfers and promotions of cur-

rent employees. The majority (90%) of sta have received training on the Employment Plan.

19. Ensure stronger Inspector General oversight.

In the New Directions report, we suggested that the Circuit Court Clerk work with the Cook

County Oce of the Independent Inspector General (OIIG) to ensure stronger Inspector Gen-

eral oversight of the Clerk of the Court’s Oce in matters of fraud, waste, mismanagement or

abuse. The Clerk’s own Inspector General is a position that is hired internally, which we believe

presents inherent conict. To ensure true independent Inspector General oversight and restore

public trust, the best course of action would be for the Clerk to establish an intergovernmental

agreement with the Cook County OIIG allowing the OIIG to conduct investigations, evaluations

and audits related to the Clerk’s Oce. Through such an agreement, the Clerk would reimburse

the County OIIG for oversight services performed, but would no longer need to budget for inter-

nal Inspector General costs.

Under the previous administration, the Circuit Corut Clerk’s Inspector General (IG) sta served

in a security role rather than traditional IG responsibilities of investigating waste, abuse, fraud

and mismanagement. The Clerk’s IG provided general security at the Daley Center, handled

movement of evidence and funds and served as the Circuit Court Clerk’s security detail.

The

new Clerk has now separated the Inspector General oce into two units: one to support facil-

ities management and security measures and another to handle investigation of fraud, waste,

abuse and mismanagement. Several new personnel positions were added in the FY2022

budget to handle the inspector general work. The Clerk also points to other measures that have

been taken to improve operations of the Inspector General including the creation of a case

management system to track cases, recording interviews with audio and video and the develop-

ment of standardized forms to improve transparency and establish a process for notication to

employees.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court has not followed our suggestion of using the Cook Coun-

ty OIIG for inspector general oversight and instead has added new sta to the Circuit

Clerk’s Inspector General (IG) to allow capacity to fulll responsibilities of an Inspector

General. In light of the current direction the Clerk has chosen to pursue with an in-house in-

spector general, we oer several recommendations to help ensure independence of the Clerk’s

IG and focus on appropriate inspector general responsibilities:

a. The Clerk’s Inspector General should bolster policies and procedures based on best

practices in order to ensure real independence.

29 The Shakman Consent Decree provides an exception of “Shakman-exempt positions,” which are higher level

positions for which hiring based on political considerations is permitted.

30 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, State of the Clerk’s Oce, December 1, 2021, p. 11.

31 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, State of the Clerk’s Oce, December 1, 2021, p. 14.

32 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, State of the Clerk’s Oce, December 1, 2021, p. 14.

33 For Inspector General best practices, see Association of Inspectors General, Principles and Standards for Oces

of Inspector General, May 2014.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 22

b. The Inspector General should operate under an enabling ordinance that sets a mis-

sion, principles, and parameters that dene its scope and responsibilities, and stan-

dards through which the IG will perform investigations, inspections, evaluations. and

reviews.

c. The Inspector General and sta should meet certain professional qualications. Addi-

tionally, we recommend that the Clerk move sta who perform security functions that

are not essential to the Inspector General’s mission of investigating abuse or misman-

agement to a dierent department within the Circuit Court Clerk’s Oce.

d. The IG should also publish periodic (e.g., quarterly) reports summarizing activity and

investigations.

20. Execute a new collective bargaining agreement.

This recommendation has been completed. The prior collective bargaining agreement with

the Teamsters Local 700, the union representing employees of the Clerk of the Cook County

Circuit Court, expired on November 30, 2020, and a new Collective Bargaining Agreement was

ratied on November 4, 2021. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which was ratied by

the Cook County Board of Commissioners on November 4, 2021, for the four-year period from

December 1, 2020, through November 30, 2024, mirrors the collective bargaining agreements

reached with other unions representing Cook County employees. It includes annual pay raises

of 1.5% in 2021, 2.5% in 2022 and 2023, and 2.0% in 2024, plus several one-time payments,

and slight increases in the employee HMO healthcare contribution.

Budget Transparency and Accountability

21. Reassess stang levels to ensure the best use of resources.

The New Directions report recommended that the Clerk of the Circuit Court conduct a desk au-

dit as part of an oce-wide operational audit. A desk audit would assess current stang levels

and job responsibilities and could be used to identify any organizational changes needed to

optimize eciency.

The Clerk did not conduct any operational or desk audits upon taking oce. We contin-

ue to recommend that the Clerk reassess stang levels based on the volume of court

activity.

While the number of budgeted sta in the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Oce has declined over

the years, the decline in the number of annual case lings in the Cook County Circuit Court has

far outpaced the decrease in stang levels. Budgeted personnel fell from a high of just over

2,000 in FY2010 to a low of 1,373 in FY2021—a decrease of 32.6%. The number of court cases

led in Cook County decreased by over 50% between FY2008 and FY2019, and fell another

35% in FY2020.

These gures are shown in the chart below.

34 The steep drop in 2020 is likely due at least in part to court closures and slowdowns in court activity due to the

COVID-19 pandemic.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 23

The Clerk’s FY2022 budget increased personnel by 93 positions (a 6.7% increase from the prior

year) and overall spending by nearly $5 million, or 4%. The majority of the new positions (60)

are for courtroom clerks and another 33 are for technical support positions. The Clerk’s Oce

explained that the need for these new positions was based on discussions with executive clerks

and operational mangers, which identied the need for additional sta to meet basic courtroom

functions.

It is unclear whether the Clerk’s Oce has adjusted sta or improved operational processes

based on new e-ling and case management system technology. We hope to see the Clerk’s

administration conduct a stang assessment to right-size sta based on workloads, streamline

processes and align stang needs to new technology. Information about stang and organiza-

tional changes should be made available to the public on the Clerk’s website.

22. Conduct a comprehensive review of special purpose funds.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court has four special purpose funds that support specic court func-

tions, such as document storage and electronic citation. In addition to the Clerk’s own special

purpose funds, the Clerk of the Circuit Court collects a variety of fees, nes and assessments

and serves as a pass through by disbursing those funds to other governmental agencies. In

2020, the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County distributed $38 million in fees and nes to

other local and state government entities.

While total revenues and expenditures within these funds can be found through nancial audit

reports, little is widely understood about the circumstances in which the special purpose fund

fees are collected and how they are used. According to the Clerk’s 2020 nancial audit, the

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County collected $15.7 million in revenue from the four spe-

cial purpose funds. While these numbers can be found in nancial audits, they are not straight-

forward to a non-nance expert. Better transparency is needed for the general public to under-

stand what fees are collected for what purpose, and how those funds are spent.

The Clerk’s Oce has not made any commitments to review its special purpose funds

or produce additional information to help the public understand the purpose and use of

35 Oce of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Annual Financial Report for the Year Ended November 30,

2020, Report J.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 24

those funds. However, the State of the Clerk’s Oce report does acknowledge that the Clerk’s

2019 and 2020 nancial audits under the prior administration did not classify and distribute

trac nes, penalties and court costs in a timely manner. A total of $2.87 million had not been

disbursed in accordance with state regulations. The Oce says it is working to resolve these

issues in the 2021 audit.

To improve information about the Clerk’s special purpose funds as well as all of the funds that

pass through the Clerk’s Oce, we continue to recommend that the Clerk: (a) review the four

funds to assess whether they still serve their original purpose and work to revise or sunset fees

where possible; (b) post annual nancial audit reports on the Clerk of the Circuit Court website;

and (c) produce a straightforward, plain English summary of fees collected by the Clerk and

how they are dispersed among government agencies. This summary could be included in an

annual report (discussed further in Recommendation #24, below).

23. Revise annual performance metrics.

The Oce of the Clerk of the Circuit Court has a set of performance metrics that are made

available on the Cook County open data website.

Only a handful of these metrics are included

in the Circuit Clerk’s annual budget.

Clerk Martinez’s Oce indicates that its Finance Department has reviewed current per-

formance metrics and found that several have outlived their original purpose or no lon-

ger provide useful insight. The Clerk’s Oce says it plans to work with the Cook County

Oce of Research, Operations and Innovation to develop and report new metrics that

provide more useful insights into Clerk’s Oce operations.

In line with our original recommendation made in New Directions and the Clerk’s commitment

to this initiative, we urge the Clerk of the Circuit Court to work with the Cook County Oce of

Research, Operations and Innovation to review the existing performance metrics and develop

revised, clearly dened performance measures that would be more helpful for tracking opera-

tional eciency of the Clerk’s Oce. The Clerk’s performance metrics should be included in the

annual report (as recommended in Recommendation #24, below).

Examples of potential performance measure improvements include:

• One of the Clerk’s performance metrics is the number of document images scanned, cu-

mulatively since 1997. Rather than a cumulative tally, it would be more helpful to know the

average number of documents that need to be scanned per year and the percentage of

those documents that have been scanned. It would also be helpful for the Clerk’s Oce to

assess whether this is still a useful metric, now that all divisions of the Circuit Court utilize

electronic ling.

• One performance metric is “percentage of cases disposed.” In addition to the percentage

of cases disposed, it would be helpful for the performance metrics to include the number

of cases led and the number of cases disposed annually.

• One of the Clerk’s performance metrics is “average number of orders of protection pro-

cessed cases processed per 16.3 FTE.” This tells us how many orders of protection cases

are processed with the number of sta allocated to that activity. Instead or in addition, it

36 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, State of the Clerk’s Oce, December 1, 2021, pp. 17.

37 The Clerk of the Circuit Court’s FY2021 performance data can be found at https://cookcounty.data.socrata.com/

Government/Clerk-of-the-Circuit-Court-Cook-County-Elected-O/3hbd-c6ta/data.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 25

would be helpful to know what percentage of orders of protection cases are processed

annually.

• Several of the Clerk’s performance metrics could be more clearly dened, such as “num-

ber of case activities” and “number of cases e-led activity.” It is unclear what constitutes a

“case activity” in each of these measures.

24. Produce an annual report with budget, performance and statistical

information.

Understanding the ow of revenues and expenditures into and out of the Oce of the Circuit

Court Clerk is dicult because little detail is provided in the County’s budgets or nancial audits.

Reports that do contain nancial details about the Clerk’s revenues and expenditures, such as

the annual audits of the Circuit Court Clerk’s nancial statements,

are not easily accessible to

the public and are dicult for non-experts in nance to understand. As mentioned above, these

annual audit reports should be made available to the public on the Clerk’s website.

Another diculty with obtaining accurate information about the Circuit Court is inconsistency

between sources of information. For example, the number of case lings reported in the annual

reports of the Illinois Supreme Court, which report information submitted by Circuit Court Clerks,

diers from the number of case lings reported in the Clerk’s annual performance metrics. The

Clerk could greatly improve access to information about court activity levels simply by present-

ing this information on the Clerk’s website and in annual reports.

The Clerk’s Oce has not made any commitment to producing an annual report with

budget, operational, or statistical information. To improve transparency, the Oce of the

Clerk of the Circuit Court should produce an annual report to be released publicly and made

available on the Clerk’s website each year. At a minimum, the annual report should include

information on the following topics:

• Revenue generated, including breakdowns of fees, nes and other sources of revenue;

• Explanation of how funds are spent and dispersed across agencies;

• The Oce’s performance measures and a description of how those measures will be

used to improve eciency; and

• Statistical data about case volumes in the Cook County Circuit Court, such as:

o The number of case lings by case type;

o The number of pending cases and their status;

o The number of case dispositions by disposition type within each case type;

o The time it took to reach a disposition by case type;

o The number and types of cases where litigants were represented by counsel or

represented themselves; and

o The numbers of jury trials, bench trials, negotiated dispositions, and other dispo-

sitions for each Court division and type of case.

38 The Clerk of the Circuit Court is required by State statute to have the Oce’s nancial statements audited by a

licensed public accountant, per the Illinois Clerks of Courts Act, 705 ILCS 105/27.8.

Chicago Appleseed – Chicago Council of Lawyers – Civic Federation February 2022 | 26

The current Clerk of the Circuit Court inherited a problematic oce known for a lack of trans-

parency and eciency. While some progress has been made by the new Clerk to improve the

oce, this progress has been slow. Now that the Clerk’s administration has a better handle on

the challenges after a full year, we hope to see the Clerk’s Oce transition from crisis mode to

proactive management and planning.

Many initiatives and campaign commitments around transparency and eciency remain to

be addressed fully. Going forward, we urge the Clerk’s administration to address the following

broad issues:

• Management: Perform an audit, assess staffing levels based on workloads, court activ-

ity and integration of technology systems, and create a staffing plan aimed at improving

efficiency and operational processes. We encourage the Clerk’s Office to enlist outside

assistance in completing the recommended audit and strategic planning process.

• Technology: In addition to resolving immediate technology issues including restoring the

website and migrating fully to a new case management system, implement a long-term

strategy to streamline electronic filing, implement electronic order entry and eventu-ally

move toward remote online access to case documents.

• Communication: Issue regular announcements about office updates, improve access to

information on the Clerk’s website and improve the process for the handling of informa-

tion requests by researchers, reporters and interested members of the public.

• Transparency: Produce an annual report with court statistics, efficiency metrics and op-

erational and budget information, and work with the Chief Judge to revise court policies

regarding data and information disclosure.

• Customer Service: Ensure coordination and uniformity of customer service initiatives

across divisions and courthouses.

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts, the Civic Federation, and the Chicago Council of

Lawyers particularly urge the Clerk’s Oce to continue to work with other interested parties and

stakeholders to address all of these issues. While it is understandable that the Clerk’s rst few

months in oce were devoted to assessing her role and the agency’s internal needs, now is the

time to turn outward and listen to the needs, suggestions, and recommendations of those who

utilize the Clerk’s Oces services – particularly litigants, attorneys, and researchers who require

information about their own cases or about Clerk’s Oce and Court operations as a whole.

Likewise, we encourage the Clerk Martinez and her sta to resume regular meetings with the

Civic Federation, Chicago Appleseed, the Chicago Council of Lawyers, and any other organiza-

tions that wish to be of assistance as the Clerk’s Oce undertakes a strategic review.

CONCLUSION