1. What is Tele-Court?

Tele-Court is a service that makes it easy for attorneys to schedule, and for the Court to manage and conduct, telephonic court appearances.  Tele-Court allows the Court to handle telephonic appearances with minimal change in normal courtroom procedures, integrating the telephonic participants seamlessly with the participants appearing in person. A telephonic appearance call may involve just one attorney in one case or several attorneys in multiple cases.

2. What kind of matters can be heard telephonically?

Telephonic hearings are appropriate for any non-evidentiary hearings: motions, status conferences, ex parte appearances.  The Court, or each judge, may adopt rules concerning telephonic appearances that will be displayed to the registrants during the scheduling process. 

The Court should recognize that attorneys are aware that important arguments are more effective in person and that attorneys will choose to utilize the telephonic appearance option only if the attorney has concluded that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages in the particular circumstances.  For example, it is often better for everyone to have lead counsel on the telephone than it is to have a less familiar associate personally appear in court.

3. How are Tele-Court telephonic appearances scheduled?

The Court continues to calendar its hearings in the ordinary course. An attorney (or self represented litigant) who desires to appear at an upcoming hearing by telephone simply goes to Tele-Court's website and enters the relevant information. The attorney will receive a confirmation with dial in instructions and a unique PIN code for that particular appearance. Attorneys can also call Tele-Court to schedule a telephonic appearance or fax in a request.

4. How will the Court find out that a telephonic appearance has been scheduled?

Immediately after a telephonic appearance is scheduled, an automated email containing all relevant information is sent to the courtroom clerks as a courtesy alert. The Court can log in at any time and check the courtroom's comprehensive online calendar of all future telephonic appearances on the Tele-Court website.

5. Can the Court approve or disapprove a Tele-Court telephonic appearance request?

Yes, if the Court desires. When scheduled, Tele-Court items are assigned a "permission" status of TBD (to be determined). The Court may log on to Tele-Court and easily change that status to approved, disapproved, call court, off-calendar and may, if appropriate, include a reason or message. Any status change triggers an automated email to the attorney from Tele-Court informing of the court's action. In the event the item is disapproved or otherwise off-calendar, the attorney's PIN for that particular telephonic appearance is deactivated. The Court, however, can later move disapproved items back onto the approved calendar.  If the Court does not act on a request, the item continues to show as TBD and proceeds as scheduled.

6. Are there deadlines?

No.  The Court or judge can adopt whatever deadlines it finds convenient.  Recognizing that conflicts often don't arise until the afternoon before the hearing, Tele-Court recommends a late afternoon deadline on the day, or court day, prior to the hearing.  While some courts impose notice requirements to inform opposing counsel of an intent to appear telephonically, Tele-Court believes that most attorneys make their decision about appearing in person or by telephone without regard to their opponent's decision, and would prefer the flexibility of later deadlines over the nominal benefits of notice with respect to opposing counsel's intentions.

7. How is a telephonic appearance conducted?

Tele-Court has two modes: Courtroom and Chambers. These modes are intended to allow attorneys to participate as if they were present at the hearing taking place in the courtroom or in chambers.  Cases involving telephonic appearances need not be placed on a special calendar or heard out of order.

In the Courtroom mode, the telephonic participants are connected to a speakerphone that remains open to the courtroom until all of the scheduled telephonic appearances on the calendar are completed.  The callers on the line at any given time may be waiting to make appearances in several different cases.  As the calendar call progresses, additional callers may dial in while others may complete their appearance and hang up.  Thus, attorneys are dialing in and listening, on mute, waiting for their case to be called, just as other attorneys are walking into the courtroom and listening, silently, waiting for their case to be called.  This ability to listen to ongoing proceedings in the Courtroom mode is appreciated by attorneys for a number of reasons.  The courtroom may dial in on Tele-Court's toll free line at the scheduled time, or may dial in ahead of the scheduled time--before the judge even takes the bench--and simply put the line on speaker and leave it there. When attorneys dial in, they are greeted with messaging identifying the courtroom and advising that either (a) the court has not yet dialed in or (2) or the attorney will be connected to the courtroom and may be joining court proceedings already in progress.

In the Chambers mode, attorneys are not automatically connected to the courtroom, but rather are placed in a hold queue. As each case on the calendar is called, the Tele-Court operator or the court clerk will take the appropriate attorneys off hold and join them to the conference with the judge. This comports with the practice, in some courts, of hearing some cases individually in chambers, rather than in open court.

8. How does the Court dial in?

The Court simply dials Tele-Court's toll free conference number and enters the courtroom's unique PIN. The court is then connected to the conference. Any attorneys that were waiting are taken off hold and an announcement plays that the courtroom is being joined to the conference. The call will then proceed in the Courtroom mode, or the court may then switch to Chambers mode by summoning the operator.

9. How does Tele-Court control access to the conference?

Access to the conference line is controlled by PIN codes.  Although each courtroom is assigned a single PIN code for dial in, Tele-Court assigns a unique PIN code to each appearance by each attorney.  These PIN codes facilitate security and call management.  Each unique PIN code functions only on the scheduled hearing date and is deactivated if the telephonic appearance request is disapproved or cancelled.  To obtain a PIN code, the registrant must provide detailed registration information and a credit card.  For tracking and security, Tele-Court records computer IP addresses of registrants and logs the telephone caller ID of each person dialing into the conference. 

10. How will the Court know who is on the conference line?

Even before dialing into the call, or at any time during, all participants can open the Tele-Court Call Viewer. The Tele-Court Call Viewer is a remarkable tool that lists not only the scheduled participants and the details of their appearance, but also each caller's real time status: whether caller has dialed in, is connected, is on hold, on mute, or is disconnected. The Call Viewer even identifies who is speaking in real time. The Call Viewer features photographs, where available, of the participants which allow the Court to put a face with the voice. There is also free web video, chat, announcements and participant details. While an operator is always available to assist, the Call Viewer also allows the Court the ability to control the call, such as muting a caller. Attorney can also access a Call Viewer.  The use of the Call Viewer is optional.

11. How will the attorneys  in the courtroom know who is appearing by telephone?

Tele-Court provides the Court with a convenient daily online calendar of telephonic appearances, suitable for printing, that the Clerk can post on the courtroom door to inform attorneys appearing in person of the identities of the persons appearing by phone.

12. How do you prevent extraneous noise created by attorneys waiting to be heard from interrupting other proceedings?

Noise is controlled in several ways, but ordinarily by simple use of the mute function.  Tele-Court gives attorneys several ways to do so: Attorneys can mute/unmute their line using their ordinary telephone device, or they can mute/unmute through Tele-Court by pressing 1#, or they can mute/unmute through Tele-Court by using the Tele-Court Call Viewer.  Additionally, Attorneys are warned that the Tele-Court operator or the Court may mute their line if the attorney fails to exercise appropriate control.  If such proves necessary, a message plays informing the attorney that the line has been muted and that the attorney can press 1# to unmute.  The Tele-Court operator and the Court has the ability to mute and unmute all lines or any individual line as necessary.  On court directive, an unruly caller can be moved to a listen only status and/or disconnected and blocked from dialing back in.

13. Is operator assistance available?

Yes.  A Tele-Court operator is monitoring each call.  Any participant can summon the operator for a private consultation by pressing 0#. The operator can locate participants who have not dialed in, mute callers who cannot seem to do so themselves, subconference participants, or whatever else the Court requires.

14. Can attorneys confer with one another?

With Tele-Court, you can still "send them out into the hallway" to resolve issues.   The Tele-Court operator can place any number of callers in subconference where they can discuss issues in private and then return to the main conference call when they have finished.  Attorneys in the courtroom who need to participate in that discussion can step outside, dial into Tele-Court and be connected to the subconference as well.

15. Can clients, members of the public, or the media use Tele-Court to listen in on Court proceedings?

Assuming the Court permits, Tele-Court will allow such users to register to participate on a listen only setting, so that they cannot be heard under any circumstances.

16. Is the Court or the participating callers required to have an internet connection to participate in the conference call?

No.  Tele-Court operates on the Plain Old Telephone System.  The online calendar and the real-time Call Viewer are optional features that do not need to be used for the conference call to proceed.

17. Who pays for the service?

The Court pays nothing.  Participating attorneys and self represented litigants pay $10 plus 25 cents per minute per appearance.  A twenty minute call is thus $15.00.  A forty minute call is $20.00, and so forth.  The savings in travel time alone, even for an attorney with an office within walking distance, usually more than pays for the service, and in cases where an attorney would have to travel any distance at all, the savings can be easily amount to hundreds of dollars per attorney.  With Tele-Court, attorneys also will find it easier to work on other matters while waiting for their case to be called, and can thus reduce the costs that must be borne by their clients.

18. How About Video Appearances?

Tele-Court provides free web video. The judge and/or any participant can log in and click a send video button, enabling all participants to see the video from the user's webcam. Up to five video streams can be active at one time. You won't believe the quality or simplicity. The video feature is optional, and completely separate from the audio--which is on the plain old telephone system. Each user's video transmission and reception is dependent upon the user's available bandwith. Use of video is optional.