Cook County Circuit Court Modern Courtroom System

Cook County is the second-largest county in the U.S. and home to more than 40% of all the residents in Illinois. The Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest of the 24 judicial circuits in Illinois and one of the largest unified court systems in the world, with approximately 400 judges serving 5.2 million residents and more than one million cases filed each year within Chicago and its 126 surrounding suburbs.

Level-1 was hired by the Circuit Court to provide management consulting and design work for their Courtroom 21 project, which demonstrates how technology could enhance the legal process by assisting judges, counsel, jurors, court reporters, and other court staff. This included designing and implementing disaster recovery and infrastructure solutions for the Courtroom 21 system and installing computer access for judges, automatic voice recording, ceiling-mounted cameras and real-time displays, and court reporter transcription.

Courtroom 21’s integrated capabilities include an automatic video recording of proceedings with ceiling-mounted cameras and voice initiated switching; real-time or recorded televised evidence display with analog optical disk storage; remote, two-way television arraignment; text, graphics, and TV capable jury computers; LEXIS legal research at the bench and counsel tables; built-in video deposition playback facilities; information storage and presentation via Folio Views; and concurrent (real-time) court reporter transcription, including the ability for each lawyer to mark an individual computerized copy for later use.