Lake County Courthouse

In 1998, the main complex of the four-story Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, Illinois, was reconfigured and upgraded to a total of 26 courtrooms. While this addition was necessary to better handle the volume of cases heard in the court, the extra courtrooms brought their own issues. Patron crowding and congestion arose in key areas of the building due to the high amount of people searching for their correct room. This confusion and disarray led to courthouse staff members being asked for directions, which pulled them away from their jobs and ultimately slowed down courthouse operations. The Lake County Courthouse sought a solution to its growing problem and selected Infax for the job after viewing its proposed DocketCall® solution.

Infax installed its DocketCall software on two 24-inch LCD monitors in the courthouse. The software pulls case information from the court’s existing case management system and electronically organizes and displays it on facility monitors. If any changes need to be made to the docket, authorized staff members can simply enter changes into the Infax dashboard. From there, DocketCall then automatically updates the appropriate displays in real time with the new information.

With the ability to find where they need to go in 60 seconds or less, patrons no longer need to stop courthouse staff to ask for directions. As a result, staff members are able to continuously tend to their tasks and make the facility as efficient as possible. An additional benefit is the reduction in stress levels often felt by court visitors. Entering an unfamiliar courthouse can be overwhelming, but when given proper information and direction, patrons feel more confident about their ability to navigate to the courthouse.