The most popular feature on the Internet web site maintained by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is the section devoted solely to the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, charged with conspiracy in the attacks of September 11, 2001.

In its first 11 months, the web site’s Moussaoui pages were viewed 350,000 times – twice as often as all of the site’s other pages combined.

“Those were 350,000 requests for information the clerk’s office did not have to handle in person or on the phone,” said Edward Adams, the court’s public information officer. “The web site has allowed us to respond to requests for information without stealing the court’s attention from other cases.”

Using a web site to help a court handle a high-profile case “can save your operations from being crippled and better satisfy requests in a timely and efficient manner,” said James McCormack, clerk of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

McCormack learned that lesson years ago, when Paula Jones’ sexual-harassment lawsuit against then-President Clinton was pending in his court. In a peak seven-month period, the Arkansas-Eastern web site registered more than 1.2 million hits from users nationwide and in 32 other countries.

What information typically is sought? Courts have included these online offerings for high-profile cases:

· All docket entries.
· Case calendars
· Full text of pleadings
· All court orders and opinions except for those ordered sealed by the presiding judge.
· Separate pages that explain how the public and news media may attend courtroom proceedings.

Some courts also created listservs to alert news media members and other interested parties about new documents filed in a high-profile case.
District courts have not been alone in harnessing the Internet for such help.
Soon after appeals in the Microsoft antitrust case were filed in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Clerk of Court Mark Langer recalls, “key concerns were press inquiries and public access to filings.”

“Chief Judge (Harry) Edwards initiated planning, and Internet access to pleadings, orders, and notices was made a top priority for the clerk’s office and the automation staff,” Langer said.

With help from the Administrative Office, court staffers set up and maintained Microsoft pages on the web site, with links prominently displayed on its home page. “We received an enormous amount of positive feedback from public, press, and practitioners,” he said.

The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York found itself confronting not one, but two, of the nation’s most notable cases when both Enron and WorldCom filed for bankruptcy protection. Web site sublinks for both cases were created within a few days of their filings. Clerk of Court Kathleen Farrell offered this summary:

· Both links were created by the court’s automation department, and courtroom deputies monitor the respective content.

· The presiding judge’s courtroom deputy updates the Internet-posted calendar for each case.

· Debtors’ attorneys provide the hearing agenda updates, which are put on the court’s web site only after being approved by the court.

· Links to the debtors’ web sites are provided by the court’s automation department.

Some aspects of the New York court’s use of its web site were modeled after what the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California created when one of the nation’s largest utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric, sought financial reorganization.

“This is a company with 13 million customers in Northern California, so we knew the public interest would be immense,” said Clerk of Court Gloria Franklin. “We wanted to come up with the best way to serve that interest.”

Franklin said presiding Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Martali “gave us the authority to make the web site an effective tool as possible for handling the onslaught.”

But what about treating all cases equally? “It’s understandable for judges to say their high-profile case should be treated just as any other case,” Adams said. “From their perspective, they’re right. The measure of justice parties receive should not be determined by the amount of attention the media and public pay to a case.

“But elsewhere in the courthouse, it’s a different story. The amount of scrutiny high-profile cases receive can severely tax the resources of the clerk’s office. Deploying limited resources efficiently lets you handle media issues related to the high-profile case without shortchanging the thousands of other cases on your docket. Posting case documents online is a sensible way to accomplish that goal,” Adams said.

In the biggest of cases, investing the time to set up a special web presence can yield big dividends. “The Internet affords us the chance to make our courthouse part of the virtual community, accessible to anyone in the world,” McCormack said. “Communication through the Internet is the ideal opportunity for a court to perform in a way that enhances the court’s reputation, strengthens public trust and confidence, and improves community relations.”

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For links to federal court websites, visit http://www.uscourts.gov/links.html.