Legal mitigates environmental impact

55th Wing Public Affairs
Story by Kendra Williams

Date: 02.11.2019
Posted: 02.11.2019 11:02
News ID: 310296
Legal mitigates environmental impact

Public math can be a nightmare. For instance, try multiplying 12, the average number of copies needed for each exhibit in a case, by 200, the average number of pages per exhibit, by 30, the average number of exhibits per case.

Even if the answer is only close to right, it’s a lot of paper, not to mention a lot of dollars and man-hours.

The 55th Wing Judge Advocate office recently recognized advancements in technology meant this wouldn’t always be the norm. They decided to bring the future faster by purchasing tablets for use in courtroom procedures, making the legal process faster and more efficient.

While the office’s workload isn’t decreasing, the number of personnel are, making improving processes a must.

“Having the IPADs is going to free up some of the time the paralegals would otherwise spend organizing, printing, marking and copying, that they can now use to support their attorney,” said Senior Master Sgt. Jessica Moore, 55th WG JA superintendent.

Tech. Sgt. Dustin Remmenga, 55th WG JA NCO in charge of Military Justice, echoed her sentiment.

“It really is going to help out quite a bit,” Remmenga said. “It was very challenging and time consuming.”

The staff won’t be other only ones to benefit from the upgrade. Once the tablets are in use members of the jury, the judge, defense council, prosecutor, and court reporters will be able to pull up evidence quickly instead of fumbling through stacks of paper.

Evidence has also become more electronic-based, such as recorded interviews and text messages, making tablets an easier medium to utilize.

But, that is not all.

Once the court cases are over, the use of tablets make disposing of documents more rapid and economical. The paralegals can delete information as opposed to shredding documents for hours.