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Cook County Court Cases Have Gone Mobile

By Wendell Hutson | April 23, 2013 7:11am
 (from left) Lisa Dowdell, chief deputy clerk and application developer; Bridget Dancy, chief information officer; Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown; and Jerard Butts, project manager for the Mobile Project.
(from left) Lisa Dowdell, chief deputy clerk and application developer; Bridget Dancy, chief information officer; Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown; and Jerard Butts, project manager for the Mobile Project.
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Yvonne Davila

CHICAGO — People with legal matters in Cook County courts now have access to countless court records in their pockets, thanks to a new mobile application.

Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown said one of the biggest complaints she gets from the public is about the amount of time it takes to look up court information at a county courthouse.

And even after her office made case information available online she still received complaints about it not being convenient enough, so last month she created a free mobile app.

The development was welcome news to attorney Constance Sherrod.

"As a litigator, I check the [website] all the time to check the status of cases," said Sherrod, founder of The Sherrod Law Firm. "The new app is actually easier to use than the desktop version and would be good for non-attorneys."

The Court Clerk Mobile Connect app allows users to search cases by name or case number, and it also list all court fees. Additionally, users have the ability to save money on electronic docket searches and search all civil divisions for their cases. The app can be downloaded to any Android device or iPhone, as well as the iPad and the iPod Touch.

And while Brown said she is glad to see attorneys making use of the app, she pointed out that it was designed for the general public too.

“It was designed to make it convenient for citizens to access court record information [instead of] waiting until they return to their computers at home," Brown said.