JEMS Workshop to increase efficiency in Case Management

Mark Ernest, IT manager of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court

Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 07, 2013 (SKNIS): The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, St. Kitts and Nevis, in collaboration with the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) in St. Lucia is currently holding a Judicial Enforcement Management System (JEMS) workshop to increase the efficiency in case management.

Mark Ernest, IT manager of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Headquarters said that during the February 5 to 8 workshops, staff of the High Court Registry and Magistrate Department in St. Kitts will be trained to effectively use the system which manages every aspect of a case from its initiation to conclusion.

“What the system allows staff of the court to do is to input all types of data, pertaining to filings, judgments, every aspect of a case into the system and to manage the case,” Mr. Ernest explained. So, it allows the court to move away from paper-based management to electronic based management.”

Preparing cause lists electronically, managing bonds, managing attorneys assigned to a case are other topics that will be covered.

Mr. Ernest explained that since its initiation the High Court of St. Kitts and Nevis was doing very well in using the case management system. However, there was a lull in activity of the application over the years. The Magistrate Court also was not making effective use of the system, thus prompting measures to resolve the problem.

“We had one or two interventions with the appointment of a new court administrator,” he stated. “We have made significant strides in use of that application. Now we have gone so far as court staff now printing their cause lists which is a major achievement from the system, meaning that everything is generated electronically in terms of matters down for hearing. So this is significant. So we are seeing that St. Kitts and Nevis is now getting itself up to par with other countries like Dominica.”

St. Kitts is the fourth country that has undertaken training. St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada were the first three. The ECSC is working on implementing this system in all the OECS member states.