Supreme Court Forms

Legal Pioneer - Kelly Dunn

If you have ever used an electronic based court form, you can thank Kelly Dunn. Mr. Dunn was the originator and  irst person to create a software program that was accepted by the Supreme Court. The first Supreme Court (SCAO) acceptance was in Lansing, Michigan. It took Mr. Dunn three years to convince the Supreme Court to accept printed forms originating from a computer. All forms up to this time were pre-printed, triplicate forms. The attorney, or most often the paralegal, would need to feed the pre-printed form through the back of a typewriter. For those of you that are younger you'll need to search, "typewriter". Kelly Dunn clerked for three years with a law firm in Troy, Michigan. Mr. Dunn would visit the judges chambers to have documents signed or picked up. Then he would go to one of the clerk's offices in Wayne, Oakland or Macomb County to have the paperwork time stamped. As time went on Mr. Dunn noticed the amount of pre-printed forms that were filling up in commercial dumpsters. These dumpsters were picked at the end of the week and taken to landfills. Kelly Dunn asked a of questions but nobody had the time or inclination to ponder. Legal forms cannot be submitted with white our of corrections. If there was one error the entire pre-printed document was pulled out of the typewriter and a blank, pre-printed form was inserted through the back of the typewriter. Kelly Dunn figured there was an entire forest of trees cut down every week, only to wind up in a dump or landfill. Kelly Dunn left the law firm and his pursuit of law to pursue the idea of creating the first electronic forms for the Supreme Court. The initial pushback was the fact that many law firms did not have a computer. Mr. Dunn replied that one day everyone will have a computer and their own printer. His ideas were scoffed at. One attorney went so far to say, "You have bastordized our legal profession!"

It took about a year for Kelyy Dunn to perfect the intial set of forms. Kelly Dunn knew many paralegals in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb County. He visited each of law firms and asked if they would be intertested in trying his new software. To his surprise many law firms did not have one computer system. Over time he found a few paralegals that owned a computer at home. Based on their feedback Mr. Dunn made the corrections and then would delier the next version. After three years the software was nearly perfect. He hired a few more programmers and taught them how to recreate the forms. Each form was coding from the ground up (Machine Language) so they program would load fast. The other idea included in the final version was the ability to save information within each form. This was a great idea as many law firms tend to do the same type of legal work, i.e., Personal Injury, Motions, Civil, District, Juvinlle etc. The end users found this to be a great time saver. Another feature was to edit the form on the screen without the need to start over like the pre-printed forms. This may seem rather obvious today but back in 1989 this was never heard of before.

The Legal Conference: Kelly Dunn rented a booth at a legal seminar in Ann Arbor, Michigan This was one of the largest conferences in the country to witness the premiere of Mr. Dunn's electronic software. Mr. Dunn brought two computers with his Supreme Court Forms software program installed on each system.

Mr. Dunn invited attendees to sit down and try the software. It was an immediate hit among the attorneys and paralegals. Soon, each vendor visited and tried the software. The was West Publishing, Lawayer's Cooperative, Blacks, Lexis-Nexis and many smaller publishers. Before the conference was over the representatives said they were given the permission to offer me a blank check. Mr. Dunn said he would like to sit down with West and discuss the options. West Publishing flew Mr. Dunn to Deerfield, Illinois. He was met at the Chicago airport by a limosouine to take him to their offices. West said they would like to purchase the source code. Mr. Dunn countered that he would prefer to retain the softare but to allow West exclusive marketing rights. Once the ink dried on the contract everything changed regarding electronic publishing in the law firms, courts and other compaines around the country.

1992 - West Publishing was purchased by Thompson Corporation for $3.43 billion dollars in cash. Thompsan became the leader provider of legal resarch materials in the United States.

2016 - Thompson Corporation was renamed, Thompson Reuters Westlaw.

From this point the success has grown for the past thirty years.

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