Winchel “Todd” Vincent Biography
Winchel 'Todd' Vincent, III is an attorney and technical consultant. Todd has been Project Director of Georgia State University Electronic Court Filing Project (http://gsulaw.gsu.edu/gsuecp/) since 1997. In 1998, Todd founded the international standards effort Legal XML (http://www.legalxml.org). He has successfully implemented live E-Filing and other XML based legal systems in Georgia and elsewhere. Todd is a frequent and prolific speaker, writer, and educator on law and technology.
Winchel 'Todd' Vincent, III is an attorney and technical consultant working for Georgia State University and Georgia Courts Automation Commission. For five years, Todd has been Project Director of Georgia State’s Electronic Court Filing Project (http://gsulaw.gsu.edu/gsuecp/).
As part of the Georgia State project, Todd founded the international standards effort Legal XML (http://www.legalxml.org). From 1999 to 2001, Todd conceptualized, managed and successfuly led Georgia’s Court Filing Interoperability Pilot. The first of its kind, the Pilot demonstrated that multiple vendors can use XML to “talk” to each other and multiple courts in a standard way.
Building on the accomplishments of the Interoperability Pilot, Todd is now managing and implementing a Juvenile Electronic Court Filing Project and a Child Support Electronic Filing Project in Georgia. The first live filings began in May and June 2002. In the Juvenile Project, filers are authoring and filing XML documents (rather than PDF documents or Images) using tools developed by Todd in partnership with a private company.
Georgia is also beginning an “Integrated Justice” Sentencing E-Filing Project, where criminal sentences will be authored in XML and filed into the court’s case management system and eventually passed to the Department of Corrections.
Todd was recently hired by the California Administrative Office of the Courts to create what is being called the Second Generation E-Filing Specifications – which will include Court Filing 2.0, Court Policy 2.0 (already implemented in Georgia) and Request/Response XML.
Todd has also developed Transcript XML (both Real Time and Static), Legislative XML, and Contract XML document formats in partnership with various companies.
In 1998 and 1999 Todd co-authored amendments to Georgia’s Electronic Records and Signatures Act which were signed into law in April 1999 (Senate Bill 62 (1999)). Todd also co-authored and acted as reporter for the National Automated Clearing House’s Certification Authority Rating and Trust (CARAT) Guidelines. Todd recently published a paper in the Southern Methodist University (SMU) law review on Legal XML and technical standards for the legal industry.
In 1999, Todd taught “Legal and Policy Issues in Electronic Commerce” at Georgia State University College of Business. For three semesters in 1999 and 2000, Todd worked with Computer Information System students in the College of Business building various legal-technology applications. Todd continues to teach educational seminars on XML, Court XML, and Court Filing Policy.
Todd is a member of the American Bar Associations’ Information Security Committee. He is listed as a participant in the joint Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and World Wide Web Consortium XML-Signature Workgroup. (http://www.w3.org/Signature/). Todd is an elected member of the National Automated Clearing House’s Internet Council Steering Committee. He has been a participant in NACHA’s Digital Signature/ATM Pilot, ANT Pilot, and CARAT Workgroup.
Founded in November 1998, Legal XML at its height was a non-profit organization comprised of over 850 volunteer members from private industry, non-profit organizations, government, and academia. Legal XML’s mission is to develop open, non-proprietary technical standards for legal documents and related applications.
Todd is a frequent speaker. Upcoming and recent speaking engagements include:
Australian Institute of Justice – Victorian Law Society, Legal XML & Electronic Filing: The Australian Focus, Melbourne Australia, October 25th to 26th, 2001
National Center for State Courts, CTC7, Court XML and Legal XML Standards, Baltimore, MD, August 14th and 16th, 2001
Georgia Court Reporters Association, Electronic Transcripts, Lake Lanier, GA, May 19th, 2001
Southeastern Law Librarian’s Conference, Electronic Court Filing, Atlanta, GA, April 21st, 2001
American Bar Association Techshow, XML and Open Source Software Licenses, Chicago, IL, March 15th and 16th, 2001
NECCC Annual Conference, Introduction to XML, Las Vegas, NV, December 16th, 2000 (attended remotely)
California Domestic Violence Restraining Order Project, Electronic Court Filing and XML, November 31st and December 1st, 2000, Los Angeles, CA
Legal XML Face-to-Face III, Speaker and Organizer, Boston, MA, November 17th, 18th, 19th, 2000
Australian Technology for Justice, Legal XML and Standards, Australian Institute for Justice, Melbourne, Australia, October 8th to 10th, 2000
LegalTech, Legal XML and Legal Standards, New York, NY, September 29th, 2000
National Association of Court Managers, Electronic Court Filing, Supreme Court of Georgia, August 15th, 2001
Court CIO Conference, Electronic Court Filing and Court XML, Atlanta, GA, August 12th, 2000
National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks, Electronic Court Filing, Savannah, GA, August 8th, 2000
American Bar Association, Techshow, XML: Holy Grail or Tower of Babel and XFiles!, Chicago, IL, March 31st, 2000
Computer Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI), Introduction to Legal XML and Standards Process, June 23rd, 2000
LegalTech, Legal XML and Legal Standards, Los Angeles, CA, June 21st, 2000
California Administrative Office of the Courts, Electronic Court Filing and Court XML, May 18th and 19th, 2000
California Electronic Filing Working Group, June 18th, 2000, Sacramento, CA
California Electronic Filing Technical Standards Committee, June 19th, 2000, Sacramento, CA
ABA Information Security Committee Meeting, XML for Certificate Policies and Practice Statements, May 11th, 2000
Georgia Council of Court Administrators, Legal XML and Courts Automation Commission Request for Proposal, May 2nd, 2000
Glasser Legal Works, Legal XML and the Need for Standards, San Francisco, CA, March 5th and 6th, 2000
Legal XML Face-to-Face II, Speaker and Organizer, Atlanta, GA, March 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2000
Dixon Conference, Vertical Industry Standards: XFMRL and Legal XML, Orlando FL, February 18th, 2000
E-Filing Conference, Georgia Courts Automation Commission Electronic Court Filing RFP and XML Standards, Savannah, GA, January 28th, 2000
From 1997 to 1999, Todd was part owner of a small technology company that grossed $750,000 in 1998. The company built webpages, designed databases, did network rollouts, and placed information technology professionals. Todd currently owns and operates a small consulting company.
Todd is an active member of the State Bar of Georgia and the American Bar Association. Todd graduated from Georgia State University College of Law, cum laude. He attended Ruprecht-Karls Universitaet Heidelberg, Germany for two years where he studied German, French, and German and Anglo-American law. He speaks fluent German. He graduated from the University of Kentucky with a B.A. in Political Science.