Snapshot
- Client: Suffolk Legal Aid Society
- Sector: Legal aid, public defense
- Solution: VIDIZMO Digital Evidence Management System
- Bureaus served: Criminal, Family Court, Children's Law (previously criminal only)
- Compliance: FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)
- The shift: From a view-only tool limited to the criminal bureau to a collaborative platform across every bureau
About the Suffolk Legal Aid Society
The Suffolk Legal Aid Society provides legal services to people in need, handling complex cases across several bureaus, including the criminal bureau, family court, and children's law.
The Challenge: A View-Only Tool That Stopped at the Criminal Bureau
The society's previous platform let attorneys view evidence but little else. It had no annotation or indexing, which made collaboration across teams hard, and there was no admin-controlled way to share evidence with prosecutors or manage access before trial. The platform also produced no accurate, downloadable transcriptions for court, so attorneys transcribed evidence by hand or outsourced it, which cost time and introduced the risk of error.
On top of that, the platform could not handle FOIA requests with redaction for outside audiences, and it served only the criminal bureau. Family court and children's law were left without the same evidence tools, so those teams could not access critical evidence or collaborate effectively.
The Solution: One Collaborative Platform Across Every Bureau
With VIDIZMO DEMS, attorneys can edit and annotate evidence directly on the platform rather than only view it. Indexing lets them search large volumes of evidence and find specific points quickly while preparing a case. The platform generates accurate transcriptions the team can download and present in court, which replaces manual or outsourced transcription. Built-in redaction lets them meet FOIA requests while protecting sensitive details when sharing with outside audiences.
Role-based access means multiple users can upload and work on evidence while only authorized people can make changes, and attorneys receive automatic alerts when new evidence is added to a case. The platform now serves every bureau, so criminal, family court, and children's law teams all work from the same evidence system.
The Results: Collaboration and Court-Ready Evidence Across Teams
Moving to one platform changed how every bureau prepares and shares its cases.
- Attorneys edit and annotate evidence inside the platform instead of only viewing it, which speeds collaboration across teams.
- Court-ready transcriptions are generated and downloaded in-platform, replacing slow manual or outsourced work.
- Built-in redaction handles FOIA requests while keeping sensitive details protected.
- Role-based access lets many users work on a case while limiting who can make changes.
- Automatic alerts tell attorneys the moment new evidence lands on a case.
- All three bureaus now share one evidence system instead of just the criminal bureau.
Want to see how VIDIZMO DEMS would handle your organization's evidence? Request a free trial or contact us.
VIDIZMO Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) is a CJIS-compliant, AI-powered digital evidence management system for secure ingestion, storage, management, analysis, and sharing of digital evidence.
