Arthur Monty M. Ahalt

Arthur Montraville Monty Ahalt (born April 27, 1942) is an American jurist, and a lifelong resident of Maryland. He served as Circuit Court Judge for Prince George's County, and is an internationally recognized advocate of technological solutions for the judicial and legal community. Judge Ahalt has pioneered advances in case management software and online dispute resolution, and is the founder and chief executive officer of VirtualCourthouse.com.

Background Judge Ahalt received his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Maryland in 1964 and his Juris Doctor from the Washington College of Law of the American University in 1967. He is frequently called upon by the parties and judges to mediate the most challenging judicial controversies involving post trial and appellate issues. He brings his 45 years of experience in the trial arena to benefit the parties assisting them in evaluating and mitigating risk. His efforts of tracking, analysing and publishing jury verdicts provide the litigants with real life examples of risk application.

Judicial career After 15 years of private practice as a litigator, Judge Ahalt was appointed to the Circuit Court for Prince George's County on February 9, 1982. His appointment was confirmed in November 1984 by election to a 15-year term. During this time Judge Ahalt tried over 750 jury trials, and eventuated the jury value of over 20,000 injuries as a neutral case evaluator for litigants in the Court's settlement practice. Judge Ahalt also served as President of the Prince George's County Bar Association, His achievements in improving law related-education were recognized by the American Bar Association honoring him with the "Isidore Starr Award", which is the association's highest honor for law-related education.

Technology Advocate Judge Ahalt also served as Chief Industry Advisor for LexisNexis CourtLink, and as Chairman of the Circuit Court's Technology committee, which implemented JusticeLink. This represented the first comprehensive effort nationally to file pleadings electronically, and to organize the Court's information electronically so as to make it available to the public online. Judge Ahalt is on the faculty of the Institute for Court Management, The site has settled over 1000 cases, and in 2009, it received the American Bar Association's Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access for minimizing "the need and cost of unnecessary face-to-face meetings, mailing and copying" during the ADR process. In 2012, VirtualCourthouse.com entered into partnerships with the video-conferencing provider IOCOM as well as with Auburn University.