Established in 1816, the Judiciary Committee is one of the oldest and historically rich Committees in Congress. Today, some of the most pressing issues considered by the Committee include anti-terrorism measures, trademark, copyright and patent laws, immigration policy and presidential nominations to fill vacancies on the federal judiciary and in executive departments.  In addition, the Committee fulfills a vital oversight role, monitoring the activities of the Department of Justice and other agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Based on the success that Fig Leaf has demonstrated for other US Senate sites, the Senate Judiciary Committee selected Fig Leaf to redesign the Committee's public site.  Fig Leaf kicked off the project with a creative session, carefully documenting the Committee's needs for the new site.  Our Creative Director and Certified Usability Analyst created a new sitemap, oversaw the design of the new Committee site and delivered the new design concepts to the Committee for review.  Following design revisions, Fig Leaf Software created a design prototype and then implemented the new site within the CommonSpot CMS.  

The new Senate Judiciary Committee Web Site gives Americans access to Committee information and processes.  The professional new design better represents the Committee's rich history, is easy to navigate, and provides enhanced functionality.  Since Fig Leaf implemented the new design in CommonSpot, non-technical Committee staff are able to quickly and easily manage and maintain site content through a browser.

The new site provides functionality including:

• greater emphasis on multimedia content,
• background on the Committee, history, member information, FAQ and Committee rules
  
• access to Committee resources (documents, reports, Live and recorded webcasts, RSS feeds,
  
• searchable hearing and meeting information, 
• legislative calendars, reports, and access to the Library of Congress legislative search engine
• information on executive and judicial nominations
• press resources and contacts

The new site allows visitors to print pages, email content to a friend and view content in larger fonts.  Most importantly, the new site requires little maintenance, is easy for staff members to use, and fits well with the Senate technical infrastructure, thereby reducing the need for costly support and administrative resources.