Supreme Court Chief Justice Judith Nakamura addressed a joint session of the New Mexico Legislature earlier this year to outline plans for improving and streamlining New Mexico Courts  operations to better serve New Mexicans.  A core component moving forward will be an SJI grant-funded evaluation by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) of appellate court processes.

The first-ever evaluation is already underway and seeks to help the judiciary and court administration identify issues that need to be addressed.  It will work in tandem with a workload study, also to be performed by the NCSC of the district, metropolitan, and magistrate courts.

Plans for improving court operations are part of a campaign called “Advancing Judicial Excellence” that originated last spring at a meeting of chief judges, court executive officers and representatives of magistrate and municipal courts.

“This initiative, which will provide the framework for the judiciary’s strategic planning and budgets for the next three years is rooted in two simple questions,” the Chief Justice told lawmakers. “Are we doing our best work? And how can we do better?”