Category: News

Courting Justice is an unprecedented multi-city town hall series that invites state supreme, appellate and trial court judges to step down from the bench and listen to new perspectives on how the United States court system can better deliver justice for all. With support from SJI, these town halls have enabled the public to voice their concerns and share solutions on how to rebuild public trust in the judiciary. The second town hall was held in Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 23, 2016. Videos from each of the Town Hall meetings are available on the National Center for State Court’s Courting Justice website.

The SJI Board of Directors met on September 12, 2016,  at the Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total of eighteen (18) new grants.

One Strategic Initiatives Grant (SIG) was awarded to the National Center for State Courts to evaluate online dispute resolution projects in New York and Utah.  One Project Grant was approved for the Arkansas Supreme Court Commission on Children, Youth, & Families for statewide implementation of juvenile justice reforms.

Nine (9) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were approved, including: the Missouri Office of State Courts Administrator for a municipal court technology consolidation project; the New Orleans, Louisiana, Municipal Court for an assignment and case management plan consolidating Municipal and Traffic Courts; the Supreme Court of the U.S. Virgin Islands for implementation of administrative unification of the Supreme and Superior Courts; Juvenile probation performance measurement development for the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas; and, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) for a project to assess and address human trafficking in the CNMI.

Seven (7) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were approved, including: support to the Supreme Court of Ohio for a court interpreter improvement program; the Maryland Judiciary for faculty development education; the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts for Safe Exchange Supervised Visitation (SESV) Practice Standards online training; and, the National Judicial College (NJC) for human trafficking education for state court judges.

 

A recently released report, titled Call to Action: Achieving Civil Justice for All, is the result of more than two years worth of research and discussion by a blue-ribbon group of legal and judicial leaders. The committee included state chief justices, trial court judges, court administrators, attorneys, and academics, and was supported by an SJI grant to the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) at the University of Denver (SJI-13-P-201).  It recently received the endorsement of the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA).

“This is a call to action for state court leaders across the country,” said Chief Justice Thomas Balmer of Oregon, who chaired the committee that produced the report. “Our courts need to resolve disputes fairly—but also at lower cost and with less delay. “

The recommendations are designed to meet the challenges of contemporary civil caseloads by taking advantage of modern technologies and highly trained court staff to provide effective oversight and timely intervention to move civil cases to resolution.

The report provides a comprehensive framework that features:

• Procedural reforms implemented in a variety of state courts that have been empirically tested and shown to substantially improve civil case processing;
• A right-sized staffing model for civil case processing that delegates substantial responsibility for routine caseflow management to specially trained professional staff, supported by effective case automation, permitting judges to focus on tasks that require their unique training and expertise;
• A Pathway Approach to caseflow management that assigns cases at filing based on the expected amount of court involvement needed to resolve the case, but offers sufficient flexibility for reassignment as the needs of the case change over time; and
• A renewed focus on high-volume calendars that comprise the vast majority of contemporary civil caseloads, improved access for self-represented litigants, and greater attention to uncontested cases and greater scrutiny of claims to ensure procedural fairness for litigants.

“We need a legal process that can fairly and promptly resolve disputes for all Americans,” said Mary McQueen, president of the NCSC. “These recommendations, when implemented, will enhance public confidence in our system of civil justice.”

“The civil justice system is mired in misperceptions and inefficiencies,” said IAALS Executive Director and former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis.

The full report is available online.  Both the NCSC and IAALS have committed to working with state courts to implement the recommendations.

 

Excessive cost and delay have been a chronic complaint about the American civil justice system for more than a century.  Recently, some jurisdictions have implemented procedural reforms and improved civil case automation and staffing that show significant improvements in civil case processing.

The NCSC report summarizes the impact of reform efforts in four jurisdictions and estimates the potential impact in terms of litigant costs for attorneys and expert witness fees.  The four reform projects include: a case management system with specially trained court staff implemented in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court (Miami-Dade County) to manage the 2008-2009 mortgage foreclosure crisis; amendments to pleading and discovery requirements implemented on a pilot basis in New Hampshire; amendments to discovery procedures statewide in Utah; and a comprehensive expedited civil case processing track for cases under $100,000 statewide in Texas.

The precise impact of these reforms varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction; however, all of them ultimately had some impact on the settlement rate, time to disposition, or other key case processing measures.  As settlement rates increased and settlement occurred earlier in the litigation process, litigants avoided costs associated with expensive court proceedings such as summary judgment hearings and bench or jury trials.

The paper concludes with a brief discussion on whether reduced litigation costs will result in increased litigant satisfaction, and whether litigation tasks undertaken on their behalf are worthwhile.

 

With support from SJI, the National Association for Court Management (NACM) live-streamed educational sessions and keynote speeches from the 2016 annual meeting.

In the event you were not able to join your state court colleagues in Pittsburgh, plenary and workshop videos, recorded live from the event, are now available online.  NACM encourages you to share these educational sessions with others using the #NACM2016 hashtag and by forwarding the link.

NACM recorded plenary sessions, workshops, and other proceedings each day of the conference.  Over 500 attendees, vendors, and state court subject matter experts from across the country attended the annual meeting, and are great resources for follow-up.  Hundreds attended keynotes and breakout sessions that were live-streamed.  Where possible, presenter information is also included for your reference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark your calendars—the NACM Midyear Conference will be held in Portland, Oregon, February 5-7, 2017.

 

The Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) Pandemic and Emergency Response Task Force has recently published a new tool for courts titled, Preparing for a Pandemic: An Emergency Response Benchbook and Operational Guidebook for State Court Judges and Administrators.  This project was supported by SJI.

Facilitated with expertise provided by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), the Task Force highlights emergency preparedness as a necessary element of the court planning process. The objective is to prompt state and local court leaders without an existing pandemic benchbook to create one and keep it regularly updated,  and their judicial officers and court staff trained. The benchbook briefly touches on recent natural disaster and public health crises where courts and their partners worked together to ensure continuity of operations.

One of the features of the benchbook is its informed perspective that the Task Force assembled through both and extensive literature review and a visit to the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine’s biocontainment unit.  The Guide addresses a cadre of specific legal issues, authority, and notification that must occur.  Content by chapter includes the following:

• Chapter 1 – Jurisdiction of Public Health Issues
• Chapter 2 – Executive Branch Authority in a Public Health Emergency
• Chapter 3 – Searches, Seizures, and Other Government Actions to Ensure Public Health
• Chapter 4 – Proceedings Regarding Limitations on Individual Liberties and the Rights of Petitioners
• Chapter 5 – Model Orders and Court Rules

After detailed appendices and references, which provide extensive content regarding the nature of a pandemic caused by biological hazards, examples of quarantine processes, and the order of agencies which should be notified and enlisted for assistance, Part II offers a template  for a benchbook that addresses the legal questions that could arise during a pandemic.  Some of the key issues addressed in the template include: Implications for the Courts; Powers of the Chief Justice or State Court of Last Resort; Appearance of Individuals Posing a Potential Threat to Public Health; Juror Management Considerations; Additional Judicial Personnel; Consolidation of Cases; Emergency Court Closure and Relocation of Court; Limiting Public Access to the Courts; Communication; and, Technology Preparedness

The Guide was dedicated in memory of former Arkansas Chief Justice Jim Hannah, who served as CCJ President when this grant was awarded and whose leadership formed the Pandemic Response Task Force.

 

A new online curriculum has been developed to help state courts understand how to process the increasing numbers of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) coming into the United States.

Over the last several years, the number of UACs from Central America has been steadily rising, and this trend is anticipated to lead to an increase in filings in state juvenile courts on behalf of UACs seeking court findings to support applications for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.  With SJI support, the Center for Public Policy Studies and the National Center for State Courts developed the Unaccompanied Immigrant Children in the State Courts online curriculum.

The online curriculum will increase understanding among state court judges, court administrators, and court stakeholders about: 1) federal immigration law, policy, and practice, and the impact on state courts of cases involving UACs; 2) how the work of the state courts in cases involving UACs intersects with the needs of the federal immigration system; 3) the different types of cases and matters where UACs might appear in state courts; and 4) the potential role of the state courts in providing factual findings in cases involving UACs.  The contents of the curriculum include an inventory of core elements that should be included in educational programs for state court practitioners when working with UACs, along with variations in the core elements that target the needs of state-court-level trial-court-level, and juvenile- and dependency-court-focused programs.  Also available on the site are downloadable PDFs of the Guide for State Courts in Cases Involving Unaccompanied Immigrant Children, and the Unaccompanied Immigrant Children and the State Courts quick reference information card.

 

On June 10, 2016, judicial leaders from across the country gathered in Los Angeles to record the first edition of “Courting Justice,” a multi-part, televised “listening tour” being produced in cooperation with PBS broadcaster Tavis Smiley and offered during Smiley’s regular programming slot.  Support for “Courting Justice” was provided by SJI, in addition to financial and in-kind resources from the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), Walmart, the California Endowment, and the Public Welfare Foundation.  More information about Courting Justice is available on the NCSC’s website: www.ncsc.org/courtingjustice

Each edition in the series features a town-hall style program inclusive of judges from around the country, who engage in an unprecedented dialogue with the communities they serve in order to provide stakeholders from disenfranchised communities an opportunity to discuss the issues that erode trust in our judicial system.  A recent survey conducted for the NCSC found that only 32 percent of African Americans believe that state courts provide equal justice to all.

Panelists for the June 10th town hall included: Judge Daniel J. Buckley (Superior Court of Los Angeles County); Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye (Supreme Court of California),; Judge Jimmie Edwards (22^nd Judicial District, City of St. Louis); Associate Justice Maria P. Rivera (California, First District Court of Appeals, Division Four); and Chief Judge Eric T. Washington (District of Columbia Court of Appeals).  Audience members were drawn from Los Angeles area social justice, advocacy, faith, and small business communities, in addition to local and national court and bar leaders.

“I am gratified that many of the most influential judges in the country are eager to step down from the bench and engage in a free and open exchange with the people most affected by their decisions,” said Tavis Smiley, who serves on the advisory board of the initiative.  “This frank discussion is unprecedented.  Securing the public’s trust in our judicial system is fundamental to our democracy.”

The first in a series of town hall meetings was recorded at Loyola School of Law.  Future dates and locations for town halls will be announced as schedules are finalized.

 

The SJI Board of Directors met on June 13, 2016, at SJI Headquarters to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total of nineteen (19) new grants.

One Strategic Initiatives Grant was awarded to support the implementation Phase of the Civil Justice Initiative.  Two (2) Project Grants were approved, one to the Center for Court Innovation for a Domestic Violence Risk Factor Guide for Civil Courts Enhancement Project; and one to the New York Unified Court System for development and implementation of an Online Dispute Resolution Platform.

Ten (10) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were approved, including: the Maricopa County, Arizona, Superior Court for a commercial court evaluation; the Nebraska Judiciary for a review of clerk’s offices statewide; the Colorado Administrative Office of the Courts for a Domestic Relations Triage Project; the Delaware Administrative Office of the Courts for a Criminal Case Scheduling Initiative; and the Greene County, Ohio, Juvenile Court for an Operational Assessment.

Six (6) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were approved, including: support to the Judicial Council of California for an Advanced Judicial College; the Washington Administrative Office of the Courts for an online Guardianship Training Course; the Arkansas Judiciary for development of online modules for court security officers; and the American Judges Association for domestic abuse education for judges.