As featured in the August edition of the SJI Newsletter, a partnership between the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ), Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS), yielded a 41-page report, titled, Call to Action: Achieving Civil Justice for All.

An 8-page Executive Summary  is now available through the through the NCSC Library e-Collection. The summary provides the 13 recommendations that the full report presents in detail, including:

• Courts must take responsibility for managing civil cases from time of filing to disposition.
• Beginning at the time each civil case is filed, courts must match resources with the needs of the case.
• Courts should use a mandatory pathway-assignment system to achieve right-sized case management.
• Courts should develop civil case management teams consisting of a responsible judge supported by appropriately trained staff.
• Courts must take full advantage of technology to implement right-size case management and achieve useful litigant-court interaction.
• Courts must take all necessary steps to increase convenience to litigants by simplifying the court-litigant interface and creating on-demand court assistance services.

Recently, SJI committed significant resources to support the Civil Justice Initiative Implementation Phase, which will support technical assistance, education, and demonstration projects for state courts to implement some or all of the CJI recommendations.  For more information about the Initiative, please visit: www.ncsc.org/civil.