Despite reports from federal courts of in-person jury trials being held safely, many judges across the country are still deliberating whether to hold in-person jury trials at all.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the judiciary was slow to innovate and resistant to virtual proceedings. Now courts are using every tool at their disposal, balancing safety with the need to keep the wheels of justice spinning.
The leadership of Justice Constandinos “Deno” Himonas and John Lund paved the way for the Utah Supreme Court’s unanimous vote in August to adopt a package of sweeping regulatory changes.
Blame it on the pandemic. Law offices throughout the country are finally tiptoeing into the virtual world. For most professions, this is nothing new: More than half of professionals worked remotely at least half the week before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March.
Court is less intimidating on screen, Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack says. “When you are in the comfort of your own home, where you feel safe and secure, it’s easier to feel confident in letting the court know what’s on your mind.”
As COVID-19 spread through New York City and shuttered its courthouses in March 2020, Sateesh Nori realized JustFix.nyc could do even more to empower tenants to exercise their rights during the pandemic.
Members of the state’s legal community and regulatory reform proponents credit Arizona Supreme Court Vice Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer and Administrative Office of the Courts Director Dave Byers with playing leading roles in Arizona’s progress.
Reardon is a great listener who gets people’s support by understanding their agendas and emotions. “She plays the long game, not the short game. She never comes in and jams something down people’s throats,” law professor William Henderson says.
Soon after his 2013 election to the bench in Louisiana’s 24th Judicial District, Judge Scott Schlegel started looking for ways to repurpose technology common in the private sector for deployment in the court system.
After the Virginia Supreme Court issued an order June 22 stating that remote proceedings should be used to conduct as much business as possible, Tran offered webinars to help lawyers with the Fairfax Bar Association get up to speed with Webex.
For nearly 12 years, Steenhuis worked as a senior housing attorney, systems administrator and developer at Greater Boston Legal Services, where he also built Massachusetts Defense for Eviction, which helps pro se tenants defend themselves.
For this year’s class of Legal Rebels, the ABA Journal and the ABA Center for Innovation have chosen to highlight judges, lawyers and legal professionals who have helped bring about changes to the judicial system.
Davis Wright Tremaine is the first Am Law 200 firm to publicly announce that it will require a coronavirus vaccine for its lawyers and staff members to return to work at the office.
Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler pepper-sprayed a lawyer who confronted him in a restaurant parking lot Sunday about COVID-19 risks, according to police.