SJI Newsletter

July 2019 | Volume 29, No. 10

SJI Awards FY 2019

Third Quarter Grants

The SJI Board of Directors met on June 24, 2019 to make decisions on quarterly grant applications

and awarded a total of 12 new grants.

A Project Grant was awarded to the District of Columbia Courts to develop a language access 

program, including the first nationwide Amharic Court Interpreter Certification Exam to better serve 

litigants from the Washington, D.C. metro region’s Ethiopian population. 

Seven (7) Technical Assistance Grants were awarded: the Nebraska Administrative Office of the 

Courts for an assessment of self-represented litigants; the Massachusetts Administrative Office of 

the Trial Court for a plain language and simplified court procedures project; the 7th Judicial Circuit of

Maryland for a strategic planning initiative; the 2nd Judicial Circuit of Arkansas for a calendar/

caseflow improvement project; the Connecticut Judicial Branch for an electronic records 

management initiative; the Deschutes County, Oregon, Circuit Court for a Central Oregon Regional 

Guardianship Summit; and the 41B District Court in Michigan for a strategic planning project. 
Four (4) Curriculum Adaptation and Training (CAT) Grants were awarded: The National Judicial 

College (NJC) for judicial webcasts; the New York Unified Court System for a faculty development 

workshop on creating and presenting webinars; the National Association of Women Judges 

(NAWJ) on opioids education; and the Hawaii Administrative Office of the Courts for Institute for 

Court Management (ICM) training. 

The deadline for FY 2019 4th quarter grants is August 1, 2019.

McHenry County, Illinois, Wraps Up
New Science Bench Book for Judges

The Judicial Gatekeeper Function

The bench book also provides sample orders for criminal discovery and a state-by-state

Frye/Daubert analysis. Download the entire Bench Book, or just the sections that you need.
NCSC Releases Trends in State Courts 2019

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) has released the 2019 edition of the annual Trends in 

State Courts publication. This edition features a few articles that include past and present grantfunded projects by the State Justice Institute (SJI).

Trends 2019 explores how technology is influencing the courts, as well as “human capital” issues 

that focus on employee satisfaction. 

Also included in this year’s edition:

• The Court’s Technology Communication Challenge

• Massachusetts Trial Court: Using Sequential Intercept Mapping in Response to

the Opioid Crisis

• Improving Child Support Enforcement Outcomes with Online Dispute Resolution

• The Importance of a Legal Ecosystem

• Evaluating Remote Technology Options to Increase Self-Help Center Access

• Beyond Buzzwords: Building an Information Security Foundation

• Pima County’s Dependency Alternative Program: Preserving Families and

Promoting Access to Justice
NJC Previews 2020 Course Catalog

The National Judicial College (NJC) is pleased to announce the
SJI Board of Directors

Chair

John D. Minton, Jr.

Chief Justice

Supreme Court of Kentucky

Frankfort, KY

Vice Chair

Daniel J. Becker

State Court Administrator (ret.)

Utah AOC

Salt Lake City, UT

Secretary

Gayle A. Nachtigal

Senior Circuit Court Judge

Washington County Circuit Court

Hillsboro, OR

Treasurer

John B. Nalbandian

Partner

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

Cincinnati, OH

Jonathan Lippman

Chief Judge of New York (ret.)

of Counsel Latham

Watkins, LLP

New York, NY

Chase T. Rogers

Chief Justice (ret.)

Supreme Court of Connecticut

Hartford, CT

David V. Brewer

Justice

Oregon Supreme Court

Salem, OR

Wilfredo Martinez

County Judge

9th Judicial Circuit of Florida

Orlando, FL

Marsha J. Rabiteau

Executive Director

Center for Human Trafficking Court 

Solutions Bloomfield, CT

Hernan D. Vera

Principal

Bird Marella P.C.

Los Angeles, CA

Isabel Framer

President

Language Access Consultants, LLC 

Copley, OH

Jonathan D. Mattiello

Executive Director

The State Justice Institute is a

federally-funded, non-profit

corporation established by federal 

law in 1984 to improve the quality of 

justice in the state courts.

Products and Resources

Since 2011, SJI has designated the library at the National Center for State Courts as

the official repository of published work related to SJI-supported grant projects. You

can search the ecollection online by using the term, State Justice Institute.

Share the News

SJI uses Facebook and Twitter to promote the work of its grantees and also shares 

information of interest to the entire state court community. If your organizations work

complements ours, let us know and we will share.