SJI NEWSLETTER SJI NEWSLETTER

In this Issue 

Page 1 

Volume 26, No. 12 

SJI Awards FY 2016 

4th Quarter Grants 

1 

2016 Trends in State 

Courts

1 

Resource Guide on 

Remote Services for 

SRLs 

2 

Call to Action: Civil 

Justice Initiative Executive Summary 

3 

September 2016 

Get Social 

With Us!

SJI encourages grantees to promote the release of SJI-funded 

reports and culmination of projects using Facebook, and via 

Twitter at @statejustice 

Make sure to share with our 

hashtag for more views: 

#SJIGrant 

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. 

SJI Awards Fourth Quarter Grants 

Sentencing Reform Highlighted in 

Latest Trends Publication 

Earlier this year, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) 

released its annual Trends in State Courts publication. One of the 

keynote trends titled, Recent Sentencing Reform Initiatives to 

Reduce Recidivism, Promote Fairness, and Control Costs, features 

the work of projects focused on evidence-based sentencing to reduce recidivism. This includes SJI-supported projects both nationally and in California. 
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SJI Newsletter Volume 26, No. 12 September 2016 

Serving Self-Represented Litigants Remotely: 

A Resource Guide 

The Self-Represented 

Litigation Network 

(SRLN), a dynamic 

network of organizations, individuals, and 

institutions that serve 

legal system professionals engaged in 

working with selfrepresented litigants, 

has released a resource guide on serving self-represented 

litigants remotely. 

Developed through 

an SJI Strategic Initiatives Grant (SIG), 

the document titled, 

issues and costs are minimized, but not eliminated; and, 7) how 

merging technologies used in limited jurisdiction courts, such as 

those identified in Nebraska and Orange County, California, 

continue to maximize underutilized staff resources. 

Benefits to customers and the ways in which remote services are exceeding internal and external expectations are described. The SRLN, 

conducted extensive in-person interviews, observational analysis, 

focus groups, and assisted each contributing state partner in completing a program characteristics spreadsheet. The Guide contains information from state-level programs in Alaska, Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, and Utah ,and county-level programs in Butte, Lake, 

Tehama, and Orange Counties in California. 

The Guide encourages state courts and their partners to identify and 

deliver remote services for self-represented litigants that is jurisdictionally appropriate. In developing remote services for selfrepresented litigants, state courts should consider the following: 

1. Available staff time and procedural gains from remote service. 

2. Scope of services to be provided and demographics of selfrepresented litigants (language access, geographical size of 

jurisdiction relative to customers, etc.). 

3. Court budget and community return on investment. 

4. Compatibility with existing resources for customers, with an 

emphasis on new or added services. 

5. Enhancing access to justice while also achieving planned 

goals. 

6. Integration of new partners or resources, including technology that expedites caseloads in an effective manner. 

The Guide is not intended to define a “best practice” model for all 

courts or jurisdictions to use in establishing or expanding remote services to self-represented litigants. Rather, one of the major lessons 

from the study is the need to tailor remote service programs to the 

jurisdiction and customers being served. The SRLN is prepared to 

offer assistance to jurisdictions seeking more help than this Guide is 

able to provide. You can contact SRLN at consulting@srln.org. 

Serving Self-Represented Litigants Remotely - A Resource Guide, provides options for courts interested in providing services remotely to selfrepresented litigants. The Guide also includes information on technology and business process options; describes a study of how eight sites 

provide remote self-help services to self-represented litigants; and concludes with principal findings and recommendations. 

In addition to the full report, there is an Executive Summary, which presents the full report’s key findings including: 

Delivery of services using telephone and internet-based technologies is an effective and efficient means of providing information 

and assistance to self-represented litigants, and should be a part of 

the service delivery strategy of every entity interacting with this 

customer group. 

Use of multiple remote services (e.g., telephone, e-mail, live chat, 

videoconferencing and text messaging) is advantageous to the service provider and the user. 

Service providers save resources in these ways: 1) remote services 

delivery staffing can be centralized; 2) staff/customer interaction 

time is shorter using most remote methods than face-to-face communications; 3) it easier for staff to establish boundaries for a remote conversation; 4) staff are better able to control the pace and 

demands of their work; 5) facilities costs are reduced; 6) security 
Page 3 

SJI Board of Directors

Chair 

Chase T. Rogers 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Connecticut 

Hartford, CT 

Vice Chair

Daniel J. Becker 

State Court Administrator 

Utah AOC 

Salt Lake City, UT 

Secretary 

Gayle A. Nachtigal 

Senior Circuit Court Judge 

Washington County Circuit Court 

Hillsboro, OR 

Treasurer 

Hernan D. Vera 

Principal 

Bird Marella P.C. 

Los Angeles, CA 

Jonathan Lippman 

Chief Judge of New York (ret.) 

Of Counsel 

Latham @ Watkins, LLP 

New York, NY 

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 

Legal Policy Strategies Group 

Bloomfield, CT 

John B. Nalbandian 

Partner 

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP 

Cincinnati, OH 

Isabel Framer 

President 

Language Access Consultants, LLC 

Copley, OH

Jonathan D. Mattiello 

Executive Director 

The State Justice Institute is a federallyfunded, non-profit corporation established by 

federal law in 1984 to improve the quality of 

justice in the state courts. 

SJI Newsletter Volume 26, No. 12 September 2016

Civil Justice Initiative: Executive Summary 

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.