SJI NEWSLETTER SJI NEWSLETTER

In this Issue 

Page 1 

Volume 27, No. 10 

Roadmap for Civil Justice 

Reform 

1 

Courting Justice Listening Tour 2 

Cochise County, Arizona, 

Law Library 

2 

Merced County, California Launches Online 

Training 

3 

July 2017 

Transforming Our Civil Justice System for the 21st 

Century: A Roadmap for Implementation provides 

guidance to state courts who are answering the Call to 

Action from the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) 

and Conference of State Court Administrators

(COSCA) following their endorsement of the Report 

and Recommendations of the CCJ Civil Justice Improvements Committee. With continued SJI support, 

the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and the 

Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal 

System (IAALS), have partnered to develop this new 

guide to ensure the Recommendations are implemented in a way that is thoughtful, responsive to the 

needs of court users, well-designed, and wellexecuted so that the reforms have the greatest possible 

likelihood of success. 

The Roadmap sets forth seven steps, building off the 

successful experiences of innovative states that have 

already implemented reforms: 

Lead

Assess

Define Issues

Create a Working Group and Engage 

Stakeholders

Develop Vision and Goals

Develop Tailored Recommendations

Take Action 

New Roadmap For Implementing 

Civil Justice Reform 

The Roadmap is just one tool developed as part of 

the CJI Implementation Phase, a multi-pronged effort that includes strategic planning assistance for 

state judicial leadership; education and technical 

assistance for state and local courts; evaluation of 

demonstration pilot projects to document the impact 

of best practices; and the development of practical 

tools and instructions on effective implementation 

efforts. For more information about the CJI Implementation Phase, visit the CJI website, or contact the 

Project Director, Paula Hannaford-Agor, at phannaford@ncsc.org. 

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 organization’s work 

complements ours, let us know 

and we will share 
Page 2 

SJI Newsletter Volume 27, No. 10 July 2017 

Courting Justice Listening Tour 

Cochise County Redesigns Law Library 

The Cochise County Superior Court, located in Bisbee, Arizona, received a Technical Assistance grant from SJI to engage the National 

Center for State Courts (NCSC) in a redesign of its law library (SJI-16-

T-058). 

The law library is considered a 

valuable resource for the court, 

self-represented litigants, and its 

partners, as thousands are served 

and utilize the physical space 

and its contents annually. 

Throughout the project, the 

Court was deeply committed to 

ensuring a continued focus on 

change and enhanced access to 

services for self-represented 

litigants. 

A total of 39 recommendations 

were noted by the NCSC in its review of existing facilities, tools, and 

administration using industry best practices, and unique service elements identified by the Court and its team. The report also included 

five priority recommendation areas: 

1. Creation of a full-time Law Library/Self-Help or Self Service Center (SSC) Coordinator; 

2. Development of a specific website where information and resources are available; 

3. Renaming and rebranding the current Law Library into a Self Service Center; 

4. Reengineering the space and facility where current Court Interpreter 

and Law Library functions occur to better accommodate selfrepresented litigants; and 

5. Movement of Court Interpreter functions to an area of the SSC with 

greater privacy. 

Based on the NCSC report, the Court has 

made significant progress, including: 

A full revamp of library holdings maintained on site in the Law Library/SSC; 

Utilization and reallocation of subscription savings for a Coordinator position, recently hired for full time support of the SSC; 

Reengineering of Law Library space 

including collaboration with County IT, facilities staff, and a County architect; 

Focus on the creation of forms and 

documents for dissemination from the SSC 

and website; and, 

Documentation and tabulation of accomplishments to date, with 

notation of targets and actions for additional work. 

As the Cochise County Superior Court continues efforts to implement 

recommendations and enhancements, it is well-positioned to draw from 

local resources. More local coverage about the project can be found in 

the Sierra Vista Herald. 

The Courting Justice Listening Tour, which was hosted by Tavis 

Smiley on PBS, and supported by the National Center for State Courts 

(NCSC) and the State Justice Institute (SJI), concluded its multi-city 

town hall-style sessions late last year. 

An archive of programs and content exists on both the Tavis Smiley 

Show page and the NCSC website. According to the host’s podcast, the 

audience size was greater than 50,000 unique in-home viewers for each 

of the three listening tours. This does not include the views of content 

online or via other formats. 

Key takeaways from Courting Justice show a strong desire across audiences for greater transparency, accessibility for self-represented litigants, and improvements regarding fairness, especially in the area of 

fines, fees, and bail. Each Courting Justice episode addressed diverse 

audiences, and connected state court leadership with constituents on the 

major issues impacting the public and the courts. 
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 

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 

John D. Minton, Jr. 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Kentucky 

Frankfort, KY 

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 

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 federallyfunded, non-profit corporation established by 

federal law in 1984 to improve the quality of 

justice in the state courts. 

SJI Newsletter Volume 27, No. 10 July 2017 

gram. This video is the 

first of its kind in the 

state of California and is 

aimed at training law 

enforcement and court 

personnel in four critical 

areas: 

1. How to respond to an active shooter, which includes a segment for 

court staff and judicial officers on Run/Hide/Fight; 

2. Best practices in court security; 

3. Judicial threat management; and, 

4. Body language as a communication tool 

The online curriculum was distributed statewide in early 2017 for every 

court to use and implement as part of safety training for court security 

staff and court employees. Approximately 200 individuals have completed all four modules. The link has also been posted on the California 

State Sheriff’s website under their POST Training. 

The interactive training program is available for anyone interested. To 

register, please visit the following link: www.MercedTraining.org 

Superior Court of Merced County, CA, Provides Interactive Online 

Court Security Training for Court Employees and Partners 

The Merced Superior Court was awarded an SJI grant to develop an 

online training that would benefit all court security staff and court employees by providing in-depth coverage of court and personnel security 

issues. 

Courthouses are always at risk for violence, in large part due to the nature of the business conducted in our nation’s courts. The California 

Superior Courts contract with the county sheriff’s departments to provide 

security. The Merced Superior Court’s concern was for the safety of all 

individuals visiting the courthouse, and worked to develop a training 

program that enhanced existing, yet limited, training. The Court experienced a violent incident in 2008, when an intruder was shot and killed in 

the courtroom. 

The Court learned that the National Center for State Courts(NCSC) had 

developed the first on-line interactive court security training program for 

the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts in 2015. The Court 

received SJI support to adapt this curriculum to its needs, and partnered 

with the NCSC and the security coordinator for Judicial Council of California to develop a highly interactive and immersive online training proMerced County Offers Court Security Training