SJI NEWSLETTER SJI NEWSLETTER

In this Issue 

Page 1 

Volume 27, No. 3 

New SJI Board 

Member Confirmed 

1 

SJI Awards FY 2017 

1st Quarter Grants 

1-2 

Civil Justice Initiative 

RFP 

2 

KY Pretrial Services 

Virtual Tour 

3 

December 2016 

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chief justices to serve as 

President of the Conference of Chief Justices 

(CCJ) and Chair of the 

National Center for 

State Courts (NCSC) 

Board of Directors. He 

holds degrees from 

Western Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky College of Law. 

On December 10, 2016, the U.S. Senate confirmed Chief Justice John Minton from Kentucky to serve on the SJI Board of Directors. 

Chief Justice Minton was nominated by the 

President on July 13, 2016. He was elected to 

the Supreme Court of Kentucky in 2006, and 

reelected in 2014. His fellow justices elected 

him as Chief Justice in 2008, 2012, and 

2016. Chief Justice Minton was in private 

practice for 15 years before serving as a Circuit Court Judge from 1992 to 2003, and a 

Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge from 2003 

to 2006. In 2016, he was elected by his fellow 

Senate Confirms Chief Justice Minton 

to Serve on SJI Board of Directors 

state court administrators, judges, court managers, 

and pretrial service agency directors, with input from 

other key stakeholders. 

SJI Awards First Quarter Grants 

The SJI Board of Directors met on December 5, 

2016 to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a total of sixteen (16) new grants. 

One Strategic Initiatives Grant (SIG) was awarded to 

the Pretrial Justice Institute and the NCSC for a national Pretrial Justice and the State Courts Initiative. The initiative will: 1) provide technical assistance, such as readiness assessments for engaging 

courts in pretrial reform, webinars on specific issues, 

and virtual tours on successful pretrial programs; 2) 

provide more in-depth technical assistance to state 

and local courts via a sub-grant process; 3) and promote community sharing and directly link to the 

work of SJI and DOJ/Bureau of Justice Assistancefunded CCJ/COSCA National Task Force on Fines, 

Fees, and Bail Practices. The initiative will be 

guided by an advisory committee of chief justices, Continued on page 2 
Page 2 

SJI Newsletter Volume 27, No. 3 December 2016 

Two (2) Project Grants were approved, including support to the Minnesota Judicial Branch to support the MyMNGuardian project to expand 

the MyMNConservator system to add guardianship filing and improve 

compliance in the filing of guardianship reports; and the National Association for Court Management (NACM) for training on critical and 

emerging court management issues, including a focus on each of SJI’s 

Priority Investment Areas. 

Eleven (11) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were approved, including: the St. Louis County, Missouri, Circuit Court for a Minimum Standards for Municipal Courts Implementation project; the Wisconsin Judiciary for an assessment of payment of legal financial obligations stateWith grant support from SJI, the NCSC and the Institute for the

Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS), are partnering on a three-year project to implement the Conference of Chief 

Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators 

(COSCA) resolution endorsing the Report and Recommendations of

its Civil Justice ImprovementsCommittee. The 13 recommendations 

are designed to secure the fair, speedy, and inexpensive resolution of 

civil cases in state courts.

In support of this effort, the partners are sponsoring a series of pilot 

projects that demonstrate the successful implementation of one or 

more of the CJI Recommendations. The online Request for Proposals 

(RFP) describes the 

application 

process for 

courts to be 

considered 

as demonstration pilot 

sites, and the project requirements if selected. 

The Steering Committee for the CJI Implementation Plan is interested in supporting projects that fully implement one or more of 

the CJI Recommendations, especially projects that:

Address all or most of the civil caseload for the population 

served by the court; 

wide; the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center for statewide educational programs on improving service delivery to court users; the 24th

Judicial District Court in Louisiana for an assessment of intensive probation services; courthouse security assessments in New Mexico; and 

support to the Minnesota courts to address sex trafficking of children. 

Two (2) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were approved: 1) a grant to the National Association of Women Judges 

(NAWJ) to support educational programming on elder issues in the 

courts; and, 2) a training program for St. Louis Municipal Courts on the 

Minimum Standards for Municipal Courts. Next deadline for grant 

applications is February 1, 2017. 

Civil Justice Initiative Implementation Phase: 

Request for Proposals 

Engagemultiple groups of civil justice stakeholders in the implementation process; 

Provide a clear roadmap for other courts to follow in implementing similar projects; and, 

Offer candid assessments of the impact of the project on key 

performance measures.

Applications to become a demonstration project are due on or before 

January 15, 2017. 

The CJI Implementation Plan Steering Committee will provide 

notice to the selected projects no later than February 15, 2017. The 

selected demonstration projects must be initiated no later than September 1, 2017. 

Questions about the RFP process, and the CJI in general, should 

be directed to Paula Hannaford-Agor at phannaford@ncsc.org or 

(757)259-1556.

Continued from page 1 
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 

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 

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 27, No. 3 December 2016 

Kentucky Pretrial Services Virtual Tour 

Hosted by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), the Pretrial 

Justice Center for Courts is a national collaborative initiative featuring 

the latest efforts to develop and improve pretrial services. 

Recently, Kentucky Pretrial Services launched a virtual tour aimed at 

fellow pretrial service providers and those stakeholders new to the 

Kentucky Court of Justice process. The Kentucky Supreme Court 

sought and received support from SJI for this project. 

Conceived as a means for Kentucky to efficiently transfer knowledge 

about the program, and reduce both the strain on the Court’s resources 

and the travel costs of jurisdictional teams from across the U.S., the 

virtual tour features three main components, including: 1) structure; 2) 

process; and 3) impact. Each component has several sections which 

walk state courts and their partners through the essential elements 

Kentucky considered when establishing and executing this program. 

In addition to a self-paced platform, the tour features a resource tab 

which includes pretrial forms, national research related to pretrial 

programming, relevant legislation and rulings, Kentucky-issued reports, and related websites. 

Established in 1976, Kentucky Pretrial Services has served as a model 

program committed to providing essential services in a fair and effective 

manner as a defendant’s case makes its way through the courts.