SJI NEWSLETTER SJI NEWSLETTER

In this Issue 

Page 1 

Volume 26, No. 9 

SJI Board Elects New Chair 

SJI Board Elects New 

Chair 

1 

3rd Quarter Grant 

Awards 

1 - 2 

Courting Justice Listening Tour 2 

New Reports on SRLs 

in Family Court 

3 

 

During its meeting on Monday, June 13, 2016, the 

SJI Board of Directors elected Chief Justice Chase 

Rogers as Chair. She is the first female ever to be 

elected Chair of the SJI Board. 

Chase Rogers has been the 

Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court since 

2007. She served as a judge 

on the Connecticut Appellate 

Court from 2006 to 2007, and 

as a judge on the Connecticut 

Superior Court from 1998 to 

2006. Prior to becoming a 

judge, she was a partner at 

Cummings & Lockwood in 

Stamford, Connecticut, where 

she focused on employment 

law and commercial litigation. 

She served on the Board of Directors of the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) from 2008 to 2011. She 

has been a member of the Committee on FederalState Jurisdiction of the Judicial Conference of the 

United States since 2012; member of the National 

June 2016 

Center for State Courts Expanding Court Access to 

Justice Project Advisory Committee since 2012; 

member of the CCJ Civil Justice Initiative Committee since 2014; member of the Connecticut Bar 

Foundation Nominating Committee since 2007; Ex Officio 

Member, American Law Institute; and Ex Officio Director, 

Connecticut Bar Foundation. 

Chief Justice Rogers was appointed to the SJI Board of 

Directors in 2010. She has 

been an Adjunct Professor at 

the University of Connecticut 

School of Law since 2012. She 

received an Honorary degree 

from Quinnipiac University 

School of Law in 2010, and an 

Honorary degree from the University of Hartford in 

2011. She received her J.D. from Boston University 

School of Law, and B.A. from Stanford University. 

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SJI Awards FY 2016 

Third Quarter Grants 

The SJI Board of Directors met on June 13, 2016, at 

SJI Headquarters to make decisions on quarterly 

grant applications and awarded a total of nineteen 

(19) new grants. 

One Strategic Initiatives Grant was awarded to support the implementation Phase of the Civil Justice 

Initiative. 

Continued on page 2 
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SJI Newsletter Volume 26, No. 9 June 2016 

Two (2) Project Grants were approved, one to the Center for Court Innovation for a Domestic Violence Risk Factor Guide for Civil Courts 

Enhancement Project; and one to the New York Unified Court System 

for development and implementation of an Online Dispute Resolution 

Platform. 

Ten (10) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were approved, including: 

the Maricopa County, Arizona, Superior Court for a commercial court 

evaluation; the Nebraska Judiciary for a review of clerk's offices statewide; the Colorado Administrative Office of the Courts for a Domestic 

Relations Triage Project; the Delaware Administrative Office of the 

Courts for a Criminal Case Scheduling Initiative; and the Greene 

County, Ohio, Juvenile Court for an Operational Assessment. 

Six (6) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were approved, including: support to the Judicial Council of California for an 

Courting Justice Listening Tour 

On June 10, 2016, judicial leaders from across the country gathered in 

Los Angeles to record the first edition of “Courting Justice,” a multipart, televised “listening tour” being produced in cooperation with PBS 

broadcaster Tavis Smiley and offered during Smiley’s regular programming slot. 

Support for “Courting Justice” was provided by SJI, in addition to financial and in-kind resources from the National Center for State Courts 

(NCSC), Walmart, the California Endowment, and the Public Welfare 

Foundation. More information about Courting Justice is available on the 

NCSC’s website: www.ncsc.org/courtingjustice 

Each edition in the series features a town-hall style program inclusive of 

judges from around the country, who engage in an unprecedented dialogue with the communities they serve in order to provide stakeholders 

from disenfranchised communities an opportunity to discuss the issues 

that erode trust in our judicial system. A recent survey conducted for 

the NCSC found that only 32 percent of African Americans believe that 

state courts provide equal justice to all. 

Panelists for the June 10th town hall included: Judge Daniel J. Buckley 

(Superior Court of Los Angeles County); Chief Justice Tani CantilSakauye (Supreme Court of California),; Judge Jimmie Edwards (22nd

Judicial District, City of St. Louis); Associate Justice Maria P. Rivera 

(California, First District Court of Appeals, Division Four); and Chief 

Judge Eric T. Washington (District of Columbia Court of Appeals). 

Audience members were drawn from Los Angeles area social justice, 

advocacy, faith, and small business communities, in addition to local 

and national court and bar leaders. 

“I am gratified that many of the most influential judges in the country 

are eager to step down from the bench and engage in a free and open 

exchange with the people most affected by their decisions,” said Tavis 

Smiley, who serves on the advisory board of the initiative. “This frank 

discussion is unprecedented. Securing the public’s trust in our judicial 

system is fundamental to our democracy.” 

The first in a series of town hall meetings was recorded at Loyola 

School of Law. Future dates and locations for town halls will be announced as schedules are finalized. 

Advanced Judicial College; the Washington Administrative Office of 

the Courts for an online Guardianship Training Course; the Arkansas 

Judiciary for development of online modules for court security officers; 

and the American Judges Association for domestic abuse education for 

judges. 

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.) 

New York Court of Appeals 

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. 9 June 2016 

New Reports on SRLs in Family Court 

In late 2014, the Institute for the Advancement of the American 

Legal System (IAALS) received SJI support for a project titled, 

Cases Without Counsel: Experiences of Self-Representation in Family Court. 

As a complement to its Honoring Families Initiative, IAALS examined the experiences of litigants navigating U.S. family courts without attorneys, and made recommendations for courts and others to 

better serve these self-represented litigants. 

Two essential products were generated through IAALS’ work, including: Cases Without Counsel: Our Recommendations After Listening to the Litigants; and Cases Without Counsel: Research on 

Experiences of Self-Representation in U.S. Family Court. Both 

reports conclude that: 1) in many cases when parties are not represented, challenges arise for both the court and litigant(s) which 

could be addressed with proper counsel; and, 2) there is an urgency 

to developing and deploying client-centric family law courts and 

processes to assist these self-represented litigants.

IAALS weblog includes the Cases Without Counsel research and 

recommendations reports, as well as insights from the project team.