Volume 25, No. 3 December 2014 

E-SJI NEWS SJI NEWS

In this Issue 

FY 2015 1st Quarter 

Grant Awards 

1 - 2 

SJI Board Chairman 

Honored 

1 - 3 

Continuing Education 

for Judges and Court 

Professionals 

2 

Page 1 

SJI Awards FY 2015 First Quarter Grants 

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For more content from the recent SJI Board meeting, important national resource announcements, and partner updates, look 

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The Board met on December 8, 2014, at the Judicial 

Council of California, to make decisions on quarterly 

grant applications and awarded a total of 16 grants. 

One (1) Strategic Initiatives Grant was awarded to 

the New York Unified Court System (UCS) to host a 

National Summit on Human Trafficking and the 

State Courts. The UCS, in partnership with the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ), Conference of State 

Court Administrators (COSCA), the SJI-funded 

Human Trafficking and the State Courts Collaborative, and the National Center for State Courts 

(NCSC) will hold a one-and-a-half day summit to 

examine the issue of human trafficking (both labor 

and sex) and identify best practices from existing 

court programs and the work of the Collaborative. Collaborative members will be present to assist 

state participants in developing action plans, or imSJI Board Chairman Receives 

National Honors 

the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) 

Board, and was recently inducted into the Warren E. Burger Society. 

As CCJ President and NCSC Chair, Hannah 

will work with colleagues to identify and develop both judicial and practitioner responses 

to challenges facing the state court community. 

He will also represent both groups at national 

events throughout the 2014-15 year. 

Continued on page 2 

Continued on page 3 

FY 2014 proved to 

be an eventful year 

for Arkansas Supreme Court Chief 

Justice James Hannah, who serves as 

the SJI Board 

Chairman. He 

became President 

of the Conference 

of Chief Justices

(CCJ) and Chair of 
E-SJI News Volume 25, No. 3 December 2014 

Page 2 

proving existing plans. The Summit will be 

designed based on the same model used for the 

very successful National Summit on Language 

Access and the Courts (SJI-12-P-015). Four 

participants from each state, the District of 

Columbia, and the U.S. territories will be invited, including the chief justice, state court 

administrator, a judge designated by the chief 

justice with knowledge or interest in human 

trafficking, and a fourth person designated by 

the chief justice who has taken a leadership 

role in responding to human trafficking (e.g., 

attorney general, advocate/service provider, 

prosecutor, or defense attorney). It is anticiContinuing Education for Judges 

and Court Professionals 

pated that approximately 250 attendees will 

participate in the summit. The summit will 

include keynote speakers, panels, and breakout session for the state teams. The Collaborative will facilitate summit activities, as well as 

provide onsite guidance and technical assistance for teams as they begin establishing the 

framework for their action plans. 

Three (3) Project Grants were approved: support to the National Association for Court 

Management (NACM) for educational programming focused on all of SJI’s Priority Investment Areas; the NCSC for a next generation case management systems standards project; and the NCSC to support CCJ in national 

pandemic planning and emergency response. Eight (8) Technical Assistance (TA) 

Grants were approved, including: a human 

trafficking project for the Guam Judiciary; 

strategic planning projects for the Coconino 

County, Arizona, Courts, 43rd Judicial District 

Court of Common Pleas, Pennsylvania, and 

the King County, Washington, Superior Court; 

the Montana Supreme Court for a juvenile 

probation workload study; the Massachusetts 

Supreme Judicial Court for a jury management 

project; caseflow and calendaring improvement for the 2nd Judicial District of Minnesota; 

and a probation statistical data collection project for the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. 

Four (4) Curriculum Adaptation & Training 

(CAT) Grants were approved, including: 

online ethics training for the Illinois AOC; 

assistance to the Connecticut Judiciary for a 

training program on serving citizens with hidden disabilities; judicial faculty development 

for the Minnesota Judicial Branch; and a records management training program for the 

Judicial Council of Georgia. The next grant 

application deadline is February 1, 2015. 

Earlier this month, the National Center for 

State Courts (NCSC) announced the creation 

of the Joan K. Cochet Institute for Court Management (ICM) Scholarship, which provides 

assistance to court professionals seeking to 

become ICM Fellows. Cochet served as the 

NCSC’s librarian and spearheaded efforts to 

enhance the NCSC Library eCollection, which 

serves as the repository for all SJI-funded 

grant final project reports and materials. 

Over the past decade, SJI has supported the 

development of six distance learning adaptations of various ICM courses and the delivery 

of ICM programming in state courts across the 

U.S. Many of these courses are completed by 

court professionals prior to applying to the 

ICM Fellows Program. All courses are tied 

closely to the NACM Core and reflect what 

court managers need to know to address current challenges in the state courts. The incoming 2016 Class will begin their fellowships 

next month. 

The National Judicial College (NJC) established the Honorable William F. Dressel 

Scholarship Endowment in 2013 after Judge 

Dressel retired from the NJC. The fund will 

support judges from around the country as 

they pursue education essential to the administration of justice through the NJC’s array of 

courses and programs. Many of the NJC’s 

most popular programs, including Dividing the 

Waters, Essential Skills for Appellate Judges, 

Fourth Amendment, and Best Practices in 

Handling Cases with Self-Represented Litigants, have been developed, supported, or 

adapted with assistance provided by SJI. 

In addition to supporting Curriculum Adaptation and Training (CAT) Grants to state courts, 

SJI also supports a number of individual educational awards to court leadership through the 

Education Support Program. For more information and to obtain an application from SJI 

to advance professional development, please 

refer to the ESP Application, due February 1st

.

Continued from page 1 
Page 3 

SJI Board of Directors

Chairman 

James R. Hannah 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Arkansas 

Little Rock, AR 

Vice Chairman 

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 

President & CEO 

Public Counsel Law Center 

Los Angeles, CA 

Chase T. Rogers 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Connecticut 

Hartford, CT 

Jonathan Lippman 

Chief Judge of the State of New York 

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. 

E-SJI News Volume 25, No. 3 December 2014 

Membership in the Warren E. Burger Society

is granted to “volunteers who have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to improving the administration of justice through extraordinary contributions of service or support to the National Center for State Courts.” 

Hannah was presented with this honor in 

November, along with former SJI Board 

member Judge Sophia Hall. He joins fellow 

SJI Board Secretary, Senior Circuit Court 

Judge Gayle Nachtigal who was admitted in 

2009. 

Continued from page 1 E-SJI News 

Submissions 

SJI is always accepting submissions 

from its grantees for the E-SJI News. 

Articles of 500 words or less from 

projects that are either: a) ongoing, 

with information to share; or, b) have 

recently completed and could be 

beneficial to a larger state court audience, are of greatest interest. SJI 

reserves the right to edit all submissions for any reason. 

Submissions, including all article 

content in Microsoft Word, images 

or logos, and any links, should be 

sent to us electronically at 

kathryn.tuck@sji.gov by the 15th of 

each month.