Volume 24, No. 12 September 2014 

E-SJI NEWS SJI NEWS

In this Issue 

Fourth Quarter Grant 

Awards 

1 

Trends Article on Unaccompanied Immigrant Children 2 

Model Time Standards 

for Appellate Courts 

2 

NACM Ethic Modules 3 

Page 1 

SJI Awards FY 2014 Fourth Quarter Grants 

Find Exclusive 

SJI Content on 

Facebook and 

Twitter

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

no further than the SJI Facebook

and Twitter pages. 

The Board met on September 5, 2014, to make decisions on quarterly grant applications and awarded a 

total of 15 grants. 

Two (2) Strategic Initiatives Grants (SIG) were approved: 1) support for the National Center for State 

Courts (NCSC) to establish a national call center that 

will assist state courts in providing Virtual Remote 

Interpreting (VRI) services. The project will result in 

a national VRI capability available to all state courts 

that will expand access and reduce costs; and 2) assistance for a partnership between the Center for Public 

Policy Studies (CPPS) and the NCSC to address the 

impact of unaccompanied immigrant children in the 

state courts. CPPS and NCSC will develop a step-bystep action guide, training, and webinar on this critical 

issue. 

Two (2) Project Grants were approved: support to the 

National Guardianship Network’s (NGN) efforts to 

continue reforming adult guardianship practice in the 

state courts through its Working Interdisciplinary of 

Guardian Stakeholders (WINGS) initiative; and the 

National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges 

(NCJFCJ) to hold a national courts 

and the military summit that will 

convene key stakeholders at the 

intersection of military justice and 

juvenile and family courts to develop a national agenda to improve 

the coordination of services for service members, veterans, and their 

families. 

Eight (8) Technical Assistance (TA) 

Grants were approved, including: 

strategic planning projects for the 

10th Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan and the 4th 

Judicial District Court of Louisiana; a municipal 

and traffic court consolidation project for the Orleans Parish, Louisiana Municipal Court; case management system planning and assessment projects 

for the Missouri Office of the State Courts Administrator and the Superior Court of the U.S. Virgin 

Islands; a caseflow and calendaring management 

review of the Superior Court of Santa Barbara 

County, California; personnel and procedures review for the 4th Judicial District Court of Nebraska; and a courthouse security review and assessment for the Vermont Judiciary. 

Three (3) Curriculum Adaptation & Training 

(CAT) Grants were approved, including: support 

for the 2015 Nebraska Children’s Summit; assistance to American University for a project to improve access to justice for immigrant crime victims 

through judicial education; and judicial education 

on human trafficking issues, including a focus on 

gangs, for the National Association of Women 

Judges (NAWJ). 
E-SJI News Volume 24, No. 12 September 2014 

Page 2 

An article in the recent 2014 Trends in State 

Courts publication, from the National Center 

for State Courts (NCSC), focuses on the influx 

of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) in 

the state courts. 

The article, authored by David Slayton, Administrative Director of the Courts at the 

Texas Office of Court Administration, examines three critical areas: 1) the growth of unaccompanied minors traveling to the United 

States; 2) defining Special Immigrant Juvenile 

Status (SIJS) and how it is conferred, as well 

as its implications; and, 3) the overall impact 

of the unaccompanied minor case influx on 

state courts. 

Although brief, the feature gives specificity to 

the process, case types involving SIJS, and an 

array of demographic and referral data compiled from a network of federal sources and 

impacted areas. The article addresses how 

these cases quickly extend beyond border 

states, and the responsibilities of parties and 

agencies involved in these cases. The article, 

Model Time Standards for Appellate Courts 

titled, How the Unaccompanied Minor Crisis 

Is Affecting the State Courts, is available 

online as a webpage designated for this issue. 

Additional information is contained on the 

webpage, including a webinar, offered by the 

NCSC’s Institute for Court Management 

(ICM), which had over 200 participants during 

the live session, and continues to be viewed as 

a recording. 

Trends Article on Unaccompanied Immigrant 

Children Now Available 

The NCSC Model Time Standards for Appellate Courts are now available online. The 

project to revise time to disposition standards 

for appellate court cases, was funded by SJI, 

and was an initiative of the Conference of 

Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of 

State Court Administrators (COSCA). 

Steered by a project committee of ten, including both current and former judges from different states, attorneys, and participants from 

the Conference of Chief Judges of the State 

Courts of Appeal (CCJSCA), the National 

Conference of Appellate Court Clerks 

(NCACC), and the American Bar Association 

(ABA), this 28-page report details history, 

need, structure, and application of model time 

standards for courts of last resort that are consistent with applicable laws, best practices, 

and guidelines regarding access to justice. 

The standards include in-depth analysis of data 

and surveying of appellate court judges across 

the U.S. 

The project specifically focused on: 

case initiating events; 

explanation of discrete interim stages; 

publishing the results of time standards; 

benchmarking; and, 

standards for interim stages of an appeal. 

In addition to the provision of a time standards 

model, the final report also emphasized the 

importance of measuring established time 

standards and resources that will aid in implementation. A full copy of the time standards

can be downloaded from the NCSC Library’s 

e-collection (Digital Archive). 
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 24, No. 12 September 2014

The National Association for Court Management (NACM) has spent the past year 

overhauling its distance learning platforms 

and updating, or creating, new content for 

court management professionals. With SJI 

support, NACM recently released ethics 

modules (SJI-14-N-010). 

These modules provide valuable instruction using PowerPoint slides, videos, and 

NACM Debuts New Ethics Modules 

facilitator notes. The self-paced 

modules allow learners to use the 

ethics-related scenarios individually, or as part of a group learning 

event. 

Modules included are: 

The Big Bounce: Customer 

Service and Giving Legal 

Advice

Gifts, Gifts, Gifts: Court Employees Accepting Gratitude

Defriending Mr. King: Court Management 

and the Social Network

I Found It On Facebook: Recruitment, Selection, and the Social Network

In addition to the modules, NACM serves as a 

key resource connecting court professionals of 

all levels to the practice of ethics in the courtemployment setting. For more information about 

NACM and its resources for court mangers, 

please visit the NACM website.