Volume 25, No. 6 March 2015 

E-SJI NEWS SJI NEWS

In this Issue 

Page 1 

NACM 2015 Educational Sessions 

Now Available Online 

Join SJI on 

Facebook and 

Twitter

SJI shares the last grant, state 

court, and scholarship updates 

via its Facebook and Twitter

accounts. 

Look for us to use #SJIGrant 

and #NCSCReport when special 

content is featured. 

NACM Educational 

Sessions 

1 

SJI 3rd and 4th 

Quarter Grant/ESP 

Deadlines 

1 

State WINGS Projects 2 

Local Level Guardianship Initiatives 3 

Upcoming SJI Grant 

and ESP Deadlines 

Q3 - May 1, 2015: Grant and Education Support Program (ESP) applications due by mail. 

Q4 - August 1, 2015: Grant and ESP applications due by mail. 

Forms available online: 

www.sji.gov/forms

SJI has supported a wide variety of National Association for Court Management (NACM) educational 

content creation and professional development curricula enhancement. 

Among the most well-attended are the plenary and 

subject-specific workshops offered at the NACM 

Midyear and Annual Meetings. In recent years, 

these educational opportunities for court administrators, judicial officers, and staff, have brought together experts from around the country to discuss 

major issues impacting the state courts. Many times, 

these issues are extensions of SJI’s Priority Investment Areas, such as reengineering, improving language access, increasing online services to selfrepresented litigants, and human trafficking. The 

2015 Midyear Meeting featured live-streaming, supported by a grant from SJI, and enhanced ability for 

the general public to view materials; that content is 

archived online with all other past meetings. 

For the 30th Annual Conference on July 12-16th in 

Louisville, Kentucky, NACM will highlight the new 

NACM Core (formerly core competencies) in organizing workshop content centered on the theme: 

Commitment to Excellence: Yesterday, Today, and 

Tomorrow. In conjunction with the Annual Meeting, 

the Institute for Court Management will offer a hybrid Purposes and Responsibilities of Courts course, 

which counts towards the Certified Court Manager 

credential. For more information, visit the NACM 

website. 
Page 2 

E-SJI News Volume 25, No. 6 March 2015 

SJI has supported the Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders 

(WINGS) through the National Guardianship 

Network since the Third National Guardianship Summit in 2011. The creation and sustainability of state WINGS groups was a key 

recommendation of the 2011 Third National 

Guardianship Summit. Summit Standards and 

Recommendations, and background papers, 

are available in the Utah Law Review, Vol. 

2012, No. 3. 

The seminal WINGS-related publication for 

the National Association for Court Management (NACM), Adult Guardianship Guide: A 

Guide to Plan, Develop and Sustain a Comprehensive Court Guardianship and Conservatorship Program, released in 2013, and last 

year’s WINGS Tips: State Replication Guide 

for Working Interdisciplinary Networks of 

Guardianship Stakeholders, provide essential, 

step-by-step recommendations for state court 

State WINGS Projects Selected 

to Improve Adult Guardianships 

leadership in establishing successful approaches to collaborative guardianship programs (SJI-14-N-231). 

Earlier this month, the National Guardianship 

Network (NGN), (a lead organization of 

eleven national partners), responsible for coordinating and overseeing WINGS, announced 

five courts that will receive mini-grants and 

technical assistance to create innovative, consensus-driven, WINGS in their jurisdictions. 

Courts selected to receive this support include: 

The District of Columbia Courts 

The Supreme Court of Indiana 

The Supreme Court of Minnesota 

 The Mississippi Supreme Court 

 The Washington State Supreme Court 

In 2013, the National Guardianship Network 

provided WINGS awards to four pilot 

WINGS: the New York Court System; the 

Oregon Judicial Department & Oregon State 

Unit on Aging; the Texas Office of Court Administration; and the Utah Administrative 

Office of the Courts. Additional states, including Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, and West Virginia, already have similar guardianship improvement problem-solving groups in place. 

Joining SJI in supporting these state WINGS 

and NGN-provided technical assistance are 

Atlantic Philanthropies and Albert and Elaine 

Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging. The newly selected state WINGS will 

begin by using the aforementioned resources 

and hands-on assistance from NGN to create a 

truly interdisciplinary network that ensures 

guardian accountability and standards, and 

creates less restrictive decision-making options. 
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 

Principle 

Bird Marella P.C. 

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. 6 March 2015 

Two SJI grantees have recently completed, or 

are in the final stages of enhancing, their 

online court-user portals to improve access for 

guardianship cases. 

After steadily observing an increase in the 

number of guardianship matters, the Orphans’ 

Court of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 

realized an online solution would expedite 

case processing and ease frustrations for court 

users. 

With SJI assistance (SJI-14-T-019), the Court 

has made most of its essential forms and guidance documents available to the public, including, forms guardians of persons and/or estates 

must complete, fee schedules, cover sheets for 

various pleadings, and local rules. 

Additionally, the Orphans’ Court is now operating an E-Filing System for registered users. 

Based on use during a beta testing period, 

additional enhancements and online filing for 

other courts in the County may be considered. 

A more robust presence for the Court on the 

County’s website is also planned. 

The 9th Judicial Circuit Court, which serves 

the populous Orange (Orlando) and Osceola 

(Kissimmee) Counties in Florida, received SJI 

assistance (SJI-13-T-088) to assure compliGrants Improve Access to Justice 

in Guardianship Cases at the Local Level 

ance with Florida law addressing guardianship, and the duties required to ensure the 

safety and care of wards. Given the aging 

population and diverse communities residing 

in the jurisdiction, the Court wanted to assist 

potential guardians using English as a Second 

Language (ESL) or who were limited English 

proficient (LEP) by completing a guardian 

handbook and translation of commonly used 

forms to six languages: Chinese, Creole, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. 

The Court also translated the Probate – Guardian Advocate forms that assist individuals who 

have a limited ability to read, speak, write, or 

understand English, to request assistance from 

an interpreter for the proceedings in one of the 

languages specified.