Volume 23, No. 4 January 2013 

E-SJI NEWS SJI NEWS

In this Issue 

New SJI Board 

Member 

1 

Executive Session for 

State Court Leaders 

1 

 

 

Texas Indigent 

Defense Commission 

Project 

2 

Washington Blended 

Learning Project 

3 

Page 1 

On January 1, 2013, the U.S. Senate confirmed Chief 

Judge Jonathan Lippman to the SJI Board of Directors. Chief Judge Lippman was nominated by the 

President on May 24, 2012. He is currently Chief 

Judge of the State of New York and Chief Judge of 

the New York Court of Appeals, a position he has 

held since 2009. 

Chief Judge Lippman has spent his entire legal career in the New York State court system, serving for 

40 years in a variety of roles. He was Presiding 

Justice of the Appellate Division of the New York 

Supreme Court, First Department from 2007 to 

2009; an Associate Justice of the Appellate Term for 

the Ninth and Tenth Judicial Districts from 2006 to 

2007; a Justice of the Supreme Court, Ninth Judicial 

Senate Confirms New SJI Board Member

District from 2006 to 2009; and Chief Administrative Judge of all New York State Courts from 1996 

to 2007. Chief Judge Lippman is a former member 

of the Board of Directors of the Conference of Chief 

Justices, former President of the Conference of State 

Court Administrators, and former Vice Chair of the 

Board of the National Center for State Courts 

(NCSC). He is the recipient of numerous awards 

and honors, including the William H. Rehnquist 

Award for Judicial Excellence, which the NCSC 

awarded to him in 2008. 

He holds a B.A. from New York University in Government and International Relations and a J.D. from 

the New York University School of Law. 

ready been released with seven more papers being 

authored for a 2013 release. Each author or team of 

authors will also record a short video introduction to 

each paper and the concepts addressed in their work. 

Other paper topics are also under development. All 

papers and associated resources, as well as a complete list of participants from the session meetings 

are available through the Executive Session Resource Center on the NCSC website. For more information on the resources available, contact NCSC 

Principal Court Research Consultant David Rottman, 

drottman@ncsc.org. 

Jointly supported by SJI and the Department of Justice/Office of Justice Programs/Bureau of Justice 

Assistance (BJA), the Harvard Executive Session for 

State Court Leaders in the 21st Century, engaged 

state court leadership, policy makers, judicial scholars, and national court support organizations in a 

three year dialogue on the challenges state courts 

will face in the foreseeable future. 

Many topics were developed by members into papers 

that continue to be published in a series by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and hosted 

online as part of an Executive Session Resource 

Center. The most recent paper released addresses 

the issue of keeping courts funded in times of serious 

budget constraints. A total of six papers have alExecutive Session Continues to 

Provide Resources 

Photo of Chief Judge Lippman, courtesy of the 

New York State Court of Appeals. 
For the latest information on projects, grant application deadlines, 

upcoming events hosted by our grantees, and SJI updates, connect with us on Facebook and Twitter. 

E-SJI News Volume 23, No. 4 January 2013

Page 2 

Texas Addresses Alternatives to Incarceration for 

Mentally Ill Offenders and Improves Outcomes

With an SJI Project grant in FY 2008 (SJI-08-

N-072), the Texas Administrative Office of the 

Courts/Indigent Defense Commission examined how mentally-ill offenders entered the 

judicial system, and to what extent their cases 

were effectively adjudicated. 

The report, titled Representing the Mentally III 

Offender: An Evaluation of Advocacy Alternatives, explored the use of alternative sanctions 

for offenders who were identified as having 

mental health issues. The two-year project 

showed that criminal offenders with mental 

impairments who were treated for their illness 

instead of being jailed were less likely to commit crimes again for up to 18 months. Since 

this project concluded, the Commission reports that Texas has aligned more resources 

with this strategy as it continues to prove effective in reducing recidivism. Furthermore, 

the Texas Discretionary Grant budget now 

includes more funding for mental health treatment courts and similar intervention-based 

programs than in prior years. Some of the 

accomplishments this project and its committed stakeholders were able to advance include: 

By FY 2013, at least 12 counties will 

provide direct client services through 

specialized indigent defense programs 

with a mental health focus; 

In 2009 Lubbock County established the 

state’s first Managed Assigned Counsel 

(MAC) program to represent people with 

mental illness; and, 

Collin County received funding to start its 

own Managed Assigned Counsel program 

for FY 2013. In addition to Lubbock and 

Montgomery Counties, Texas now has 

three MAC programs in operation. 

The project stresses the value of collaboration 

beyond traditional criminal justice system partners to include expert technical assistance and 

resources, mental health partners, academia, 

and individual and family mental health advocates, and support networks. In addition to this 

summary and its supplemental case study materials, the Commission maintains a robust website, which offers resources on best practices, 

planning, monitoring, annual reports, and technical assistance. Questions about the study, 

final report, and the continued work of the 

Commission can be directed to James Bethke at 

jim.bethke@txcourts.gov. 
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 

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 

David V. Brewer 

Justice 

Oregon Supreme Court 

Salem, OR 

Robert A. Miller 

Chief Justice (Ret.) 

Supreme Court of South Dakota 

Pierre, SD 

Wilfredo Martinez 

County Judge 

9th Judicial Circuit of Florida 

Orlando, FL 

Marsha J. Rabiteau 

Policy Consultant 

Rabiteau Consulting 

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 23, No. 4 January 2013

Washington State Blended Learning Project

Initiated as an effort to provide quality education and training for less money, the Blended 

Courts Learning Project (SJI-10-E-014) enabled the Washington AOC’s Court Education 

Services (CES) Division to explore using webbased learning in the courts. The web-based 

system was intended to complement occasional in-person and other traditional modalities through its use of the Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro software for webinars and web conferences, as well as Adobe Presenter for selfpaced modules. 

A recently released report from the two-year 

project shows that Washington’s court educators were able to adopt a blended, or hybrid 

model of court education throughout the state 

by deploying a test series consisting of four 

separate learning programs addressing the 

following topics: 1) Resources, Budgets, and 

Finance; 2) Dealing with Difficult People; 3) 

Search and Seizure; and, 4) Procedural Fairness. The programs were designed with judicial officers and court administrators in mind, 

however some programs, like Search and Seizure were created especially for new judges. 

These programs consisted of 18 separate learning modules, 12 eLearning modules, and six 

live sessions. 

Like other states, the Washington AOC has 

experienced budget reductions over the years, 

including nearly a 20 percent cut in 2009. 

With little new revenues expected, the Judiciary committed to finding more cost effective 

and efficient ways to carry out the duties and 

responsibilities of the Courts. Team members 

from CES were encouraged to explore eLearning and development of online tools to support 

the statewide educational needs of judges, 

administrators, and court staff. With help 

from SJI, the AOC was able to develop, deploy, and evaluate the blended learning model. 

Details of this process, including lessonslearned and the outline of each program is 

contained in a 10-page report. An article reviewing the project also appears in the August 

2012 edition of the National Association of 

State Judicial Educators (NASJE) News.