Courts and Protest!

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Virtual Hearings: What Have We Learned After Three Months?

The events that have transpired since late February of this year defy classification.

  • A pandemic the likes of which this country has not seen since the 1918 Spanish flu
  • Unemployment numbers that rival the 1929 Great Depression
  • Now protests and riots in dozens of American cities sparked by the killing of an unarmed African-American man in Minneapolis.

Protests and the Courts

This episode was to focus on virtual hearings, and we will still discuss this topic, yet it is vital that we acknowledge the events of the last week during this episode.

Virtual Hearings

Most courts now have experienced about three months using virtual hearings on an extensive scale.  This is a good time to explore some of the everyday topics that concern expanding the use of this innovation.  The panel discusses public access to virtual hearings, security, ease of use, handling private attorney-client sidebars, making the record, and situations where one party physically shows up for a hearing while the other party is virtual.

This Week’s Panelists

  • Mark Weinberg, Court Administrator for the 7th Judicial Circuit (Daytona Beach, Florida).
  • Liz Rambo, Trial Court Administrator for the Lane County Circuit Court, (Eugene, Oregon).
  • Rick Pierce with the Pennsylvania Administrative Office of the Courts.
  • Chris Gaddis, Court Administrator for the Pierce County Superior Court (Tacoma, Washington).
  • Mike Roddy, Court Executive Office for the Superior Court in San Diego, California.

Listen to the Episode

Submit a question or comment at CLAPodcast@nacmnet.org

Do You Want to Know More?

Efficiency and Cost: The Impact of Videoconferenced Hearings on Bail Decisions

Norman Meyer’s March 16, 2020 post that includes a blog by Professor Anne Wallace

Courts and Coronavirus: Is Videoconferencing the Solution?

Published by Peter C. Kiefer

Peter C. Kiefer is a career court veteran with over 40 years experience working with trial courts in Oregon, Arizona, and California. He has been an administrator in general jurisdiction and limited jurisdiction trial courts; he has also worked for state court administrative offices in both Oregon and California. He has consulted with the judicial systems in Liberia, Moldova, and Beirut, Lebanon, as well as being a member of a NACM delegation that visited the People’s Republic of China. Peter graduated from Santa Clara University with his bachelor’s degree in Political Science, and received his Masters of Public Administration with a specialty in Court Administration from the University of Southern California. In 2016 he became a Fellow of the Institute for Court Management. In 2015 Peter was given the NACM Award of Merit.

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