Courts and COVID: What’s Been the Global Response?

The Coronavirus pandemic has been a scourge across the globe.  It has also been one of the longest lasting and most widespread crises in recent times.  It has affected every component of government in every nation that has had to deal with COVID-19.  How have court systems in different countries coped with the pandemic?

Sheryl Loesch is President of the International Association for Court Administration. She is currently the Clerk of the United States Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida and has held that position since April 2017.  For the last 18 years, Ms. Loesch served as the Clerk of the District Court, Middle District of Florida.  Prior to that time, Ms. Loesch served as the Chief Deputy Clerk for the District of Kansas for three years.

Ms. Loesch began her career in the judiciary serving as the Deputy in Charge of the Jacksonville Division of the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida from 1989-1996.  Ms. Loesch currently serves as Clerk liaison on behalf of the Federal Court Clerks Association to the International Judicial Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.  She is currently the President of the International Association for Court Administration.  She is a Past President of the Federal Court Clerks Association.  She has served on a court management review team and as a faculty member for the Federal Judicial Center. 

Co-Host Janet Cornell has over 35 years in court leadership including service in general and limited jurisdiction courts. She is a founding and contributing member to http://www.courtleader.net. She has a Masters in Public Administration from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, and is a Fellow of the National Center for State Courts, Institute for Court Management in Williamsburg, VA, along with certificates from the Leader Coach Institute, Scottsdale, AZ, and the Leadership Institute for Judicial Education, Memphis, TN. Currently she serves as a consultant, faculty, and author on court administration, leadership, governance, caseflow management, performance measurement, operational assessment, access for self-represented litigants, and court reengineering with projects across the US and internationally.

Co-Host 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, received his Master’s 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.  He is currently helping to host the NACM podcast series – The Court Leader’s Advantage.

The Honorable Judge Sidney H. Stein has been a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York by appointment of the President of the United States since 1995. He received an A.B. degree from Princeton University and a J.D. degree from Yale Law School.
Following his graduation, he was a clerk to the Chief Judge of the State of New York and Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. Judge Stein was a partner in a litigation firm he founded from 1981 until his induction as a United States District Judge in 1995. Judge Stein was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Special Commission on the
Practical Operation of the Hague Convention in 2001 and was the recipient of the Stanley H. Fuld Award of the New York State Bar Association in 2003 and the Edward Weinfeld Award of the New York County Lawyers’ Association in 2012. Judge Stein is also a member of the American Law Institute and the board of directors of the Greater New York Councils of the Boy Scouts of America. He is currently Chair of the International Judicial Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

The Honorable Belen G. Salespara-Carasig is the Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 296, Paranaque City. She is an alumna of the University of Santo Tomas Facultad de Derecho Civil.

Her first foray into the practice of law was in government service, where she worked as Court Attorney IV in the Office of the Presiding Justice of Court of Appeals Justice Romeo A. Brawner. With the appointment of Justice Romeo Brawner as one of the Commissioners of the Commission on Elections, he took with her Judge Belen Carasig as his Chief of Staff (Atty. VI).

Ms. Noora Aarnio is a Senior Specialist for International Affairs in Tuomioistuinvirasto, the National Courts Administration of Finland (NCA).

After her graduation as Masters of Law and finishing her one year in-bench-training for a judge in the District Court of Lohja, Ms. Aarniio has worked in the judiciary in Finland as a referendary in the Insurance Court and Helsinki Court of Appeal as well as a District Court Judge in the District Court of Pirkanmaa. She also held a position of Legal Adviser in Finnish Ministry of Justice, the Department of Judicial Administration, Unit of International Judicial Administration.  

The Honorable Ali Shamis Al Madhani was sworn in as a Judge of the DIFC Courts in January 2008. In April 2008 he was appointed and sworn in as a Judge of the DIFC Courts Court of Appeal. He was later appointed as a member of the Joint Committee of the Dubai Courts. H.E. Judge Ali is currently a Senior Judge of Court of Appeal and Head of International Relations of Judicial Affairs.