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Tag: Judges

Modernizing Our Court System (but Don’t Attend Trial from Your Car) with Hon. Scott Schlegel

Modernizing Our Court System

Photo by Ernest Ojeh via Unsplash

The judicial system is overburdened for a number of reasons, and greater efficiency is a must if court systems are to achieve their important objectives.

Technology and openness to all that it offers is a key solution, something that was tried, tested and proven during the Covid pandemic which closed courthouses and law offices around the nation. Along with technology, improvements can be made by reexamining their orthodoxies about how things should be done based on decades of “that’s how we’ve always done it.”

This is a matter of importance to judges, lawyers, plaintiffs, defendants, and numerous others whose lives are impacted directly or indirectly when either the civil or criminal justice systems are inefficient, cumbersome, costly, confusing, slow, and even inaccessible. If only we had an example of at least one judge who is trying to do something about it. But wait …

Listen to my interview with the Hon. Scott Schlegelwho presides over criminal civil and domestic matters in Louisiana’s 24th Judicial District Court in Jefferson Parish. Judge Schlegel was elected to the bench in 2013, and quickly earned a reputation as a modern judge using technology to bring his court into the digital age, even before the pandemic forced the change on other jurists. He partnered with tech companies to develop efficiency tools like chat bots and online forms software. He launched courtonline.us and onlinejudge.us to consolidate his processes for the public. Judge Schlegel has received numerous awards and accolades, like the National Center for State Courts’ 26th Annual William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence. He was the American Bar Association’s 2021 Legal Rebel. And he received the Fastcase 50 Award for his innovative approaches to the administration of justice. Prior to becoming a judge, he was a prosecutor and litigator. Judge Schlegel graduated with honors from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.

This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation. The Journal is a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, and Docket Alarm. The podcast itself is a joint effort between HB and our friends at Law Street Media. If you have comments or wish to participate in one our projects please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com.

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Tom Hagy
Litigation Enthusiast and
Host of the Emerging Litigation Podcast
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Hon. Scott SchlegelLouisiana State Judge, Jefferson Parish

Judge Schlegel was elected to the bench in 2013, and quickly earned a reputation as a modern judge using technology to bring his court into the digital age, even before the pandemic forced the change on other jurists. He partnered with tech companies to develop efficiency tools like chat bots and online forms software.

He launched courtonline.us and onlinejudge.us to consolidate his processes for the public. Judge Schlegel has received numerous awards and accolades, like the National Center for State Courts’ 26th Annual William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence. He was the American Bar Association’s 2021 Legal Rebel. And he received the Fastcase 50 Award for his innovative approaches to the administration of justice. Prior to becoming a judge, he was a prosecutor and litigator. Judge Schlegel graduated with honors from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.

February 15, 2023
Under Pressure: Courts and Lawyers Trying to Deal With It with Diana Manning

The pressure on trial lawyers, judges, plaintiffs, defendants, and court systems is only increasing.

The backlog of cases in New Jersey, for example, nearly quadrupled between February 2020 and 2021, the first year of the pandemic, according to NJ Spotlight News (NJSN). The state is also facing a historic shortage of jurists, NJSN reported, “leading to overworked judges, huge case backlogs and nearly 7,000 defendants in jail without bail, some 500 of them for more than two years despite a law that essentially requires a trial within two years for anyone detained.”

As reported by NJSN, one court official told the state Assembly Budget Committee about the impact of the pandemic on the court system: “Buildings were closed to most in-person trials for more than a year, although other proceedings continued virtually. The business closures and high unemployment led to a housing crisis that resulted in more than 46,000 pending cases that involve landlord-tenant issues . . . . But with all courts open and staff back to work in person, it is impossible to eliminate the backlog of cases with so many open judge seats.” The problem is attributed to the state Senate, where the process is mired, even though the governor is making appointments.

According to the National Counsel for State Courts, backlogs at one third of U.S. courts increased by 5%. It would have been worse had courts not held virtual hearings.

Using the Court Statistic Project database, the numbers reveal in stark terms the impact the pandemic had in the year it came to America. Dispositions dropped from 43M in 2019 to 28M in 2020. Bench trials fell from 3M in 2019 to under 2M in 2020. Jury trials plummeted from 49K in 2019 to less than 19K in 2020.

The Washington Post reported that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared a judicial emergency and extended deadlines. Virginia’s Supreme Court suspended nonessential proceedings. The Iowa Supreme Court pushed back criminal trials and the Alabama’s Supreme Court suspended in-person proceedings. New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner warned that the judicial shortage “comes with a price.”

Listen to my interview with Diana C. Manning, Managing Principal, Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C., for the fallout from the judicial shortage and swelling case backlogs, and what needs to be done to dig out. An experienced and award winning complex commercial litigator, Diana is co-chair of the firm’s business and commercial litigation practice group. She received her J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law.

This episode is the first of two about challenges to the court system and what can be done to address them. An upcoming episode will feature an Alabama state judge who is leading the way in the use of technology to modernize the courts.

This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation. The Journal is a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, and Docket Alarm. The podcast itself is a joint effort between HB and our friends at Law Street Media. If you have comments or wish to participate in one our projects please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com.

(actual size)

Tom Hagy
Litigation Enthusiast and
Host of the Emerging Litigation Podcast
Home Page
LinkedIn

Diana Manning

Diana Manning is Managing Principal at Bressler, Amery & Ross in New Jersey. Diana has more than two decades of experience in complex commercial litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. She is Co-Chair of the firm’s Business and Commercial Litigation practice group, and spearheads the firm’s Appellate practice team. Diana has developed a successful track record of trial verdicts and settlements, especially in complex matters. She also has a reputation as a strategic, thoughtful, and fearless advocate for all of her clients.

A distinguished trial lawyer, Diana is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney. She is also an accomplished appellate lawyer who has participated in six matters before the New Jersey Supreme Court, including arguing four times. Diana is an avid presenter and author on business litigation, legal ethics, and professional liability. She is the author of the New Jersey Chapter of The Law of Lawyer’s Liability: Fifty-State Survey of Legal Malpractice, ABA/First Chair Press, which provides an overview of the laws governing attorney malpractice in each state.

To date, Diana’s distinguished career has brought her offices and honors from many professional and legal industry organizations. Diana served on the District XA Ethics Committee for 10 years and was appointed Chair by the New Jersey Supreme Court from 2017-2019. She is also President of the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association, and is a Past President of Trial Attorneys of New Jersey, the Morris County Bar Association, and the Morris County Bar Foundation.

January 6, 2023
Announcing the Complex Litigation Ethics Conference
Joshua P. DavisProfessor & Practicing Attorney

A leading academic and practitioner, Joshua P. Davis (davisj@usfca.edu) is a nationally recognized expert on legal ethics and class actions, as well as on artificial intelligence in the law, antitrust, civil procedure, free speech, and jurisprudence. He has published more than 30 scholarly articles and book chapters on these subjects and is currently writing a book on AI titled Unnatural Law, which will be published by Cambridge University Press. He is Research Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of Law, and a Shareholder of the Berger Montague PC law firm and Manager of its new San Francisco Bay Area Office. Before taking these posts, for more than 20 years Davis was a tenured Professor of Law at University of San Francisco Law School, where he also served as the Director of the Center for Law and Ethics.

Davis is also a member of the Editorial Board of Advisors for the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation, published by Fastcase Full Court Press. Tom Hagy, Editor in Chief.

Scott DodsonCenter for Litigation and Courts

An expert in civil procedure and federal courts, Professor Scott Dodson is the James Edgar Hervey Chair in Litigation and Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at UC Hastings Law. He has published seven book titles, including The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Cambridge 2015) and New Pleading in the Twenty-First Century (Oxford 2013). He has written around 100 shorter works appearing in such journals as Stanford Law Review, New York University Law Review, Michigan Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, California Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, American Journal of Comparative Law, American Journal of International Law, and Law & Society Review. His scholarly writings have been cited in more than 30 court opinions and have been downloaded more than 45,000 times. For 2010-14, he was listed as the 9th (tied) most-cited civil-procedure scholar. Professor Dodson is a frequent commentator in the news, including appearances on the 10:00 Nightly News, NPR Radio, and CNN Radio; quotes in various print media; and blogging stints at SCOTUSblog, SCOCAblog, Civil Procedure & Federal Courts Blog, and PrawfsBlawg.

You can also listen to Josh on the Emerging Litigation Podcast!

New Litigation Ethics Conference to Feature Sitting Judges, Legal Scholars, Prominent Attorneys

For Immediate Release

SAN FRANCISCO – Aug. 25, 2022 – Luminaries and thought leaders in the complex litigation arena will gather in San Francisco on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022, to discuss insights and practices on an issue of critical significance to the nation’s justice system: ethical conduct among litigants and litigators.

With a projected in-person and remote audience of 100 plus, this important continuing legal education program will be held at the UC Hastings College of Law in association with the school’s Center for Litigation in Courts. Professors Joshua P. Davis and Scott Dodson have assembled a faculty of leading jurists, litigators, and other subject matter experts.

Complex Litigation Ethics Conference
Oct. 22, 2022
UC Hastings College of Law
Learn more

“Data suggest that, depending on the year, as much as half of all cases filed in federal court are part of multidistrict litigation, or MDL, proceedings or involve proposed class actions,” said Professor Davis, who is both a research professor at UC Davis and managing partner of the San Francisco offices of Berger Montague, a prominent class action and complex litigation law firm.

According to the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation there were 186 MDL dockets pending, which brought together 770,623 actions, with 426,495 pending as of July 2022. At the same time, thousands of new class actions are filed each year (some put the number as high as 10,000) in state and federal courts representing millions of named and potential class members. Cases and claim types run the gamut, such as consumer product liability, antitrust, toxic substances, drug and device liability, data breaches, securities, employment, environmental contamination, and both injury and damage claims arising from wildfires and floods, to name a few.

“Despite these figures, insufficient scholarly attention has been paid to the ways in which ethical rules, which are typically designed for traditional litigation, should be adapted and applied to MDLs and class actions,” said Professor Davis. “The Complex Litigation Ethics Conference will address these important and timely issues.”

Topics include adapting general legal ethics rules to complex matters; ethics in litigation funding; diversity, equity, and inclusivity in complex litigation; and communications with “absent class members.”

U.S. Judge Jon S. Tigar of the Northern District of California will be among the speakers. Judge Tigar has or continues to preside over headline-grabbing litigation brought against Apple Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook), Twitter Inc., Uber Technologies Inc., Wells Fargo & Company, Subway restaurants, Sanofi S.A., and others.

Also on the faculty are:
- Lynn A. Baker, University of Texas School of Law
- Jennifer Bennett, Gupta Wessler PLLC
- Eric Cramer, Berger Montague PC
- Lauren Godshall, Tulane Law School
- Alexandra D. Lahav, Cornell Law School
- Brent Landau, Hausfeld
- Roger Michalski, University of Oklahoma College of Law
- Melissa Mortazavi, University of Oklahoma College of Law
- Sarah Ray, Latham & Watkins LLP
- Maya Steinitz, University of Iowa, College of Law
- Brad Wendel, Cornell Law School
Three annual Awards for Excellence in Ethics in Complex Litigation will also be announced during the event, one to a plaintiffs’ attorney or law firm, one to a defense attorney or law firm, and one to a judge, scholar, third-party neutral, party to litigation, government official, other lawyer or law firm, non-profit organization, and other participant in or commentator on complex litigation. The winners will have demonstrated excellence in promoting ethics in class actions or other complex litigation (e.g., MDLs).

The event is being co-sponsored by Huntington National Bank, a nationwide provider of settlement fund and other financial services for law firms.

Members of the legal and business press are invited to request passes to attend the event in San Francisco or via webstream, and to receive program materials. Pre-program interviews with the conference leaders and faculty should be addressed to Tom Hagy, +1 (484) 844-0428, or Editor@LitigationConferences.com.

DOWNLOAD THE RELEASE
August 25, 2022