NEWS RELEASE

The National Center for State Courts
300 Newport Avenue · Williamsburg, Virginia  23185

Contact:
Lorri Montgomery
Communications Manager
The National Center for State Courts
757.259.1525

James T. Glessner
State Court Administrator
Maine Street Courts
207.822.0792 or james.t.glessner@state.me.us

Nation’s Chief Justices and State Court Administrators
To Consider Public Access to Court Records 
July 30 – August 1, 2002
Rockport, Maine

Williamsburg, VA  (July 16, 2002) – Public access to court records is among the top agenda issues at this year’s annual meeting of the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), July 30 to Aug. 1 in Rockport, Maine. As part of the conferences’ education sessions, the chief justices and court administrators are expected to discuss guidelines and make recommendations for courts to use when revising their policies on public access to court records. This issue has moved to the forefront for courts, the media, and domestic violence and privacy advocates because of technological advances that now allow electronic access to court records. The media is invited to attend, but must register by calling one of the contacts listed above. An agenda is attached. 

CCJ brings together the highest judicial officers, and COSCA brings together state court administrators, from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The National Center for State Courts, headquartered in Williamsburg, Va., serves as executive staff for CCJ and COSCA, and coordinates their meetings. CCJ and COSCA work to improve the nation’s state courts by tackling issues that affect procedures, rules, and operations of the courts, and by making recommendations to improve them.  

For the past year, The National Center has worked with the Justice Management Institute (JMI) to develop “Public Access to Court Records: Guidelines for Policy Development by State Courts.” Public comment was a significant part of the process. A draft copy of the “Public Access to Court Records: Guidelines for Policy Development by State Courts” is available online at www.courtaccess.org/modelpolicy/.

Other key conference topics include:

  • How to improve public trust and confidence in our courts;

  • What state courts are doing to ensure racial, gender and ethnic fairness in the justice system; and

  • What courts are doing to help the growing number of people who represent themselves. 

CCJ President Annice M. Wagner, chief judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, will preside over the conference. Mercedes M. Bauermeister, COSCA president and administrative director of the Puerto Rican courts, will preside over COSCA’s segments.

Robert E. Hirshon, president of the American Bar Association and Angus S. King Jr., governor of Maine, will speak at opening ceremonies July 30. At the conference’s conclusion, Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye of the New York Court of Appeals will be named the new president of CCJ, at which time she also becomes chair of The National Center’s Board of Directors. Patricia Tobias, administrative director of the Idaho courts, becomes COSCA’s president and vice chair of The National Center’s Board.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, along with CCJ, founded The National Center for State Courts in 1971. The National Center is a non-profit, court-reform organization that provides education, training, and technology, management, and research services to the nation’s state courts.

  Top

 ###

 

CCJ /COSCA Education Sessions
Samoset Resort
Rockport ME

Tuesday, July 30, 2002

8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Opening ceremonies at the Camden Amphitheatre

Presiding:

  • Annice M. Wagner, chief judge, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, president, Conference of Chief Justices

  • Mercedes M. Bauermeister, administrative director of the courts, Puerto Rico, president, Conference of State Court Administrators

Welcoming Remarks:

  • Leigh I. Saufley, chief justice, Maine Supreme Judicial Court

  • James T. Glessner, state court administrator, Maine

  • Angus S. King Jr., governor of Maine

9 a.m. to 9:40 a.m.

Greetings:

  • Judith S. Kaye, chief judge of the State of New York, chair-elect, National Center for State Courts

  • Robert A. Miller, chair, State Justice Institute Board of Directors

  • William F. Dressel, president, National Judicial College

  • Robert E. Hirshon, president American Bar Association

Walk to Camden Opera House

10 a.m. – Noon: Education Session at the Camden Opera House
Developing Guidelines for Policy Development on Access to Court Records:
Views from the Advisory Committee on the Key Issues

Moderators:

  • Alan Carlson, president, The Justice Management Institute

  • Martha W. Steketee, court research associate, The National Center for State Courts

Speakers:

  • Steven M. Emmert, Reed, Elsevier Inc., Washington, D.C.

  • Jack Komar, judge, Santa Clara (California) Superior Court

  •  Kelli L. Sager, attorney, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, L.A., Ca.

  • Robert Ellis Smith, publisher, Privacy Journal, Providence, R.I.

Top

2:00 – 5:00 p.m.  – Education sessions continue at Samoset Resort, Bay Point Ballroom

2 to 3:15 p.m.
Public Trust and Confidence and Judicial Empathy

Moderator:

Kathleen A. Blatz, chief justice, Supreme Court of Minnesota

Speakers:

  • Scott Brownell, judge, Twelfth Judicial Circuit, Manatee County, Fl.

  • Kathleen Sikora, CJER, California Administrative Office of the Courts

 3:15 to 3:30 p.m. -- Break

3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
What States Are Doing to Address Unequal Treatment in the Courts

Moderator:

Ronald T. Y. Moon, chief justice, Supreme Court of Hawaii

Speakers:

  • Daniel Becker, state court administrator, Utah

  • Joseph E. Lambert, chief justice, Supreme Court of Kentucky

  • Brian J. Ostrom, Ph.D., principal research consultant, The National Center for State Courts

  • A representative for the New York Unified Court System, Office of the Special Inspector General for Bias Matters

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

9:00 to Noon -- Samoset Resort, Rockland/Camden Room
Self-Represented Litigation:
Where We’ve Been,
Where We Are, and
Where We Are Going

Moderator:

Margaret H. Marshall, chief justice, Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

Speakers:

  • Rebecca Albrecht, judge, Superior Court of Arizona

  • Ayn Crawley, director, Maryland Legal Assistance Network

  • John Greacen, Greacen Associates, LLC, Santa Fe, NM

  • William Hornsby, staff counsel, Division for Legal Services, ABA

  • Bonnie Hough, senior attorney, California Administrative Office of the Courts

  • Kate Sampson, senior program associate, American Judicature Society

  • Randi Youells, vice president for programs, Legal Services Corporation

Top