Category Archives: Judicial Ethics

An Argument as to Why Courts Should Not Require Self-Represented Litigants to Draw Up Orders for Judges to Sign

Posted on October 15, 2014 by richardzorza

I have long found it utterly incomprehensible that many courts still require litigants to draw up their own draft orders for the judge then to sign — and they then sometimes blame the litigants for not getting their cases to … Continue reading →

Posted in Court Management, Judicial Ethics, Plain Language | Comments Off on An Argument as to Why Courts Should Not Require Self-Represented Litigants to Draw Up Orders for Judges to Sign

Pro Bono Could Lead the Way in Resolving the Struggle for the Soul of the Legal Profession

Posted on September 27, 2014 by richardzorza

I have been up in Canada to address the excellent National Pro Bono gathering in Regina Saskatchewan, and hearing about the many pro bono and court innovations moving forward there, as well as from Justice Thomas Cromwell of their Supreme … Continue reading →

Posted in Judicial Ethics, Non-Lawyer Practice, Pro Bono, Systematic Change | Tagged | 1 Comment

Judge Orders Self-Represented Litigant To Be Given Electric Shock

Posted on September 9, 2014 by richardzorza

This blog tries to avoid sensational horror stories about the courts, but this one is sui generis.  From the Washington Post. Delvon L. King was acting as his own attorney in a gun-possession case when Charles County Circuit Court Judge … Continue reading →

Posted in Judicial Ethics | 3 Comments

Thoughts on Engaged Neutrality Triggered by Supreme Court Apparant “Gotcha” Question

Posted on March 27, 2014 by richardzorza

It’s every appellate advocate’s nightmare, an apparently “gotcha” question that you have not anticipated or prepared an answer for, and it happened on Wednesday at the Supreme Court.  As the Times reports it, in a case dealing with the relative … Continue reading →

Posted in Judicial Ethics, Supreme Court | 2 Comments

Critically Important Speech by NY CJ Lippman on “The Judiciary as the Leader of the Access to Justice Revolution”

Posted on March 12, 2014 by richardzorza

On Tuesday, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman delivered a very important speech.  While the whole speech is very valuable, two particular aspects stand out for me. The first is the the very strong language, and examples, reflecting the speech title The … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Funding, Judicial Ethics, Legal Aid, Non-Lawyer Practice, Pro Bono | 1 Comment

DOJ Day Highlights Integration of ATJ and LEP Approaches

Posted on March 4, 2014 by richardzorza

On Friday at the Department of Justice, the Civil Rights Division launched its Language Access Planning and Technical Assistance Tool.  While the tool itself, introduced with great skill by Deeana Jang, Chief, Federal Coordination and Compliance Section,Civil Rights Division, is … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Court Management, Dept. of Justice, Judicial Ethics, LEP, Meetings | 1 Comment

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Formally Asks for Comments on Proposed Rule To Include ATJ on Bar Exam

Posted on February 28, 2014 by richardzorza

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the state’s top court) is formally asking for comment on a proposed rule change that would put access to justice issues on the bar exam. The proposed rule is written in such a way that … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Judicial Ethics, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Unbundling | 2 Comments

New York Times Editorializes in Support of Court Navigators

Posted on February 27, 2014 by richardzorza

Hopefully today’s editorial will help spread the word nationally about the court navigators and other innovations proposed by CJ Lippman. New York State’s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, is making some innovative changes to the education and training of lawyers as … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Judicial Ethics, Law Schools | Comments Off on New York Times Editorializes in Support of Court Navigators

New York Chief Judge Lippman Announces Court Navigator Program in State of Judiciary

Posted on February 11, 2014 by richardzorza

This could be a very important milestone in the development of access to justice. Building on practice in other common law countries, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman to today announced in his 2014 New York State of the Judiciary speech, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Judicial Ethics, Law Schools, Non-Lawyer Practice | 4 Comments

Webinar on Judicial Education for Self-Represented Cases

Posted on January 9, 2014 by richardzorza

On Thursday Jan 16th, at 2 PM Eastern, there will be a webinar on judicial education on self-represented cases. The registration/login is here. As described by NCSC Center on Court Access to Justice for All (I am a consultant and … Continue reading →

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Judge Kevin Burke to Present Important Webinar on Procedural Fairness

Posted on December 3, 2013 by richardzorza

As you know, much of our work on access, including particularly our judicial ethics work, is predicated on the research into public perceptions of procedural fairness.  Judge Burke has long been a leader in analyzing and presenting the implications of … Continue reading →

Posted in Judicial Ethics | 3 Comments

Can the Self-Represented Collect For Time When Required by Opposing Attorney — Canada Moves

Posted on December 2, 2013 by richardzorza

Julie Macfarlane has a fascinating blog on the emerging jurisprudence in Canada dealing with the award of costs when time is required by an opposing attorney’s wrongful activities.  As I understand it, this is analogous to the US Rule 11 sanctions.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Attorney-Client, Court Fees and Costs, Judicial Ethics | 5 Comments

Long-Term Impact of Fillubuster Dsipute and Rule Change on the Judicary

Posted on November 21, 2013 by richardzorza

Without in any way using this space to venture an opinion on the merits of today’s filibuster rules change, it might be worth noting that the long term effect of recent filibuster practce and the changed rule is that we … Continue reading →

Posted in Judicial Ethics | 1 Comment

More on the “Until Gideon” Symposium at Fordham

Posted on November 8, 2013 by richardzorza

At the Symposium, Earl Johnston presented on the concept of Civil Gideon, and I was one of the two responders.  As part of this presentation (and by e-mail before the meeting) he had presented some questions that he suggested would … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Counsel, Judicial Ethics, Self-Help Services, Simplification, Triage | Tagged | 2 Comments

Maybe Judges Should Assign Literary Reading to Litigants — and to Themselves

Posted on October 3, 2013 by richardzorza

A great article today online in the NYT Mind blog on the impact of reading literary fiction. Reading Chekhov for a few minutes makes you better at decoding what other people are feeling. But spending the same amount of time … Continue reading →

Posted in Judicial Ethics, Research and Evalation | Comments Off on Maybe Judges Should Assign Literary Reading to Litigants — and to Themselves