Chief Justice Durham urges statewide access-to-justice effort, highlights juvenile court gains

Chief Justice Durham addressed the Utah House at the opening of the 2004 general session, urging lawmakers to back a broad, statewide initiative to expand access to civil legal services and describing recent reforms in juvenile and problem‑solving courts.

Durham spoke as chair of the Utah Judicial Council and introduced members of the Supreme Court and court administration. She said the court system is "fully functional" and emphasized that administrative leadership is concentrating on outcomes and stewardship amid budget pressures. "We have had to downsize over the last couple of years by a hundred people, which constitutes 8% of our nonjudicial workforce," she said, and she thanked court personnel for maintaining service during hard times.

The chief justice framed problem‑solving courts as complementary to traditional adjudication, saying they "strive to ensure due process, to engage in neutral fact finding, and to dispense fair and impartial justice," while adding new technologies, staffing and linkages to improve outcomes. She pointed specifically to juvenile court work that she said has moved many children toward family reunification or stable adoptive placements.

Reading a handwritten letter from a 7‑year‑old child she identified in the reading as "Josh," Durham described the personal toll of repeated foster placements and used the story to underline the court's focus on permanency: "I just wanted you to know that," she read from the child's letter. She also cited research that, she said, shows "almost everything that happens to move children in custody towards permanent resolution happens in the 9 days immediately before the next court hearing."

Durham credited recent legislative action and judicial practices with shortening the average time a child spent in foster care: "The average length of time a Utah child used to spend in the limbo of foster care was 2 to 3 years. Now it's 10 and a half months," she said.

On access to civil legal services, Durham urged a coordinated, statewide response. She highlighted existing programs funded or encouraged by the Legislature, including the Community Legal Center, clinical pro bono programs at the state's two law schools, and a cooperative fund she called "and justice for all." "Utah lawyers have to date donated over $10,000,000 in services and cash to provide legal services to the poor in this state," she said, and she urged lawmakers to help create a network of providers and stakeholders similar to Washington State's Access to Justice Board.

Durham summarized five principles for access to justice—access as a fundamental right; clear understanding and timely handling of legal issues; availability of affordable legal services; adequate funding; and equal justice regardless of popularity or status—and used the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to emphasize the point.

The House recessed the court's remarks and returned to business. Representative Curtis moved to dissolve the Committee of the Whole; the motion passed. The House then heard brief announcements and adjourned to reconvene at 10 a.m. the next day.

The presentation by Durham outlined the judiciary's priorities for the session and requested legislative cooperation to scale and coordinate civil legal services statewide; no bill action was recorded in the transcript.