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Chief Justice Durham tells Utah Legislature courts must 'learn' to meet rising needs, asks for pay and program funding
Summary
Chief Justice Christine Durham told a joint session of the Utah Legislature that courts must function as a 'learning organization' to meet rising demands, urged support for judicial pay increases and funding for Guardian ad Litem services, highlighted drug courts and mediation successes, and previewed studies of probate and guardianship.
Chief Justice Christine Durham addressed a joint convention of the Utah Legislature on the state of the judiciary, urging lawmakers to back funding requests that she said are critical to court performance and public confidence.
"Being a judge is a little bit like being a permanent student," Durham said, framing the judiciary as a "learning organization" that depends on information, responsiveness and continual adaptation. She recounted participating in the IOU immersion program for foster-care cases and described seeing "more fathers or those claiming to be fathers in the courtroom than there were children" in one juvenile docket she observed.
Durham told legislators that every judicial district in Utah now has at least one drug court and that the Judicial Council has issued new standards for their operation. "We need resources to expand those efforts," she said, noting the governor's proposed budget includes funding to…
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