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Utah chief justice tells Legislature courts are efficient, moving toward paperless filings and expanding access
Summary
Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant told the Utah House on Jan. 28, 2013, that the judiciary improved efficiency despite budget cuts, is near statewide paperless civil filings, and is expanding self-help services; he urged support for additional judges in the Eighth Judicial District.
Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant addressed the Utah House on Jan. 28, 2013, delivering an overview of the state judiciary's performance, technology modernization and access initiatives.
Durrant said Utah's nonpartisan judicial selection and retention system helps produce high-quality judges and that, despite a roughly 10% staff reduction during recent budget constraints, the court system improved efficiency and reduced the average age of pending cases by about 34 percent. He credited institutional cooperation with the Legislature for allowing the judiciary to retool operations rather than restoring previous staffing levels.
A key focus of the address was technology. Durrant said the courts are "almost to the finish line" on eSolutions and reported: "We are now paperless statewide for all civil cases filed after 07/01/2012." He said electronic filing and records improve efficiency, security and public access, and noted a recent Judicial Council rule change to allow media audio and video coverage in trial courts to enhance transparency.
Access to justice initiatives were highlighted: the court-run statewide self-help center (funded in the prior year) is on pace to assist roughly 16,000 Utahns this year, and the online court assistance program (OCAP) helps self-represented litigants prepare documents; the chief justice described OCAP as analogous to a "TurboTax" for court forms. Durrant recounted a case in which a self-help user obtained guardianship documents and secured legal tools for a grandchild with limited means.
Durrant also urged attention to geographic imbalances in judicial resources, citing sustained growth in the Uintah Basin that has produced an overload of juvenile and district-court work in the Eighth Judicial District (Duchesne, Uintah and Daggett counties). He said the district has relied on visiting and retired judges but needs permanent judges so local voters have retention choices and juvenile courts can return to a one-judge/one-family model.
Durrant closed by thanking the Legislature for past support and asking for continued public and legislative backing to maintain fair, independent and accessible courts.
