Courts

Published on: May 16, 2023

I’ve Been Called to Jury Duty – Now What?

By Paula Simon

As COVID restrictions ease across Oregon, the state’s circuit courts are resuming in-person trials. We have been getting questions about serving on a jury. Each county circuit court has their own procedures and rules, so it is always a good idea to contact the circuit court directly to get answers to your questions. Here are some sources that I found online that answered some of those questions.

The Oregon State Bar has a Juror handbook which answers in plain language many questions a prospective juror may have.

On the Oregon courts webpage they have posted a Juror Orientation video. It has comments from judges, attorneys, and former jurors about jury duty and re-enactments of parts of jury selection and a trial. There is also a FAQ section on the site about jury duty in general (not county-specific information) and a section on court etiquette.

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Published on: July 21, 2014

Judicial Funding Cuts Inflict Widespread Economic Harm in Communities

By Laura Orr

ABA Journal News: Savings produced by court budget cuts are exceeded by harmful economic effects (white paper)

The white paper, “The Economics of Justice,” by Eric J. Magnuson, Steven M. Puiszis, Lisa M. Agrimonti, and Nicole S. Frank (DRI, 2014)

Press release: “DRI White Paper: Judicial Funding Cuts Inflict Widespread Economic Harm in Communities”

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Published on: May 27, 2014

Hilarious (and Dark) Side of Automated Court Services: Replacing Courts with Websites

By Laura Orr

Link from Richard Zorza’s inimitable Access to Justice blog: A Cautionary Tale — Cartoon Points Out the Downsides of Automated Courts

Access to justice and court systems broken (and broke)?

“If our courts are broke, how can Californians get divorced? An idea,” by Ted Rall:

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Published on: June 17, 2013

Access to Justice and Simplifying the Legal System

By Laura Orr

If Access to Justice (A2J) is to be something other than a catch-phrase or a pipe dream, lawyers, judges, court administrators, and law librarians need to think, plan, and act creatively on micro and macro initiatives.

Many ideas are already on drawing boards, in app programmer hands, and in pilot project status. Court Simplification is another A2J Big Idea and here are some places to read about it:

1) You can Google the phrase “court simplification” for information.

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