Chief Justice Called as Juror, Rabner Addresses State Bar

ATLANTIC CITY – Chief Justice Stuart Rabner delivered a State of the Judiciary Address at the meeting of the New Jersey State Bar Association here May 16. Among topics discussed he related how he, the state’s top jurist, almost became a juror May 13 in Newark.
According to a May 14 story in the Newark Star-Ledger, Rabner was in a pool of 66 potential jurors summoned to hear a criminal case of aggravated assault and unlawful weapon possession. No shirker, Rabner did what many fellow citizens are summoned to do. As part of his orientation, the story noted he had to watch a video of himself imparting the importance of jury duty in society.
When quizzed about his employment, he reportedly replied he is an attorney, and added “I’m the chief justice of our state Supreme Court.” The defense attorney excluded Rabner from the panel, and his service for the week thus ended.
Of that episode on the other side of the bench, Rabner told Bar members, “Just this week, I had the chance to serve on jury duty in my home county of Essex. I saw the extraordinary efforts of jury managers and staff who represent us so well. I also watched scores of fellow jurors. It was apparent that a good number of people felt inconvenienced at the outset but over time, I watched judges and staff earn jurors’ trust by carrying out tasks we may consider routine.
“And by the end of the day, I saw the healthy respect our friends and neighbors have for a system based on justice, fairness and equal treatment,” he said.
Focusing again on jurors, Rabner said, “We summon 200,000 jurors to court each year.” He added that 57 percent of them respond to jury questionnaires online.
In the past six months, jurors have received text messages to remind them of service days in advance and to inform them the night before and each night during their service, whether they have to report to court the next morning.
“More than 112,000 jurors have received those texts in the last six months. We are the first state in the nation to have done so, which prompted National Center for State Courts to highlight the practice to state courts nationwide,” he said.
Veterans Assistance Initiative
Rabner noted the five-year anniversary of the Veterans Assistance Initiative. That was started in “anticipation of a large number of veterans and members of the New Jersey National Guard set to return from tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, we set up a pilot program in Atlantic and Union counties. It was designed to identify veterans entering the criminal justice system as defendants, in municipal and Superior Court, and to refer them to outside agencies for available services.”
Rabner said that in years before the initiative started, more than 4,000 members of the National Guard were called overseas for duty, the largest call-up since World War II.
“We knew from past experience that veterans returning from combat might have difficulty adjusting to civilian life and might end up in trouble with the law. Underlying a criminal offense, we understood, there could be substance abuse problems, mental health issues or other concerns. Se we created steering committees of existing service providers who could help,” he said.
Now a statewide initiative, in the past five years, court staff and judges have referred over 2,400 veterans for assistance, he said.
“Our hope throughout has been to help improve the lives of veterans who appear in criminal matters so that we do not see them a second time in the criminal justice system. Today, thousands who sacrificed for and served our national have benefited from that approach,” Rabner noted.
Mortgage Foreclosures
Within the same five-year period when the veterans’ initiative had begun, the nation’s economy faltered which resulted in many unemployed, who were unable to stay current with their mortgages, and thus went into default.
“We took steps to respond to pressing needs tied to the work of the court system,” Rabner said. He cited a statewide mediation program to bring debtors and mortgage providers to the table in “uncontested cases as well, which amount to 94 percent of filings.” By early 2009, he said, “700 lawyers had offered to serve as mediators. They participated in training sessions that the AOC (Administrative Office of the Court) conducted and got to work quickly. The Office of Dispute Settlement now handles that aspect of the project.”
In its time, over 11,000 cases have completed mediation. More than 5,000 cases have been settled. “That represents more than 5,000 instances in which underperforming loans on the bank’s balance sheet have been turned around, and more than 5,000 families whose homes were not foreclosed.”
All is not bright, however, he continued. “We’ve seen growth in the number of foreclosure filings this past year: they’ve gone from nearly 64,000 filings in 2010, to 19,000 in 2012, and back up to 42,000 in 2013. We anticipate even more filings this year,” Rabner said.
Increases Use of Technology
The chief justice addressed greater use of technology to streamline court processes to make the courts more efficient, accessible and user-friendly. “I can’t overstate how vital that is to our future,” he added.
He pointed to more open public access than ever to court procedures. “Today, tax court opinions are available online, attorney discipline decisions are as well, and there is an online attorney index of more than 70,000 names. All of that has been done in the last five years,” Rabner said.
“Just months ago, the Judiciary created a commercial app, the “NJ Juror APP,” which can be downloaded free. It informs jurors how to get to the courthouse, where to park, where they can dine, and provides links to the Judiciary’s website and details on jury service,” he said.
“A thoughtful assignment judge” asked if the same could be done for lawyers, and “I’m pleased to announce the “NJ Attorney” app is available to attorneys for free download on their mobile devices.
Create an e-Court System
“We need to develop a comprehensive e-courts system of electronic filing and case management to handle the broad array of case filings, and the more than 1 million filings per year,” Rabner said.
Toward that end, he announced “That the Judiciary has developed a system to accept motions and accompanying documents online in criminal cases. The system will give lawyers, judges, and court staff the ability to access those filings remotely, at any hour,” Rabner said.
A trial of that project has been underway for a month in Burlington, Essex and Camden vicinages. Rabner said in coming months, “We hope to extend the project statewide and to private counsel as well.”
He acknowledged while that is a step, that is all it is, one step. To advance, he said, “We cannot proceed with our existing budget alone. That will require a sustained, additional funding source.