Official Coverage from CT-N (Annual Judges Meeting 2012)

As discussed in an earlier post, the Annual Judges Meeting was held on June 15, 2012 at the Middletown Superior Courthouse, Middletown, Connecticut. The opening remarks by Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers can be found at this Judicial Branch PDF file location. Following is a presentation by Chief Court Administrator, Judge Barbara Quinn.

The official coverage of the event, courtesy of CT-N, appears below.
The entire running time of this video is just over 48 minutes.

6/15/2012 - Annual Judges Meeting

The Annual Judges Meeting of 2012 began with a 10-minute presentation by Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers. While the total video length below is just shy of 27 minutes, the portion featuring Connecticut's Chief Justice lamenting about the problems of self represented litigants in Connecticut courtrooms is just over 9 minutes in length.

Video Time: 00:15 – 00:52 of 09:50 (Total video 26:43)

“As you know probably better than anyone, the number one challenge we face is the number of self represented parties continues to grow beyond what any of us could have anticipated. We see them across the board, primarily in family and civil cases, but also in criminal matters and now in the Supreme and Appellate Courts doing arguments.” 

“The fact is the explosion of self represented parties is no longer a trend. What we have is a national phenomenon that’s not gonna go away and requires a proactive response by the Branch. And just to reinforce for a second that this is a national problem, not a Connecticut problem.” 

Video Time: 01:23 – 01:34 of 09:50

 “. . . So, what’s the problem with these numbers? The blunt answer is the judicial system is based on a model where lawyers advocate for their clients…”

 “Lawyers are struggling to maintain their clientele while at the same time, we’re confronting an influx of people who in the past would have hired lawyers.”

Video Time: 08:30 – 09:05 of 09:50  

“Finally, legislation passed this session increased certain court fees to provide funds directly for the Branch’s technology revolving fund. Having a stable and reliable funding source for technology will enable us to plan and implement many technology projects . . . most notably, the expansion of Digital Audio Recordings to all of our courtrooms, and this will enable the Branch to make audio recordings of proceedings available to the bar and the public on the day of the proceedings and ultimate reduce the time it takes to produce a transcript and accelerate the appellate process.”