“They took that information back to form a report, then made grant applications for those things with Supreme Court funding. In this circuit, we’ve pretty much got 100% of what we have asked for ... that upgraded our core facilities to make things easier for us.” Vancil said in his circuit, remote proceedings have shown clear benefits in juvenile court, where some parents lack transportation or, in some circumstances, are incarcerated and otherwise unable to participate in a family or juvenile case. Appearing remotely, espe- cially in those types of circumstances, will continue in Vancil’s court. A BROADER POINT OF VIEW Other ongoing efforts also present the opportunity to sweep in new thinking. Theis said the Illinois Supreme Court has also started looking at the court system as a whole, rather than divided into categories of law. Oftentimes, she said, justices and judges get too “into their silos.” She noted the work of the diversity, equity and inclusion officer and the hiring of a behavioral health expert as initiatives that aim to address issues that cut across divisions, “looking holistically, organically at everything we do.” Data-driven decision-making will lead some future endeavors. Judges across the state have started logging their judicial activity as part of an effort to garner detailed data on the timeline and resources needed to move cases through the judicial system.
The first appellate court redistricting in decades up- dates districts by population to rebalance caseloads and better serve litigants. The Judicial Code of Conduct is in the process of a potential overhaul that would modernize standards, including guidelines on judges’ use of social media. “These initiatives all reflect on a judiciary that’s
extremely aware of the necessity to examine and con- sider and, where necessary, implement changes,” said Doherty, the chief judge in Rockford. “It’s a sign of a healthy judiciary that we are not sitting back letting events control us, but that we are responding quickly when challenged and planning out new directives to make the fu- ture a better one for our judiciary.”
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CHICAGO DAILY LAW BULLETIN • LAW DAY 2022 13
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