Commission to Reimagine the Future of NY Courts Hearings Set for October

Commission to Reimagine the Future of NY Courts Hearings Set for October

8.22.2022

By Jennifer Andrus

Photo courtesy: David Handschuh/OCA

The Commission to Reimagine the Future of New York’s Courts is holding a second round of in-person hearings this fall. The hearings will be held in Buffalo on Oct. 6 and in New York City on Oct. 31.

The hearings are part of a statewide effort to evaluate the technology, practices and policies adopted by the courts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The review will look at the pandemic experience from all court levels including village and town, county, surrogates and family, and appellate courts.

In addition to the two in-person hearings, several virtual hearings will take place. You can see a full list of hearings here.

The commission chair, past NYSBA president Henry M. Greenberg, appointed a Pandemic Practices Working Group to conduct the hearings. The group is chaired by Supreme Court Justice Craig J. Doran. The goal of the working group is to make recommendations to the court system about what  post-pandemic practices are working and should continue and what needs to change.

Members of the working group are also collecting surveys, research and written testimonies. All members of  New York’s court community are invited to attend the hearings. These include but are not limited to litigants, the bar, legal service providers, court staff, community groups and law enforcement.

How to Participate 

To speak at an in-person hearing or participate in a virtual listening session, send an email request to [email protected].

In the email, please include:

• Presenter’s name, affiliation and address
• Which session presenter is attending
• A brief description of topics included in the presentation

The commission will notify participants if they have been  granted an appearance.  The deadline to send requests to speak at  the Buffalo hearing is Sept. 12.

The deadline to send requests for the New York City hearing is Oct. 7. The deadline for written submissions is Nov. 7.

In June, New York State Bar Association President Sherry Levin Wallach testified before the working group at the New York Court of Appeals in Albany.  Levin Wallach consulted with the leaders of the association’s sections, committees and task forces to prepare her testimony. You can read her testimony here.